Today started out pretty early again, especially after not getting back to the hotel until almost 1 am. While Mark and I were able to drag our tired asses out of bed and get on the bus on time, again, a large portion of our group (even ones that DID NOT go out with us last night) were not able to do so.
Jelle was not happy.
You see, the tour directors are not horrible assholes that just enjoy torturing everyone by making them get out of bed early on vacation, they are making everyone get up early because we have another really long travel day ahead of us and we are trying to beat morning traffic out of Paris.
Due to our late start we failed, and we failed miserably.
There was an accident that delayed us another 30 minutes.
Now Jelle is really not happy.
You see, the buses are equipped with a black box of sorts that tracks speeds and break times. The drivers are not allowed to speed to make up time and there are very strict laws governing the driver's total driving time and required breaks. So, it is not like there are really opportunities to make up time that is lost in traffic or not leaving on time.
We finally rolled into Lucerne around 5:00 pm (only about an hour later than we were supposed to). After a VERY luggage drop off at the hotel and a quick drive around town and a quick look at the monument there, we headed downtown so that we could do a little shopping. We arrived downtown about 6 pm. This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that ALL OF THE SHOPS CLOSED at 6:30.
The worst part was that Mark and I thought they closed at 7 and we started at the crappy tourist souvenir shop. When we left there are 6:30 we passed window after dark window of what looked like really neat little shops with antiques, chocolates, lace, and other things that we would have bought if only those shops were open.
That sucked.
It was cold and drizzling when Jelle rounded us all up again to walk across the covered bridge and back to the hotel.
What little we saw of Lucerne seemed charming and like it was a place that we would like to visit again.
Jelle was not happy.
You see, the tour directors are not horrible assholes that just enjoy torturing everyone by making them get out of bed early on vacation, they are making everyone get up early because we have another really long travel day ahead of us and we are trying to beat morning traffic out of Paris.
Due to our late start we failed, and we failed miserably.
There was an accident that delayed us another 30 minutes.
Now Jelle is really not happy.
You see, the buses are equipped with a black box of sorts that tracks speeds and break times. The drivers are not allowed to speed to make up time and there are very strict laws governing the driver's total driving time and required breaks. So, it is not like there are really opportunities to make up time that is lost in traffic or not leaving on time.
We finally rolled into Lucerne around 5:00 pm (only about an hour later than we were supposed to). After a VERY luggage drop off at the hotel and a quick drive around town and a quick look at the monument there, we headed downtown so that we could do a little shopping. We arrived downtown about 6 pm. This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that ALL OF THE SHOPS CLOSED at 6:30.
The worst part was that Mark and I thought they closed at 7 and we started at the crappy tourist souvenir shop. When we left there are 6:30 we passed window after dark window of what looked like really neat little shops with antiques, chocolates, lace, and other things that we would have bought if only those shops were open.
That sucked.
It was cold and drizzling when Jelle rounded us all up again to walk across the covered bridge and back to the hotel.
What little we saw of Lucerne seemed charming and like it was a place that we would like to visit again.
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