Driving lessons across the pond. Guten tag.

A few years ago the hubby and I were in Germany on a work trip for him.  The month was December and unknown to me at the time, the country of Germany is famous for outdoor Christmas markets.  An outdoor market in the cold month of December doesn't necessarily make one hyperventilate with excitement.  But one should.  Vendors set up open tents of handcrafted items for sale in a large open area midtown, with lights and decorations. The most popular time of day to check out these markets oddly enough is in the cold, often snowy, evening.  Hot drinks are served and people come out in droves to stroll, drink gluhwein, visit, and shop. 
  

This picture is of the market in Heidelberg and though it's not that great of a picture you get the idea.  It's a big deal   The people are friendly and it was easy for the two of us Kansans to blend in and appear to be just another German couple.  Until we rented a car and decided to take a little road trip to explore the countryside and more Christmas markets elsewhere.  From Heidelberg we drove to Heilbronn and drove slowly in search of their market area.  In the daylight we could see the market at a distance and we slowly proceeded over the quaint brick streets.  Signage was tricky but we felt certain we'd found the correct street at last, and made a right turn in the direction of the market tower area.  I became nervous pretty quickly because the road just seemed so narrow, but we surmised it was a one way street.   And we drove on and on and made a really tight turn, all the while not seeing any other cars driving on the street we were on.  We did eventually see something else on the street.  Pedestrians.  Yes boys and girls, we were driving on a sidewalk.  Half way across the world from home.  Surrounded by people who looked like us but were considerably more intelligent.  There was  no way to turn around so we crept on until we found ourselves right smack dab in the middle of a big old Christmas market.  Riding in a car.  To say I was mortified... well, that doesn't begin to describe it.  We could see an end to the sidewalk and it looked like it merged with a street.  So we proceeded on, driving over thick power cords that had been draped to the various vendor tents.  Squeezing through tight spots in our little rental BMW.  Kind of giving embarassed smiles and waves to the Christmas Market customers milling around.  Horror of horrors, the sidewalk ended up at a dead end with 3 foot drop off onto a railroad track.  You're wondering what we did?  There weren't many options.  DeWayne put the car in reverse and we backed up through the market, back over the power cords, back around the tight curve, and finally was able to reverse our direction.  Surrounded by people and I'm pretty sure I could read lips.  "They must be from America.  Probably Kansas."   

Does this look like a sidewalk to you?  Okay, in retrospect I have to admit it does.  But I'm telling you the infrastructure in these German villages is daunting.  

And hey, hundreds of happy Germans were entertained that day.  We take a bow.  The curtain closes.  The end.