We've seen our share of strange signs through the years, but the ones we saw on our recent trip to Europe can only be classified as "stranger". As our niece wisely said, it is our responsibility to check each country's road signs prior to driving a rental car. We completely agree with her and, of course, we didn't.
The signs in Greece had math symbols we recognize. Yet, we failed to string them together into coherent words. We were lucky that English translations accompanied the Greek words.
In Italy, as we coasted on the A1 from Rome to Tuscany, we were intrigued by this sign of a red car next to a black car. Only red cars can drive next to black cars?! Thank goodness our rental was gray, else we'd have whiplash from the confusion. When we finally understood the sign means no passing regardless of the color of your car, we cringed at how many tickets are on their way to us.
When we arrived in Wales, the language sent us over the cliff. We could read, but we could not process what we were reading. We knew we were hosed when "Croeso i Cymru" welcomed us to Wales.
Tarun stopped in his tracks when he came across these trash cans. Who knew the Welsh have a system of recycling diamonds! In that context, we figured "any old rubbish" includes rubies and emeralds in addition to apples and whatnot.
My brother spotted this sign in a London pub. Naturally, there was a queue of men claiming emergency.
The bottom line is that even if the script is English or the cue is visual, we may be too ignorant to understand the local nuances. The hope is the more we travel, the more we understand. So, bring on the stranger signs. And most certainly study the road signs before driving!