The route of flight took me from Phoenix to Atlanta where I almost boarded a flight for Dakar (capital of Senegal, West Africa) at a gate adjacent to my Paris one.  The thing that warned me off of it was that I wasn't hearing any English around me. :-)

We arrived in Paris in an early morning that looked like the dead of night.  When the sun came out eventually, images of a busy Charles de Gaulle airport slowly emerged from darkness, as if taking an unhurried, leisurely bath in gentle autumn sunshine.  The two beauties in the rightmost shot - the left one in the Trevi fountain in Rome; the right one looking like a female gladiator in the Coliseum while hovering over her babies - are a good example of how different advertising in Europe is from that in prudish America.  The one on the right is covered with just enough fur on her back to suggest wild passion of a lioness. The one on the left is wearing a dreamy dress that leaves little to the imagination.  And what are they selling?  Italian espresso!  What a wake up call on an early morning...

It was interesting to see a model of the Anglo-French supersonic jet, the now mothballed Concorde, still on display along one of the Paris runways.  The Austrian Air jet, and Airbus 320, also made by the French, may not be pushing the technological envelope the way the Concorde did, but is giving Boeing the run for its money in short haul intercontinental routes.

When we took off, the first thought that crossed my mind was, "Oh my God... Paris is looking just like Phoenix."  What I meant was the yellow pollution haze, that the car exhaust generate, was looking very much the same in both places at this time of the year.  Nevertheless, you could still see enough of the city below to discern its various districts and famous landmarks.  I have marked some of them for you in case you're not familiar with the Paris layout.

Following a 180-degree turn after the takeoff, you could see the airport from which we had just taken off, how a tiny spec on the horizon (right).

Vienna - Day 1

The 1:40 min-flight to Vienna seemed like a walk in the park after the two much longer earlier segments.  But the first site we saw after starting our descent was not Vienna, nor even Austria. 

It was the Lake Balaton, which lies in southwestern Hungary (left). But not even something is pretty as a lake could hide the gloom of the heavy foreboding clouds that hung over this part of Europe.  During our approach to the Vienna airport, one could see no signs of fall.  The fields were still green, and trees had not started turning yet (middle), which is extraordinary for this late in October.  Later on, my limo driver was lamenting that the climate had changed all through the year, so that the winters are now also warmer.  Sounded like the same familiar global warming story I heard in Peru, Canada as well as Australia.

The gloomy skies persisted during the drive to my hotel.  The two ravens, perched on a bridge railing, seemed to add special spooky character to the scene (right).  "Here I go again," I thought, "being trailed by birds everywhere..."

I spend most of the rest of the afternoon and evening battling the iBahn network that my hotel (far right) uses for internet access.  I'll spare you the details. It suffices to say that my internet connection worked better in the Sacred Valley of the Inkas in Peru, or in the mountains of Montenegro, than it did here in Vienna or a few months ago in London.  It is only by the grace of God, and my stubborn determiination to tear down the techno-geek walls, that you are seeing this text and images.

Hm, maybe there is a hint here as to where I should, or should not be traveling...

Vienna - Day 2

VIENNA, Oct 24 - This Friday turned out to be a little brighter than the gloomy Thursday in Vienna, but also quite a bit colder.  Maybe that will accelerate the arrival of the fall...

Meanwhile, you can also see from the above images of the main Vienna city park, taken from in front of my hotel, that the trees look as if it were early fall rather than late October.

I am guessing that the temperatures even at noon did not rise much above 40F.

I am saying at noon, because that's when I arrived at St. Stephan's square, the heart of Vienna, to meet some of my young family and go for a walk with them.  While waiting for them, I heard a wonderful sound of church bells coming from the St. Stephan's cathedral (above).  You can hear them yourself from this short video clip...

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The center of Vienna is a basically a pedestrian mall.  Which makes the Austrian capital one of the most people-friendly cities I have been to.  Take a look...

Another thing that Vienna is famous for besides Wiener Schnitzels are its sweets and coffee shops. 

They attract the young and the old with their delectable desserts. 

(I have blurred the face of my grandson in the these shots to protect his privacy.  Family and friends who have my private User ID and password for access to personal section of my web site can see unaltered images there in a special wedding folder). 

And that's all she wrote from the first two days in Paris and Vienna.

Vienna: A Street Piano Concert

P.S. It would appear that I had signed off too soon on Friday evening, Oct 24.  For, on my way back from a meeting with my daughter, an invisible hand led me again to a marvelous experience.  As I was approaching the Kaertnerstrasse (the main drag in Vienna), I heard sounds of music.  No, not the "Sound of Music," a famous 1960s musical set in Austria.  It was Chopin's Polonaise that I used to play in my youth when I was really good on the piano. 

I followed the sound till I got to the part of the street where a crowd had gathered.  That's where I saw a Chinese pianist, a recorded artist, play this beautiful piece.  I immediately whipped my camera a recorded these two short video clips...

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This where a women interrupted my filming to give me something I had dropped on the ground.  The recording continued in the next clip...

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I stayed a little while longer enjoying her music, as she switched from Chopin to Beethoven.  The crowd loved it, too.  She got a long applause at the end.

That evening, we also had a "rehearsal dinner" at a new restaurant near my hotel (left).  The food was good, but the service was slow and the air smoky.  In Austria, they didn't seem to get the memo on cancer sticks.  "Everybody" still smokes.  But the worst part is that they still let them do it indoors, even at my hotel or at the airport, for example, not just in bars or restaurants.

On my way back to the hotel, I walked past a gun shop that displayed some pretty lethal weapons (right).  And here I thought that the Austrians were peace-loving people.  :-)

And now, that's indeed all she wrote on this Friday, Oct 24, from Vienna.