It took Phineas Fogg 80 days to go all the way around the world. It took Jonathan and I twenty-five hours to go from lovely Capriglia-by-the-Sea to Anchorage, Alaska, ten times zones away, to see my all-grown-up-now baby. But we might just have well have gone all the way to Alpha Centauri for the difference in culture from our tranquil little world in the olive groves.

An example: We took Tris to a store to buy some new clothes and there were many, many large taxidermed animals strewn about the place. But even weirder (to our no-longer-inured-to-America ears) was our conversation with the chatty and jovial cashier. Here is a transcript of our conversation, as exact as I can remember it:

Her (referring to the previous little boy in line): He just passed his driver's test.

Me: Wow -- he looks so young.

Her (laughing): Well, up here, they can get them at 14. You can start working at 14, too. That's when I started working. At one of those places with the trays (looking at Tris and laughing more.) You wouldn't remember them.

Me: A cafeteria. We used to go to Furr's Cafeteria every Friday to eat with my grandparents.

Her (still laughing): That's it -- Furr's cafeteria. That was one of the big chains (really laughing up a storm now.) That was were the first mass shooting ever was -- in a Furr's Cafeteria in Texas. A guy went in with a gun and just mowed everybody down. When my mother heard about it, she said, 'Well, he went to high school with me!' (Uproarious laughter)"

Me (backing away slowly): Have a nice day.

We are not in Capriglia any more, Toto.