Why I didn't visit Italy

The real question is why we didn't get any pictures of the French security after being interrogated, patted down, and pretty thoroughly searched. I asked for pictures afterward, but they weren't too keen on that. I did my best - maybe a little too well - to portray myself as a dumb American tourist. It really wasn't too hard (all skill, of course). "Why do you want to go through the tunnel?" they asked. "To get to the other side" was the obvious answer. I'm not sure the guard realized I was being serious. Half an hour and an international incident later, we merrily continued on our tour - but not into Italy. More later . . .