July 19

The ferry from Dover landed in Dunkirque in the dark and we drove for a few hours after that through the dark and the rain along the french motorway. To those who have had a chance to drive in France, I commend you. For those who haven't had the privilage, the speed limit is 130km/h! At least the french drivers in France are a little more sane than those in Quebec. We got near Vimy and decided to find a place to sleep but could not for the life of us find a hotel. After driving around Lens for almost an hour we found a hotel just as they were locking the doors! The next morning (19th) we took off to the Vimy war memorial, which was very moving and incredibly beautiful.

By 11:00 we were on the motorway, this time during the day and without the rain. New personal best, 180km/h. :D Driving all day takes a lot more out of me than I had thought and so we switched off that evening. I managed to catch about 15 minutes of sleep and woke up just in time to learn that we were lost. Now this wasn't too too lost, just a detour to the wrong border crossing, costing us an extra hour of driving to loop back up through Switzerland. But it was a nice drive at least, a welcome change to the Motorways. The border guards at the Swiss/France border were wonderful. It's a really lax border, where they just wave people through. We stopped and got out and finally convinced them to give us a Suisse stamp in our passport that was "Just for tourists" We arrived at Brigget & Guido's by around 11:30 pm to a "Welcome Home" sign and a meal of Brautworst, roisti, and a warm bed.