Das Auto

One of the nice things about summer is that its warm enough for all the nice cars and motorcycles to come out of winter storage.  While I was in Erfurt, I didn't see, or maybe didn't pay attention, to too many nice old cars except for the old commie, East German car, the Trabant. But since moving to Bonn, especially in my particular neighborhood, I've seen tons of cool cars I've never seen before. I'm a big fan of the old Mercedes-Benz sedans in all shapes and sizes. My favorites have been the S200 or S220 (I think) and there are a couple nice ones on our very street. Like this baby blue one.

There is another one, that is slightly older than this one in dark gray with some big ol' tail light fins. But I didn't take a picture of it because it's not is super great condition. And for some reason both still have a horseshoe stuck to the grill. I read that sometimes Mercedes-Benz will award badges to cars with a certain number of miles on it, but the horseshoe is probably related to some other club or organization.  

Also around the corner from my apartment I've seen this hilarious little 3-wheel transport car, called the Piaggio Ape, that looks just like this picture, but in white. I used to pass by it all the time on my runs and it always cracked me up because it was so little! I can't imagine even sitting in it. I guess it makes sense in some old Italian cities with tiny streets for delivering newspapers or milk or something, but now it is just a novelty car.

Lastly I've seen a few cool motorcycles and mopeds around, and now I really want a moped. When I was biking in the next town over I saw some girl with long blue hair and lots of piercings driving a Simson s50 or s51 which seemed like a super moped or a really small motorcycle. I couldn't catch a picture of it, but I saw it up close and it seemed really really cool. I really like the seat and the size. Fast enough to have a lot of fun, and but hopefully small enough I don't need a motorcycle license if I try to pick one up.  Any thoughts, Nash?

The final cool moped I've seen around a lot is a Zündapp moped. It's exactly like this picture, with that shiny blue finish and rack and all. Of course German automobiles are the best, they are so sweet to look at!