THEY DIDN'T EVEN STAMP MY PASSPORT. Betsy's Page picks up a story about the French engaging in introspection over whether their border guards turn tourists off.

The report also attacks immigration officers for giving a bad impression of the country, singling out those at the Eurostar terminal in London. "Instead of behaving like ambassadors for France, they don't even respond to 'hello' or a smile," it says.

True enough. The inspector flipped through my passport, handed it back, didn't say a word. The British, on the other hand, require passengers to fill in a landing card if they're from other than Common Market (oops, European Union) countries and they stamp passports. I thus have two UK entry stamps but no French, German, or Austrian entry stamps.