Luzern: Part Trois - The Passport Stamp
On the way back from Luzern, Shirl got a bad, bad craving to acquire a stamp in her passport for Switzerland. She was not to be denied.
First off, understand that Switzerland is one of the few places in Europe where there is not an open border. The Swiss, stubbornly, remain outside the European Union. Consequently, in Switzerland you encounter two rather annoying reminders of what life used to be like prior to 2000. First, you have to change currency. The Swiss Franc, and not the Euro, is the coin of the realm (ergh....Confederation that is.) Second, you have to go through border control before entering the country.
Now, most other countries have torn down their border control stations to let trafic pass more freely. In Strasbourg, the only reminder of passport control is a funny jog in the road as you come back into France across the Bridge of Europe. The Swiss, however, have a full blown border outpost with guards and everything. Their main concern appears to be assuring that all cars have the 50 franc tax stamp that is required for travel on the highway. Since we already had a tax stamp, we only had a brief chat with the guards when we entered the country.
Not 5 minutes after entrance, Shirl realized that she didn't have a Swiss stamp in her passport. From that point on, she was on a mission. All day long she was strategizing for her next moment of opportunity....
Now, ideally we would just get the stamps from the Swiss guards when we stopped at border control on the way home. But there are always problems with the best laid plans. The first problem is that the Swiss really don't care to talk to you when you leave their country. On the way out, you're France's problem.
The second problem is that the French really don't care to talk to you when you enter their country.
So, here we are crossing the Swiss border at 10 o'clock at night. As we're driving past the border we see a place to pull over. Shirl and Theresa dash out and run into the first office building they see and ask for Swiss passport stamps. The guards in there are friendly, but rather annoyed at being interrupted from reading their newspapers. Kindly they explain that they are the French and they don't do passports....the Swiss guys are on the other side of the road. They suggest that the ladies just keep going on into France and have a nice evening.
Not to be denied, Shirl and Theresa pull the equivalent of running across two lanes of interstate traffic to get to the Swiss guardpost.
Picture yourself as a Swiss border guard at 10 pm on a Sunday night. Here you are, standing out in the miserable cold waiting for your shift to end. All of a sudden you see two women come running up the road.
To their credit, the guards did not pull their pistols from their holsters nor point their rifles directly at the ladies. There is a difference between readying your weapon and actually aiming it.
Luckily, it only takes about 3 seconds to realize that Shirl and Theresa are the least threatening creatures on the planet. Shirl explained to the guards that she was collecting passport stamps from every country in Europe and sorely needed one from Switzerland. It's a testament to her charm that she actually got him to feel sympathy for her. So much so that he had one of his colleagues go into the guardpost to find a stamp. They had to dig around a while in the drawers to find one. I get the impression they don't use them very often anymore.
In the end, the ladies returned victorious. The picture below shows them in their moment of triumph.
First off, understand that Switzerland is one of the few places in Europe where there is not an open border. The Swiss, stubbornly, remain outside the European Union. Consequently, in Switzerland you encounter two rather annoying reminders of what life used to be like prior to 2000. First, you have to change currency. The Swiss Franc, and not the Euro, is the coin of the realm (ergh....Confederation that is.) Second, you have to go through border control before entering the country.
Now, most other countries have torn down their border control stations to let trafic pass more freely. In Strasbourg, the only reminder of passport control is a funny jog in the road as you come back into France across the Bridge of Europe. The Swiss, however, have a full blown border outpost with guards and everything. Their main concern appears to be assuring that all cars have the 50 franc tax stamp that is required for travel on the highway. Since we already had a tax stamp, we only had a brief chat with the guards when we entered the country.
Not 5 minutes after entrance, Shirl realized that she didn't have a Swiss stamp in her passport. From that point on, she was on a mission. All day long she was strategizing for her next moment of opportunity....
Now, ideally we would just get the stamps from the Swiss guards when we stopped at border control on the way home. But there are always problems with the best laid plans. The first problem is that the Swiss really don't care to talk to you when you leave their country. On the way out, you're France's problem.
The second problem is that the French really don't care to talk to you when you enter their country.
So, here we are crossing the Swiss border at 10 o'clock at night. As we're driving past the border we see a place to pull over. Shirl and Theresa dash out and run into the first office building they see and ask for Swiss passport stamps. The guards in there are friendly, but rather annoyed at being interrupted from reading their newspapers. Kindly they explain that they are the French and they don't do passports....the Swiss guys are on the other side of the road. They suggest that the ladies just keep going on into France and have a nice evening.
Not to be denied, Shirl and Theresa pull the equivalent of running across two lanes of interstate traffic to get to the Swiss guardpost.
Picture yourself as a Swiss border guard at 10 pm on a Sunday night. Here you are, standing out in the miserable cold waiting for your shift to end. All of a sudden you see two women come running up the road.
To their credit, the guards did not pull their pistols from their holsters nor point their rifles directly at the ladies. There is a difference between readying your weapon and actually aiming it.
Luckily, it only takes about 3 seconds to realize that Shirl and Theresa are the least threatening creatures on the planet. Shirl explained to the guards that she was collecting passport stamps from every country in Europe and sorely needed one from Switzerland. It's a testament to her charm that she actually got him to feel sympathy for her. So much so that he had one of his colleagues go into the guardpost to find a stamp. They had to dig around a while in the drawers to find one. I get the impression they don't use them very often anymore.
In the end, the ladies returned victorious. The picture below shows them in their moment of triumph.
posted by jcweber at 12:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home