DL232 to CDG    Regular readers of this space (and Catholics may possibly earn a plenary indulgence for doing so) might think we’re still on the road since early March. But this is part two of our Eurail journey that picked up again on Easter Sunday, after an almost three-week hiatus, partly to host a visit […]

The 13:53 Frecciarossa (back) to Venice     Call it hitchhiking at 30,000 feet. Thanks to a perk Delta Airlines extended me after Carolyn’s passing, I am able to fly free on a standby status to wherever Delta flies. And I’m able to add a companion with the same status. Since I hitchhiked in Europe in the […]

   I was sitting quietly at a family dinner recently, when Carol’s older daughter April sat down next to me and said, “I know you don’t like to talk at these things, but I want to hear about your Lisbon plans.”    And so it was on one of our final days in Rome, Carol and I […]

  My first experience with the wine from the Frascati region outside Rome was way back in the 1980s introduced by a work colleague in upstate New York. I remember it as crisp and clean; the colder it was, the cleaner it tasted. Forty years later, Carol and I were in a van being driven to […]

   Photo credit: Carol Madigan Once in awhile, the Travel God (I call mine Claude) inserts themselves (yes, he is a trannie) to point out the narrow mindedness of my travel philosophy. This time it was to show me that all of Rome was not suffocatingly overrun by tourists dutifully checking off their “things to […]

Photo credit: Carol Madigan The 10:26 Frecciarossa to Rome     All roads lead to Rome, and all roads in Rome lead to the Colosseo. There’s little sense in going to Rome and not putting this, the Forum and Circus Maximus on your itinerary. The problem is every American in Bermuda shorts and legs like golf tees […]

Photo credit: Carol Madigan    The abrupt passing of my birthday having exhausted my supply of get-out-of-sightseeing-free cards, the remainder of our stay in Venice would be focused on seeing things. I was fine with this setback for two reasons. One, I could see the joy rise in Carol’s face as she saw the things she […]

The 11:45 Frecciarossa to Venice     I’m not big on birthdays, especially my own. In fact I’d wish they all just go away. Being non-social I just don’t like being the center of attention. And that pasted smile I feel compelled to maintain throughout the singing of Happy Birthday hurts my face. But the way this […]

  Photo credit: Carol Madigan  The remaining two days in Milan were to be framed by sightseeing, namely the Duomo de Milano, or the Milan cathedral, a castle and a basilica, neither of whose names I’m not bothering to look up. I’m not whining, mind you. I am quite happy to sightsee with Carol, because I […]

   As nicely located as our apartment was, there was no discernible couch, as had been pictured, and the programmable thermostat was set too low. It was cold. Carol theorized the bed was convertible and maintained that theory even after the manager assured her it was not. As we unfolded the bed and the couch began […]