THE FINAL REPORT

Over the next few days we continued our day rides into the country.

On August 26th we cleaned house, did laundry, and packed up the car. We drove the peage to Paris, cutting off to go across the south part of the Parisian suburbs to Evry, where we picked up our rental car. The first car they gave us was a pile of junk, with scratches and dents everywhere, and chrome and trim hanging off the bumper. We rejected it and took another that was in a bit better shape after Don took photos of the damage. I understand the agency was just dumping it's worst stock, since we would be dropping the car in Geneva.

We found Yohann's house with no trouble, thanks to Trexie. He was waiting for us and we handed off his parents' car. Now we were off to Geneva, with a stop planned half way in Auxerres. The kilometers zoomed by as we switched off driving every hour or two and we got into the good old B&B Hotel easily. The next day we continued on the peage to Geneva .

The trip went smoothly and we forked over our money at the end of the peage and headed to our airport hotel, the Median, to check in and deposit our luggage before returning the car to the nearby Europcar office.

After leaving the peage we drove a short distance to the Swiss border. We were really just headed for the French side of Geneva, but the road passed through a tiny strip of Switzerland to get where we were going. Surprise!!! The Swiss hit us 30 euro, almost $45 to drive 6 miles to the French side of the airport. We were outraged. We even told the border agent that we wanted to go back to France, but he wouldn't let us. Our blood pressure was at the boiling level over this outrageous and unexpected charge. But, we paid up and the agent slapped a sticker on our windshield and we drove our 6 miles back into France. We were even more disconcerted when we found out that we could have taken a red road around Switzerland and not paid the sticker fee.

When we arrived at the Median we were able to check in and drop off our luggage. Even though the hotel was very shabby, we chose this hotel because it is close to the airport and advertises a shuttle. This was the only hotel we could find with a shuttle. And, when we arrived at the hotel I saw the very nice, shiny minivan that said "navette" parked right in front. It was rated 3 stars should be 1 star.

We completed the paperwork for the hotel and got our key. Oh, did we want petit dejeuner, just 12 euro per person. Yikes, that is $35 for our morning crust and coffee. No thanks! Also, as we checked in, I asked the desk clerk about scheduling a 10am ride to the airport. She looked very dubious and said I would have to check with the head clerk tomorrow when she came in, and oh, by the way, it is 9 euro per person. That would be another $25. I asked about a taxi and was told that would probably be a bit less. We were right next to the runway and thought maybe we could just walk. So off we went to return our car and check out the walking opportunity.

We checked our Europcar computer map, which showed the office just a few blocks away across the highway. We drove across the main road and started looking for the office. Nothing, nothing, nothing. For three miles there was no office, no sidewalk, no pedestrian possibilities, and then we were on the ramp into the Geneva Airport, actually driving under the runway and back into a fenced-in French zone underneath the terminal on the Swiss side. I was thinking to myself, if I have to pay another fee to get back into France someone is going to lose some short hairs! I spotted a sign for returning rental cars and we followed the odd directions, down a ramp, make a u-turn around the island, down another ramp before going into the lot where we parked. Damn! Forgot to fill up the gas. So back we went, still looking, to no avail, to see if there might be any safe place to hike back to the hotel after we were without a vehicle. Got our gas, and then proceeded back the long road to the terminal and parking area. This was turning out to be a difficult day.

After parking the car in the proper rental car return area we went into the airport terminal to turn in the keys. No sign of a desk or directions of any kind. We wandered around looking for signs for rental cars or any indication of where to go. Finally we gave up and asked at the tourist information. She very kindly gave us the complicated directions to walk up and down and across and over to the Swiss side of the airport, 2 or 3 blocks, where there was a desk tucked away in a remote corner, and we turned in the keys. By this time I was quite hot, sweaty, agitated and irritated, so I threatened the poor boy at the desk, telling him that the car was in very damaged condition when we got it, we did no additional damage to it and there had better not be any damage charges, or else! Don was trying to drag me away as the poor kid shivered, nodded his head emphatically, and swore on his mother that there would be no additional charges of any kind. We shall see. Those Swiss are on my list!

Ok, so now we are carless and we ask the tourist information again, how to get back to the hotel. Take the Swiss bus #5 to the Sacconex stop and then change to the French bus #F. We found the bus stop and tried to put in our euros to buy a ticket. Too fat, the machine will only take Swiss francs. Over the ramp, down the stairs, across the terminal to the ticket bureau. Finally we got our tickets, wrong ones, but oh, well, its an honor system anyway, and went back to wait for the #5 bus. Actually the bus ride was pretty easy, so we decided to use this method in the morning to get from the hotel to the airport.

We marched from the bus stop back to our hotel, ready for our glass of wine. We stopped at the next door Lidl market to pick up a few things for our petit dejeuner. The market was packed; by now it was 5pm. Uncharacteristically there were many shoppers with huge, full baskets of food, making a long backup to check out. Usually Europeans shop every day and I have never seen a full cart at any European supermarket. Some people even had two carts full of stuff!! After analyzing the situation Don and I decided that these were the canny Swiss neighbors, coming over the line to buy cheap French food. We gathered up our oj, croissants, milk and fruit and marched back into our hotel. Thank God, the air conditioning was working. As I sat on my bed, savoring my hot wine, I had these thoughts about the day:

SWITZERLAND IS TOO EXPENSIVE.
THE SWISS ARE OUT TO GET EVERY CENT THEY CAN OUT OF ME.
THE VALUE FOR THE MONEY IS NOT THERE.
I WILL PROBABLY SKIP SWITZERLAND IN THE FUTURE.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND SWITZERLAND FOR A VACATION UNLESS YOUR IDEA OF FUN IS BEING CHARGED FOR STANDING THERE AND OVERCHARGED FOR EVERYTHING ELSE.

So, Don wants me to mitigate this a bit by remembering that our Swiss exchanges were great, the people we met were very nice, and the scenery was exquisitely beautiful. He is right about all of this.

The next day we both woke up at 5am, so we were ready to leave by 8am, even though we had a 12:15 departure. We munched on our breakfast, laying out our tablecloth on one of the beds and scooting the chair up to it. We packed up for the final time and we took our heavy bike cases and backpacks and got the bus to the airport.

The trip went smoothly and we were dropped off at the international departures, but of course, that is not where the Air Canada checkin is located, so we schlepped our bags along to the next terminal, checked in and following the signs to terminal B, went through security. Once through security, we could see an arrow to terminal A and another to terminal C. Where the heck is B??? Shouldn't it be in between A and C?

After quite a bit of mulling around and asking for directions, we found it. It is between A and C, just on a different floor. Who knew!?! Finally we were in and waiting for our flight, albeit 3 hours early.

The flight was good. I still like Air Canada. We went through customs in Montreal and got to SFO on time. Took the shuttle to the San Bruno Super 8, found our car, where our exhangers had left it, and loaded up. It was great to get home, even though the pool was green, and it was wonderful to go to sleep in our nice, big, king sized bed.