Cravings vs. Traffic

With friends in town last week, I was planning on using it as another excuse (who needs one?) to go to Salumi. The plan was to lunch there on Friday. I had two days of anticipation to build up a craving for the finnochiona (a word which still looks Irish to me) salame. My friends pre-empted me and went on Thursday instead, but that wasn't going to derail my trip to pig heaven.

On Friday a bit after the standard lunch hour (hoping to avoid the rush), I set out towards downtown. I figured I'd take Highway 99, exiting at the stadiums. Well, 99 was creeping, and I could see that the traffic was built up well over the bridge and beyond. So I did what perhaps too many others were doing, and attempted to divert to Fremont Bridge. Descending Fremont Ave from 46th took ages. So I turned off again at 39th St, heading this time for Ballard Bridge and Interbay. Of course traffic headed that way was jammed, too. When I got to Ballard Bridge, the entry roads were blocked by SPD cruises or parking trikes. The bridge was closed!

At this point, my eyes were swimming from lack of food, so I had to fall back to a reasonable alternative: the 'Mill. Had I done that from the outset, I could have eaten over an hour earlier!

I consoled myself by believing that I could eat at Salumi on Saturday. Wrong! Their hours are Tue-Fri, 11-4. But guess what I had for lunch yesterday?

European Cars

By the subject of this post, I'm not referring to "cars produced by European makes", but instead, "those makes and models of cars driven by people living in Europe."

Cars in Europe are small. Perhaps it's in response to the narrowness of the roads, or perhaps driven solely by the economic pressures of high fuel prices. The VW Golf TDI that we rented drove 831km on the first 43L of fuel. Granted that the Golf is basically a five-door, and that you're expected to fold the rear seats down when carrying large loads, we were still unable to fit all of our luggage in the back. Mom's two bags took up the trunk, and then my bag had to go in the back seat.

When the majority of cars that you see are what we could consider "compact" or "economy" cars, the larger American makes really stand out. The first time you see an American-made minivan, or Jeep Cherokee, you almost have to do a double-take because of the size of it, relative to the other cars on the road.

The economic realities of those higher fuel prices (over $7/gal in Switzerland, accounting for the exchange rate) prompt even luxury makes to produce smaller vehicles. In addition to mini cars like the Smart, you can find "economy" sized Mercedes and Audis. You'd never find those models here in the States, because those manufacturers rightly surmise that they wouldn't sell. The niche markets of smaller more "eco-aware" cities wouldn't generate enough sales to merit the market expansion or export costs.

Driving in Italy

Alright. Take everything I've said thus far about driving in Europe--the narrow roads, signage issues, etc--and add to it speed and aggression. It was noticeable almost immediately after crossing the border. The Italian drivers on the motorway follow rather closely, pass with the barest of margins, and often straddle two lanes as they drive.

In the city, these behaviors are amplified. Further, you have the addition of scooters and motorcycles. The two-wheelers use the middle "lane" to travel to and fro. They'll pass to the left of cars moving the same direction. In this case, cars in both directions of travel will move to their respective right to afford the scooter enough room.

When joining traffic (or merging), only about two carlengths are required. They'll aggressively turn right from a side street to join traffic, prompting a reactive swing from the drivers in the same direction of travel, prompting still more reactions by oncoming traffic. But because these sorts of behaviors are so common, drivers are aware and alert. Despite the reputation that Italian drivers have, I never felt that conditions were risky. They're capable and predictable; this makes the overall driving experience safer, I feel.

Still, imagine city driving where everyone around you drives like a taxi driver. And I don't mean these wussy Seattle cabs. Think New York or Boston.

Driving in Europe

After the past two weeks of driving in Europe, I have some observations about why it's different than driving in the US. Not bad (mostly), just different.

Signage: This is the biggest differentiator that I can put my finger on has to do with signage. It's uncommon for city streets to be clearly marked with their name. The signs are generally only on the right side of the roadway (to be seen by drivers), affixed to buildings, and with rather small print.

Highway signs aren't much better. Highways are most commonly identified by the destination city. Consider, if you will, highway (WA) 99 towards the airport. If all you saw to lead you towards highway 99 was a sign (in blue or green, depending on the size of the highway) saying simply "Burien", would you be able to identify the right road? Naturally, natives or locals to the area will be able to navigate in this way, but as a foreign traveler in unknown territory, this can be confusing. Further, without a strong sense of the geography of the region or country, how am I to tell if I want the road bound for Bologna or Modena, if I'm trying to find the Ferrari factory?

Roadways: Roads are narrower. Especially city streets. Naturally, there are highways, of course, but even some of the roads connecting small towns are very narrow, sometimes not even wide enough to be marked with a center line. In general, road quality is much better. I saw very few roads with any sort of damage such as cracks or potholes. City streets wide enough for parallel parking on the sides are exceedingly rare.

Traffic lights: Traffic lights are also rare, at least in the smaller Italian towns where I was vacationing. They're also placed on the near side of the intersection, so if you're the first in line, you might have to crane a bit to be able to see it. Or, shocker, it might mean that you don't drive all the way into the intersection to stop at the red light. In many of the European countries I've visited, the light will show red and yellow simultaneously to indicate that the light is about to turn green. Italy, oddly, doesn't use this convention.