Car Capital of the World

Stuttgart is the auto (car in Deutsch) capital of the world-home to both Porsche and Mercedes Benz.  Side note:  BMW is located in München (which we refer to as Munich), roughly 2 hours away, southeast, down the A8 Autobahn.  When I left the United States, I left behind my mustang.  Well, it was 11 years old.  So one of the first items on my to do list was acquire another car.  My car:

No, wait, that would be my dream car (also known as the next I'm going to buy).

Carrera GT (or an 4S I'm not picky)

Many people on base sell cars, because they are moving back to the States.  Or they buy a BMW.  Or Audi, Or Mercedes, or Porsche.   I was lucky enough to acquire a 2002 Mini Cooper, German specs, with automatic drive.  My actual car:

It is very important to have a small car in Europe.  All of the parking spaces are small.  My car barely fits some times.  And some of the streets seem smaller.  That is probably because the cities were laid out before the 1400's and here we are in 2011.

Also, gas is extremely expensive.  On Monday, a gallon of gas in Springfield, VA was $4.09.  On Monday, on base, which is priced at the average cost in the United States (and is changed weekly), a gallon cost $4.10.  On the economy, gas is 1.56 Euro a liter (for the cheapest gas).  There are 3.78 liters in a gallon.  So, one gallon of gas is  5.90 Euro.  (I think I did that correctly.)  Well, on Monday one Euro cost $1.48.  So the cost of a gallon of gas in Germany is $8.74.  And you think that Americans pay a lot.  Not even close.

We can also get the American price at Esso stations on the economy.

I'm not really sure why all those really nice BMWs sped past me as I drove to Zurich.  If I were them, I would go 100 kilometers/hour (which is 60 mph).  Easy way to turn km to miles-multiply the km by 6 then drop the last zero.

My Mustang (cause I loved it):

Christine