It is hard to imagine being not in a country.

Maybe its my sheltered upbrining, but most of the borders I'd been through in my life were one-sided.

You leave the motherland and there is no passport check. You are free to go. Upon entrance to the new country you are immediately greeted by their custom's representative and thence perhaps their customs folks.

That's about it.

Italy is fussy about who is crossing their borders, especially these days and especially for American passports.

I mean, shit -- who knows who we might be trafficking.

Myself, for example. I realized several months after the fact that this would have been a golden moment to completely distance myself from the group and admit that it was likely my passport which is the result of my...blahblahblah.

Perhaps its best that moment never passed.

Being detained between countries with nothing much to do but Be Off The Bus was a good thing. This being a fairly athletic bunch preparing for a major outing nearly all parties did some deep limbering exercises.

Past that, kaput. I was glad that I was not with Nancy during this period as I would have shot her.

My thoughts turned to the beauty of this vision.

A river flows, a ravine. A short railing, who knows.

Where am I, exactly? Who would grab me and take me into custody?

Italy? Switzerland?

I was closer to the latter but the sign before the border control said nix-Italy.

And the sign over there says Switzerland.

If a body met a body coming through the dell...