In large European cities, it is often better to park in a big garage at the edge of town and take public transportation the rest of the way. Amsterdam is set up that way. We spent several days at the end of a German vacation in Amsterdam. I delivered our bags and the family to the hotel downtown and returned the van to the airport. I saw very little parking in the city, and most spots were occupied by subcompact cars. There’s no way we could have parked the van in the city.
The last time that I was in Paris was a number of years ago, but I distinctly remember seeing really tiny cars parked on sidewalks and on traffic islands. Perhaps the city is policing this type of driver behavior better than they were previously… or maybe not. Street parking in European cities is not for the faint of heart.
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I also inform the regular driver that I have engaged the parking brake. They may or may not know what it is. Two days ago I did a walk around the neighborhood. 9 out of 12 A/T cars with parking brake not engaged. I was surprised that my next door neighbor’s Subaru Outback A/T parked on a level driveway had the parking brake fully applied!
Sidewalk parking is all the rage in Seoul, too. I was at a conference in the Gangnam district, and there were cars parked on most sidewalks. No street parking and the sidewalks were very wide.
Luckily for the Seoul residents, there must be a solid base underneath those sidewalks. If somebody tried that in Manhattan–where basements frequently underlie the sidewalk–the result would likely be a cave-in.
