car trips around Europe...and Brazil...

I think after we moved to Switzerland, this was our third trip to Hungary by car. Some places in the road are becoming already familiar to us and now the trip even seemed faster and less tiring than the others, although it is a 12-14 hours travel depending on the traffic situation.

One example in Suisse, as we live in the French area we see a lot, at least two lakes (Neuchatel, Leman and the Bodensee), the MontBlanc, the other Swiss alps, plus all the big Swiss cities that maybe we will never really get to know because we just pass there in out trips to Hungary. A place we got amazed by is the Nespresso factory that produces the cartridges for the famous 'new' Nespresso coffee, the small pods that are now exported for almost entire Europe and world. And what a good feeling for our noses to pass there, a fantastic coffee smell, even if car windows are up. As all terrain here are well utilized even for agriculture, right besides this factory some cows go grass eating. I bet these cows are hyperactive because of the great coffee smells!

Germany is one of the most developed countries in our way and since it is localized in the center of Europe, car and truck traffic is heavy. All highways are of superb quality, not to mention the speed freedom in several places, this is where Swisses bring their Maseratis and Ferraris and Lotus and so on to see how their engines really work. All this quality has a price, German roads are also known for their famous STAUS. We never passed there without having one or not listening to at least one in the Radio: ...2, 4, 1 km stau (traffic jam). Sometimes they are there because of no apparent reason, though most of the times they are there because of road reform or constructions.

STAU!!! no!!!!!

I can't deny the existence of staus in Austria (specially in ski season), but this country has the most beautiful views of the entire trip. Insbruck, Salzburg, Mondsee and the tirolean alps are breathtaking. By March/April when the snow at the mountaintops are melting, gorgeous waterfalls are formed all over the Alps area. Also, one of the cities close to the highway has a shop that we call the provider for the Nations square here in Geneva, if you have been there you will understand why, if not, it is because of the huge chair (maybe 4-6 meters high?) this shop has in front of it.

The Mondsee lake
The shop's chair, almost identical to the one in the Nations in Geneva

After you pass Vienna, the trip becomes funny...the highway looses its quality, although you are still in Austria, even the good bathrooms installed all through the Austrian highway loose their quality. You can feel you are arriving to Hungary not only in the amount of advertisement along the road (I realized this is not allowed here in Switzerland), but also in the driving style. Exactly like in Brazil! We were overtaken on the right (in the city too), people accelerate to not let you enter in front of them among other types of juggling.

Hungarian driving style (in my husband's view and who is Hungarian...)

Besides this, highway quality is really good (though the roads in the city are full of holes) and I can't even compare to Brazil, where sometimes we have some pieces of road inside a hole!

Not only small roads are like these in Brazil...