This weekend was Germany's first "large" snowfall this season. I was really excited about finally getting a snowfall that promised a lot of snow. Some parts of Germany really got hammered (like over 10 inches) and others, like Frankfurt, were spared and only got 4-6 inches. Anyways, all this talking of snow got my friend KC and me talking about a ski adventure.
On Friday of last week, we decided that instead of going skiing here in the Taunus on a hill which you have to walk up (like that would be fun anyways) we decided to go to Neuastenberg in the Sauerland region of Germany. What that means for you readers is, a two our drive north of Frankfurt into some low mountains.
We decided on Friday to rent a car and leave Saturday morning. Funny thing was, when I was calling around trying to get a good rate on a rental car, everyone warned me that there was this huge storm coming and that the roads would be impassible. I didn't take their advice and finally found a rental that was affordable. Later Friday evening I picked up the car and drove it home, where I loaded it and headed off to Darmstadt (where Max and KC were). Darmstadt is approximately 35 minutes to the south of Oberursel where I live.
I was so happy to be driving and I got pretty lucky as I was given a brand new Opel Astra Wagon, which fit our purpose perfectly. I asked for a longer car and voila, I got one. The Astra was of the old body style, not the new one which is dubbed to become the Buick Excelle in the States BTW, but it was fully appointed and had 1.7CDTI (Common Diesel Turbo Injection) engine for 135hp. (That's considered a large engine here in Germany). We averaged about 32mpg (which is good considering the constant shifting of gears, stop and go traffic and the bad weather).
I love driving on the autobahn, and since it just started snowing there was little traffic. I was amazing at how quickly I was able to get to the airport. I will be having to go to the airport a lot once I start my internship with Lufthansa, and it will take about 60 minutes from door to door taking the train: driving that time is reduced to 25 minutes. I really miss my car here in Germany, but I think it's a good think to take the public transportation, at least you don't have to worry about what you drink when you go out.
Anyways, I spent the night at Max's house and the next morning when I opened the blinds, I saw a snowplow clearing the streets. Over the night, approximately 6-8 inches of white fluffy stuff covered the streets. Max had planned to train and cycle that day, but given the amount of snow, there was no way he would be able to, so he opted to go with KC and me. I tried to rush them, and I was ready at 8:35 only 5 minutes behind schedule, but Max and KC (how unGermanlike) were slow and so we only left at 9:10.
The streets were not really cleared and it was a lot of fun to drive in the snowy weather. Our car was fitted with "all season tires" which are different that all season tires in the states. There's actually soft rubber compound like those found in winter tires on the tires on our car, except that it was only in the center area, and that the outer edges of the tires were hard rubber compound similar to American tires. I found these Goodyears to perform quite well in the snow.
Max was freaking out about how much snow there was. Nothing for Michigan standards, and KC (who's from West Michigan where they get like a foot of lake effect every night was not really impressed). We drove and Max begged us to be careful (which we were, but we didn't stop driving like Michiganians) even though it was nothing. Anyways, he mentioned that for German standards this was a lot of snow and that Germans do not know how to drive in it, and here he was right.
We finally made it to the autobahn only to find it also not plowed. We drove though at about 55 mph. There were quite a few cars driving but all in the right lane. The other lanes were wide open and there was absolutely not problem. We drove for about 30 minutes until we passed the Bad Homburger Kreuz (junction) where we stopped to a stand still. Apparently, several tracker trailers had lost control and slid so that they their trailers blocked all 4 lanes of traffic. It took about an hour to clear them and so we just waited in what seemed like a parking lot.
During this time, Max dared me to have a snowball fight with him on the autobahn and so we did. We actually started dancing to music playing from the car speakers and throwing snow balls and eventually more and more people came out of their cars. At least we were prepared for the weather with our ski gear on. [See photos.]
After the traffic was cleared, we continued event-free to Winterberg/Neuastenberg for skiing. That experience will be in a new post.
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