Here is what we saw as we drove through a beautiful German countryside...windmills, a lot of them, and nuclear power plants. No protesters, just clean alternate fuel. Seems to be working out pretty well for the Germans. 
Stopping at the rest stop was a learning experience...you have to pay .50 to use the restrooms, but then you get a voucher in return. You then can use that voucher for .50 off your order at the McDonald's, or the McCafe, they are in the same place but totally separate. These McCafe's could totally compete with Starbucks in the USA. We passed through Belgium: 
Brad was getting bored so he started taking pictures of unusual sites: 
Then we got to France, after driving about 8 hours: 
and Brad was happy, and still taking pictures, like the one of my BFF's maiden name on a road sign outside of Paris. Then we hit some real Paris traffic...total road trip downer, but wait, it was about to get even odder! We stop for gas, we see some food and a grocery store, turns out it was a fishy smelling downtrodden French version of a super Walmart and the eating area...it was like a school cafeteria! I watched them pour some sort of grease sauce over my chicken and then I had the pleasure of spooning up my own reheated canned peas and semi fried white rice. Yum-O! Then we got to start driving again, for like 4 more hours!!! (Okay we didn't drive the whole 4 hours, some of it we sat in Paris traffic). We slept in Tours, France. It was somewhat hilarious, no hair dryer and Piper's rollaway was a BIG girl pak-n-play that had to take it's own ride up the elevator! 
As you can see Tours was very pretty, but it was ugly in the breakfast area that morning. I had to stare down a little Japanese lady for my right to get a cup of machine cafe au lait. She even tried to take my cup! They were tough women, but I was tougher and got my coffee! We spent a lot of time driving through France, here are a few more shots: 
Then we stopped for gas and some oddly packaged sandwiches in a kind of KOA without the showers (that I could see, but the gal in the restroom was brushing her teeth and had her hair all piled up in a towel). 
Finally, we start to see, in the sky, that airplanes are flying!!! We are getting close to Spain! 
Once we are in Spain, this is what we follow: 
We stop at a rest stop, and these look like three story hotels, but really they are just places you can go in and smoke inside; oh and eat, or play a lottery video game, and use the restroom. It is a crazy country, in some respects. Here we are posing with the Range Rover. 
So we drive, and No Bull, we see huge black bulls, and good ol' John Deere! 
and a nod to Durango Spain too! So we get to Madrid: 
Yeah for us! Our hotel is a Holiday Inn Express...we know we will have a great flight home because we will be eating breakfast at a Holiday Inn Express and I know I won't be wearing a baseball cap because they have a hair dryer. It seemed to blow out some hot air, more out the back than the front but it got the job done. Turns out the airport area is more like Tijuana than what we all thought Madrid would be like. So, we go to the navigation system and find this gem of a restaurant in a little cute neighborhood about 5K from the hotel. Jeffe was a great waiter, and his recommendation on wine and food was spot on. 
Thursday arrives, and here we are at the airport. I am stuck flying United, but luckily I only have to check in at United and I get to fly Aer Lingus. 
So here we are all set to go back to the USA! 
Outakes: My other Amazing Race Audition video:
