Drive from Neuschwanstein (Füssen) to Montreux (Switzerland-CH) was a straight 6 hour long, exhausting drive, motored mainly by DH. Only high point of the ride was the Autobahn, one of the only roadways in the world where you can drive as fast as you want!!
We needed to buy a vignette (akin to a permit) to pass via Austrian motorway, available at most border towns, in this case, the German town of Lindau.
Austrian are known to be finicky about this, casting heavy fines for an otherwise cheapish 10€ vignette. In both Austria and Switzerland every user of the highways is required to pay this road tax instead of a toll, and prove the payment by a sticker called a vignette. The Austrian 10€ vignette is valid for a week, while the swiss permit costing 40€ is valid for an year!
So while driving we kept seeing boards saying Lindau 20km ahead, then 10, then 5.. And we started panicking.. And then I saw a board, “Wilkommen Australisch”… shucks…and then at the last moment we saw an Ausfahrt (an exit in Germany) so we rammed our van down it.. Phew! We finally got to a petrol pump and bought the vignettes..
Some of the nations in the european union expect an IDP -International Driving Permit, in addition to a valid Drivers licence, some of those being Austria, Greece and Italy. So just because we were meandering through Austria for small stretches, we applied for the same from our country- why take a chance.
In comparison to the Awesome Autobahn, the French Roadways allow a maximum speed of 130 kmph.
…and keeping in spirit of everything French and arty, the Exit signs in France (Sortie) are in Italics… 🙂
