Arrival in Germany

The Stau is a peculiarly German phenomenon. It is a traffic jam that occurs without warning and usually only for a few minutes. It involves slamming on the brakes and praying that you don't hit something or get hit from behind. There is almost always a sign warning you that you are in a Stau area. They seem almost animal in nature, like a vehicular elk.

The first Stau happens because of a tank being transported. I was not expecting such an early reminder of the might of the German war machine...

Further Staus are mostly caused by roadworks, it is in a break from one of these that I stop at Lonetal Ost service station, somewhere north of Ulm.

A strange place, as these stops often are. The interior is of a mostly red and white persuasion. Food is offered in the form of either Burger King or Gusticus. As the latter sounds like an infection, I opt for the former.

And now a riddle, to be answered afterwards: Was Schöneres gibt es als einen Grillabend?

Overheard while ordering food: "Ach scheiße! Ich hab' mir den Finger gegrillt." My Long Chicken Menu is inexplicably flavoursome.

A male Gusticus worker gets into a deep conversation with a female counterpart at Burger King. The situation is fraught with possibilities for a roadside Romeo and Juliet adaptation.

Ein Restaurant, wo den ganzen Tag gegrillt wird.