I Found Someplace Older Than Me!

 

I'm going to Paris!  But, only for a couple of hours.  My final destination is Roccalvecce Italy, a Medieval hill town, with a couple nights in nearby Viterbo, on the way.

My travel has slowed.  Mostly because I hate to leave Buddy the Wonder Dog.  Also because I'm lazy.  And, travel costs money and every once in awhile, I hear my financial advisor start to mumble under his breath.  When I suggested another world cruise recently, he just laughed.

Anyway - this is my first big trip of 2026.  I write this blog to keep friends up to date on where I am, what I'm up to, but it's mostly for me.  A way to back and relive the fun.  Please excuse typos, etc but enjoy the photos.

Had to laugh when the photos loaded.  The sequence is backward, again.  Let's just pretend I meant to do that.

Morning view in Viterbo from my living room.

Ok, technically, this is the view.  But look over the roof - see the bells?  Which I heard at 8:00 a.m.

Just inside the main entrance to the apartment building where I've rented an AirBnB.  How cool are those copper pipes?

In the main square at about 8:30 on a Friday night.

They flew to Rome from where they live/work in Amman, Jordan, then spent hours waiting for me in the Rome airport.  Thanks, Matt, Lori and Eileen!

I've flown business class trans-atlantic before.  But I forgot how stingy they are with water.  When I got on the Paris/Rome flight, I had 4 of these little guys to make up for it.

This doesn't look like business class to me.

Seats in business class within Europe are the same as coach.  But, they don't put anyone in the center seat.  And, they fed me this, on a 2 hour flight.  Cold curried chicken (don't recommend).  Wonderful cheese and bread and a sort of cream puff that was good.

Those are my knees pressed into the seat in front of me.  I have long legs and it makes travel uncomfortable in coach.

America, what is wrong with us?  These are bathrooms in the Paris airport.  Notice that there are no gaps so people can see in?  Admittedly, these are in the business class lounge, but I visited the public toilet in the Rome airport - no gaps!

Paris let's you know where you are.

Nice weather flying into Paris but a bit chilly - about 55.

I opted for the express dinner on the 8 1/2 hour flight from Orlando to Paris.  Because it was 1:00 a.m.  Tasty.

My seat.  

Cool sinks in the lounge in Terminal C at MCO.

And giant videos of nature.

Not many flights at midnight.

TSA looks empty, right?  No.  There were as much space in front of me, packed with people in line for security.  No TSA pre-check.  It took almost an hour to get through security.  The line of cars waiting to get into Terminals A/B (domestic flights) was back to the 528  ramp (if you're not local, that's a couple miles from the terminals.

An old friend is taking care of Buddy and the house...Buddy seems to be fine with it, lol.

I was supposed to fly to Amman earlier to celebrate Eileen turning 9 but then Israel invaded Gaza.  So I brought a few gifts.