OUR COACH DRIVERS: PETER I AND PETER II (OR PETER THE GREAT)

We just passed a horrible accident along this idyllic winding road through the French countryside. It appeared that someone tried to pass another car, even though there is no shoulder. An ambulance had just arrived, but the police raced past us going in that direction many miles down the road as we continued on. I’ll never forget the image of the man in the car that got the worst of it. His head slumped over the steering wheel and his arm hung limply out of the side window. The accidents here always seem so dramatic, frequent and immediate. I remember three years ago when we arrived on the scene of a motorcyclist thrown from his bike on a lovely country road in the Cotswolds. His body wasn’t even yet covered. I’m grateful we have an experienced bus driver. Peter Shaw has been the Eurospring driver for almost 20 years now. He’s an Aussie who married a Swiss woman. He can be stern and demanding at times, but we always feel safe with him. . .unlike the driver we had from Dover to Paris.

Peter (a different Peter) seemed fine at first. At one point, I asked him (out of mild curiosity) if many bus drivers used GPS systems now. He had no good things to say about them. “They’re only as good as the maps they use,” he scoffed. In order to avoid the rush-hour traffic jam as we approached Paris, he decided to take an alternate route. That was the beginning of a 1-1/2 hour aimless driving in circles looking for our hotel. He would grit his teeth, pound on the steering wheel and continue driving. I kept seeing the same landmarks over and over. At one point, he almost drove down a one-way street the wrong way. When he tried to back up, he hit a pole. Pat tried to be helpful and I tried to stay out of it. We called the hotel, but Peter couldn’t pronounce the names of the streets so the person on the other end could understand him. We finally found it only because Peter spotted the church atop Montmartre, the highest spot in Paris. He knew our hotel was nearby, so we sort of figured it out. It was exhausting, stressful and not anything we’d like to repeat. We’re grateful for you, Peter Shaw!