Continued from the post below. Sorry hit the wrong button
Anyway, we left the village fat and happy, but not before visiting the facilites. Lane and I were fine with the turkish toilets, Dana made due, Audrey had a bit of mental block. We'll have to work on that.
Yes that's a picture of it. Use your imagination. Here's a hint though should you ever use one. Stand back before flushing.
Back to Switzerland. Our guide, Jennifer, wanted to say goodbye to some friend of hers that were leaving Geneva and heading back to the states, so we headed to another country. We Americans often equate our travel from state to state to Europeans travel from country to country. The difference of course, we assume, is customs officials and prideful welcomes. I drove into Iowa once. It was a bigger deal. There was a sign welcoming me and everything. The drive into Switzerland? No such sign. I can only guess that there are larger, more important, border crossings. But why? If we can get over on a two lane road in the hills without a whisper, why bother with any crossings at all? Can't figure this one out. The bummer is that we didn't even get a stamp in our passports. From what I hear it's actually quite hard to get them. You have to purposely stop at a customs crossing and ask for a stamp. Odd.
So there it was our first trip to another European country. Not as eventful as the many to come, I hope. But fun and very beautiful. I've posted some pics on the website. Paris is just 4 days away. We can't wait.
1 comment:
well, my dear matt, i can explain you that unexciting boardercrossing a bit. the borders between european countries are long since quite "open". within the european community there are no boarders anymore (explained in the "schengen agreement" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement). after the 1.nov. 2008, this will also be valid for switzerland, though with some special adaptions for our non-EU-nation. however, the controls on people (not on goods) have been decreasing since 2-3 years and will even decrease almost towards zero. people only get stopped randomly or if something seems suspicious (but don't feel safe after passing, the border control has the right to stop and check you within 10 km of the border. but even before... as far as i remember, i never had bigger problems crossing borders, and i live 5 minutes from austria, crossing the rhine at least once a week... so much about "countries" in europe...
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