Now here is a concept I had never seen before I came to Austria!

If you’re parking in any of the towns, especially smaller ones, carrying a parking clock is absolutely essential. Some places are marked with areas that are free for a certain amount of time – like 30 minutes or one hour. And to track how long your car has been there, you need to set your parking clock.

You set it for the time you arrived, so when the parking inspector moseys by, they will only issue a fine if it’s an hour (or whatever time is allowed) past the time your clock is marked at.

Once you get the hang of it, it’s great. Other times, you forget, and get a fine. Or you confuse 12 and 24 hour time, and get a fine. But so far I’ve only been unlucky once!