Heading to Münsterland

I am giving a condensed version of my lecture series at Münster University this week. There will be two lectures tomorrow afternoon, two on Wednesday afternoon, none on Thursday (because the Ascension Day - 40 days after Jesus' resurrection from the dead - is a German public holiday), and the last one on Friday morning.

We decided to drive instead of taking the train, as we planned to visit Trier and Luxembourg on our way back. We took out an Audi A3 from Stadtmobil for this week-long trip (which sounded like a splurge, but the weekly rental rate is only 10€ more than a VW Golf or Beetle while the gas-included mileage charge is identical).

We left Karlsruhe as soon as Gabriel finished his violin lesson around 16:30. The drive up the Rhein valley was magnificent. I must say that I am very impressed with the scenery and the condition of the Autobahn. The north-south corridor along the Rhein valley is lined with trees and our eyes were treated with colorful rolling fields (and not strip malls or factory outlets).

There are rest areas (marked as "P" as in parking) every few kilometers. But most of the "P" areas have picnic tables, but not washroom facilities. One needs to look for areas that have a "WC" sign for those.

The auto service stations appear to be more sparse in Germany than in North America. Some of these Autohöfe have fast food restaurants and convenient stores. The WCs at these Autohöfe usually costs ~0,50€. But if you save the receipt (yes, after you inserted money to unlock the turnstile to the WC, a receipt is issued), its face value (i.e. the entrance fee to the WC) can be used against any purchase at this Autohof. What does this mean? Use the WC before you buy any consumables will cost you nothing for the usage!

The drive to Münster, including a brief dinner stop at Burger King just north of Siegen, was about 4.5 hours.