When in Rome...

The last time I took a vacation was in Europe. I just got back from a three month stay with the Colonel, who is stationed in Germany. He works four days on, and then has four days off. You can bet when those four days come.. we go exploring like there's no tomorrow!

Keeping the pace we did for three solid months, I can tell you... I was more than ready for a vacation from the vacation!

Taking a vacation is not without its nerve-racking, stress elevating situations. For me, it is the 

TRAFFIC!

First thing when I got to Germany, the Col. made sure I took a driving test so I could drive myself around.... and that mean't on the Autobahn! Are you kidding! But I did as I was ordered. It was the hardest driving test I have ever taken. After one hundred questions and two attempts later, I finally passed the test. Talk about stressful. 

It's a different experience driving the Autobahn. So... I learned real fast, you never, ever drive in the left lane. That's the fast lane. If you do, be prepared at any moment, for a speeding car to instantly show up from no where, ride your bumper, chase you down the freeway at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour or more, until you get out of the lane! But, you can rest assured, Germans follow rules. And, they are very insistent that other drivers follow the rules, too. If you are caught making a right turn on a red light or some other minor traffic infraction, you can be sure they will let you know right away. They madly honk their horn while shaking their finger at you, until they know you understand that you didn't follow the rules!

Italy is a different story. No one follows the rules! Because there are no rules! Driving in Italy is an experience out of the twilight zone. We drove to Italy, starting in Rome, on one of the Colonel's four days off. Yeah... and the statement really is true...

When in Rome... do as the Romans do!

There were no lane indications. The traffic would often get 7 cars wide on, what we would call... a two lane road. There were cars (mini.. even minier than smart cars!), buses, rail cars, taxi's, mo-peds, bicycles, pedestrians .. all vying for the same space. Honking, yelling (Italian flair!), flashing lights, butting in, squeezing in, weaving in and out of traffic, slithering down the middle! You name it, the Italians knew every trick there was to driving. But, it was weird. They seemed to take it all in stride. Just another day on the roads in Rome!

I thought I had seen it all until we got to...

Milano

The Col. was driving and we were trying to get to the center of the city to see some sites. Cobblestone streets and all, we ended up on rail tracks, following a rail car. We... or rather, I, started to panic when I saw that the tracks were on both sides of the road, side by side. I thought for sure we were in the wrong place, at the wrong time, when I looked behind me and saw another rail car following us down the road. We were caught in the middle! "Oh no!" I thought for sure we were going to get smashed! But, it wasn't only a minute later that more cars, taxi's, people on mo-peds, people on foot and on bicycles were coming up and down the same road as we. It was crazy, insane! I had never seen anything like it in my life. No lanes, no rhyme or reason to the flow of traffic. Seven vehicles wide on a small two lane cobblestone street, and no indication of a dividing line. I couldn't believe my eyes!

All I could think of was my mother and how glad I was that she really didn't have any idea WHAT she had sent her youngest child (my brother), just 19 years old to... years earlier when he left our home in rural Utah to serve an LDS mission in Milano, Italy! If she only knew!! 

The traffic experience in Europe is something I will always remember... and probably treasure when all is said and done. I will look back on it and have some good laughs as I think about the memories made in another place, a land far away. 

I am very lucky! I have the best of both worlds.Traveling and getting to vacation in other parts of the world, meeting new people, learning new cultures... well, I wouldn't trade it for the world! 

And... when I need a vacation from the vacation, I get to come home. Home... nestled among the trees in the orchard, out in the country. No rail cars, no mo-ped, no buses, no busyness. Just me and the soft sound of a gentle breeze!

Roma

  Milano

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Writing prompt #3: Write a blog post inspired by the word: vacation.

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