swiss time

We were excited to go to switzerland for the day today, in part because there is a real live border checkpoint. Most of europe is in the EU so the borders are more or less irrelevant - funny when you think about the wars that were fought over those very borders not that long ago. But switzerland maintains its neutrality as ever and this is not in the eu, hence the border checkpoint. I thought maybe they would even stamp my passport! But when we got there, no one even looked at our passports or asked why we were coming to switzerland - all they wanted was for us to pay for a sticker indicating we had paid the tax and they were glad to take our money even in euros, the equivalent of like fifty bucks. As long as you pay up, the swiss are happy to let you in. Anyway we drove into switzerland and I was shocked at how much graffiti I saw in this, "cleanest" of all countries. It's everywhere, even more than in avignon and arles, certainly more than los angeles. I am half saddened by it, half intrigued by the "art form" associateed with it. But mostly it makes it look less clean and gang-ridden. But anyway first we went to lausanne. And in a country known for its banks I had a heck of a time finding one to get me some swiss francs. But I did... And realized I had no idea of the conversion rate. Figured it out thanks to the bbery, though of course I thought of that after I took out the cash. A little more than I planned but I guess I can exchange all the leftovers for dollars at the airport even though it all kinda looks like monopoly money. Overall, not too impressed with lausanne - did a little shopping but didn't find much in the way of souvenirs but we figured there would be more in bern. So we headed there - and were very pleased to walk right into a little street market where we found some gifts and some yummy freshly made caramel. We looked for souvenirs but seriously it's like the swiss are hiding them. The only stuff they have is like, at the back of the store, as if they're trying to keep it unnoticed. Bizarre. But we found a few goodies and we enjoyed walking the streets of this pretty little town. Coming out of switzerland gps routed us via germany, which was interesting because they did stop us at the border and made us wait for them to run our passports and germans in uniform make me nervous. I think it's a racial memory thing. Or maybe I have seen Shining Through one too many times, right, Jill? I can't believe our trip is winding down. It's been a whirlwind. We're headed for colmar tonight in the heart of the reisling wine country, france, and then it's back to germany to home.