I just got back from a 10 day tour of Italy (Tauck tours, very highly recommended) Part of the fun was seeing all the cars that are sold there that are not available in the US, Scooters are everywhere, Apparently traffic rules do not apply to them! They weave in and out of traffic all the time
Gas is close to $8 a gallon

997's are rare, only saw 2, but they look large compared to the size of most European cars

 

Thanks for reminding me... I wonder if I will spend more money on gas or on accommodation during my Euro trip...

 

I was going to rent a motorcyclle there
last year but after watching the trafic, I
decided that it was to dangerous.
Saw my first smart car there.
Paul

 

Yeah, but for your $8 gallon you actually get a lot more done, since things are not so friggen spread out as they are here in the US.

Italy.. traffic rules, signs, painted lines on the road.. its all just recommendations.... .... go with the flow ;-)

Of course the cars are smaller. When you have roads that are only a horse wagon wide, and they have cars parked on the sidewalks ... you need a Fiat to get through them.

 

With those roads it is amazing to see the busses on the Almalfi coast with traffic passing the other way!

 

Most European cities have narrow streets-especially in the older parts of town. Been living here in Croatia since Aug. 07 and being near to Zagreb I usually drive there on the weekend to shop etc...I park my car in an underground garage and walk or take the tram. The side streets are narrow and there are all kinds of parking violations.....the Policija have this small flatbed which they call the "grabber". It's a large hyd. operated grapple which picks up the car and puts it on the flatbed. The grapple is covered with some sort of flexible coating and it doesn't scrape the car-can't say it doesn't put dents in them!

Spend time at the Adriatic Coast and you'll have the same problems-narrow streets and few places to park-especially during Holiday and as you've all said Italy.

JJ-SA Texas
05C2S
06GTI
07 Skoda VRS

 

I recall paying about $90 for a fill out in Cernobbio. A $50 fill in the States is easier to take!

 

It costs me the equivalent of about $110-115USDl to fill my Skoda VRS with Euro Deisel. it's about
$8.50/gal here in Croatia. We have a large refinery here where I live. I paid over $9.30/gal equ. in Austria(A2) about a week ago. Hope Audi and VW push deisels more in the States. Need them. These cars are fast!

JJ-SA Texas/Croatia.

05C2S
06GTI
07SkodaVRS-TDI

 

With roads like this the smaller cars are very popular. But having an excess of HP is always nice!

 

The thing I found very funny, talking with my two half-brothers who live in northern Italy, is that, despite such wonderful roads, apparently there is no italian word for 'hair pin turn', so they have to 'borrow' the term from other languages. My brothers ramble way in italian and I can just pick out the odd terms like <blah, blah, blah> "haarnadelkurve" <blah, blah>. Sorta like watching Univision coverage commercials and hearing <blah, blah> Budwieser <blah, blah>

 

the signs say "tourmente" refers to the torment we go throuogh. You have to look through the back window to see oncoming traffic sometimes. Gas is pricey, so is parking in any major city. They wanted 75 euros (100 bucks) for overnight parking at the hotel in Firenze (Florence).

 

That's why I stayed OUT of Firenza overnight!!

 

Nice pics. I'm assuming you did Euro delivery? Florence is very cool. We stayed in a villa about 30kms out (closest town was Ruffina).

 

I stayed in Cernobbio for a bit and then ran on down to Positano, Amalfi and Salerno. Once you start driving like an Italian there is no problemo!

 

Every time I see your pictures, I get more and more excited about my European delivery. Awesome, awesome!