Actually, in Tyrol and Bavaria, the Italian waters were more common. It is, of course, an affectation, there's nothing magic about springs in Italy, France, or Fiji.

Well, here gas also means any gas, but more commonly the fuel. You just figure it out by the context. On the other hand Benzene is a toxic component of gasoline, but not a word most know, except in the NE where there is a gas station with that name.

But in fact the world price for gasoline makes sense, and what I was remarking on was how well it's tolerated, when most Americans think $7/gallon would be a horror beyond horrors.

I presume these tunnels in Austria were built decades ago, so it would be old tolls, not new ones. We got lucky on the tolls, the car rental agency sold us an Austrian toll sticker that had not been used by an earlier client for just 2 euros.

Europeans have gone to smaller, more efficient cars (though I don't recall seeing a Prius or the like there, but I didn't hunt for them.) I also saw RVs. People are cutting back on RV driving in the USA due to fuel costs, but of course the distances people range are larger -- stuff is just farther apart.

While most tourists won't rent cars, as trains go where they want, for me it was a photographic must, and in the end well worth it for the more interesting, out of the way places it took us.