We left Salzburg this morning and headed to Oberammergau. Once again, I had the pleasure of navigating from the iPhone, and several times again, we got lost. As a way of practicing my French, I'll just say, "C'est la vie!"
We had planned on taking the autobahn most of the way, but my poor navigational skills placed us squarely on secondary roads most of the time and through some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. When we finally got close to the main highway, though, we jumped on and headed for Germany.
We were cruising down the autobahn at a cool 120 kph (sounds fast, but it's just 75 mph!), when we saw some men standing in the middle of the road ahead. What the heck? We slowed down to see what was going on and were immediately waved over by the German police/boarder patrol.
You know that panicky feeling you get when you are stopped by someone in authority even when you know you have done nothing wrong? Magnify that by about 100 when you are in a foreign country with your kids in the backseat asking if you are in trouble and you don't speak the language!
We pulled over onto a gravel parking area next to some unmarked police cars and in my mind I'm thinking, "I hope this is legitimate and we are not going to be robbed and murdered and left on the side of the autobahn!" Loads of other cars were zooming past, and I wondered what about our car screamed, "FOREIGNERS!" that they picked us out of the crowd.
The officers showed us their badges and asked to see our passports. Thank God, Kirk speaks German, although I was sure these guys had to speak English. Kirk had his and Kyle's passports, and I have mine and the girls'. I rooted around in my purse for them, and isn't it the case that when you are trying to find something that is always in the way, it's never right there at that moment?! I finally dug the pouch out and handed the passports over. The officer asked to see Kirk's international drivers license. THANK YOU, AAA for telling us to get one! It's only $15 for the thing, and you can take your chances and NOT get one, but if you get pulled over and don't have one, it's like a 500 euro fine! Kirk handed his over.
They questioned us. Where were we from? (ummm, our passports say, "United States"). Where were we going? How long were we going to be here? I need to see your regular driver's license from the US. When did we arrive in Europe? Kirk answered them in German, although he was a little bit flustered in my humble opinion. He did a great job, though. WAY better than I could have done in France! My heart was racing the whole time, though, hoping he's answering the questions correctly. Wondering when they would let us go.
Meanwhile, while the one officer was checking papers, two other officers were checking out the car. We had to open the doors, open the trunk. They poked around the suitcases and under the seats. They ran a mirror under the car. Did we look particularly like criminals? I didn't think so, but they were giving our car the thorough once over. The kids were sitting in the back as still as church mice. Emily looked like she was about to cry. Claire's eyes were as big as saucers, and Kyle was ready to fight or flee if this thing went south.
These guys must take some perverse pleasure in freaking tourists out because they took what seemed like FOREVER to finish their inspection. Once they were done, they handed all of our papers back, grinned, and said in perfect English, "Enjoy your time in Germany!"
Smart ass!
We were given the okay to leave, and so we backed around and pulled out onto the autobahn. As soon as we were on our way, the police got in their cars and left. What the heck? Were we like the daily quota of foreign tourists stopped that day? Seriously, if we had been 15 minutes later on the road, they would not have been there, but then I wouldn't have this story to tell either!
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