Parking Woes

I have grown confident in my driving abilities now that I know the German signs on the roadside and the unwritten speed limit rules.  However, I am still totally lost when I have to park.

Parking garages are around, but once I'm in them, I have no idea what the signs on the walls say.  It this space reserved?  Are the numbers at each space for a reason or can I park anywhere I want?  And where's the exit to get to the street level once I found a spot?

The other day after an interview, I pulled my car out of my garage parking space and headed to the exit.  I realized just before it was too late, that I was supposed to pay BEFORE I got in my car and there's no attendant.  The only pay machine I could see was by a handicap parking space, so to avoid that, I traveled all around the three floors of the garage looking for another machine where I could pay.  After 10 minutes of no luck finding a second machine, I decided to pull into the handicap spot with my flashers, jump out to pay, then jump back in my car as quickly as possible.  (Don't worry.  There was a second handicap spot one space to the right if anyone needed it.)  Anyway, that seemed to work, but boy was it stressful and embarrassing.

Parking on the street is another story.  There aren't parking meters, but you still have to pay at most places, so again, you have to watch for the signs.  At some places, you have to pre-pay down a block or so, and then put the little printed ticket in your windshield.  At other places that are two-hour-only zones, you have to put this special devise in your windshield (see photo).  Every car has to have one in it and when you park in these zones, you take out your little blue plastic clock thingy and set the time to when you arrived (but you can go to the next full half hour if it's 10 or 20 past).  Then you put that in your windshield so if the parking police stop by, they know when you arrived and whether you've been there for more than the two-hour limit.  It's genius, but hard to remember.

So while I'm okay driving around by myself now, my blood pressure still takes a beating when I have to stop driving and find a parking place...ugh!