Driving a Trabant

Well, today was the big day! I have been looking forward to perhaps finding a way to experience a Trabant while I am in Germany, and the Trabi Safari was my chance. We had breakfast this morning and then checked out of our hotel, then Tracy (a teacher from Missouri) and I set out to drive a Trabant. I really wanted to do this tour, but unfortunately I can’t drive a manual transmission car. So, Tracy volunteered to go along with me and drive. Evelyn, our trusty tour guide, booked the event and Tracy and I rode the U2 (very appropriate) underground metro to the location of the Trabi Safari company. They have a huge parking lot full of these East German cars that have become a symbol of socialism and the East. These cars are very ugly, made of plastic, and very slow with a tiny two-stroke engine. Yet, to me, they are beautiful in a very kitschy way. Anyway, Tracy and I showed up, paid our money and then got instructions on how to drive the car. Tracy is a driving pro, so she had no trouble. Here is the company that sells the tour:

These cars are quite small and very quirky looking as you can see below.

We took off with a lead car leading the way, and us following with three more cars behind us. The tour was in English, with the tour guide in the lead car explaining all about the city as we drove by many important landmarks. It was quite an adventure with Tracy constantly shifting the car and both of us laughing almost constantly at absurdity of the time we were having. To add to our fun was that everyone one that we passed on the street started laughing at the cars, and even trying to get their cameras out quickly to take our pictures! We are now in quite a few tourists' scrap books.

We drove by all the important city landmarks and heard a lot of information. But, overall, it was the car that made it fun.

After a nice hour drive we pulled back into the parking lot and I got my chance at the wheel. I immediately stalled the car since I had no idea what to do, but on my second try to get it into gear I did manage to drive it around the parking lot in first gear before having Tracy park it in reverse.

It was a great time, and a real highlight of my trip. Below you can see part of the excellent lineup of Trabis that this company has, including some customized ones (I like the classic ones myself).