Sharky:

One of the things I have always liked about Europe is your ancient cities steeped in tradition and architecture. Being a music fan, I remember one of the times I was in Paris and went to Notre Dame. The organist was practicing on the principal organ. I stood there for about an hour listening to some incomparable music.

Then another time, I was in Roma with a business associate and his wife. We had flown into Roma the previous day and were going to a week long conference in Firenze on the next day. Having wakened early in the morning, I retrieved my rental car from the hotel garage and drove all over the old city. Being very early in the morning, there were no people yet out on the streets. As a consequence, I was able to drive right up to the sights and park right in front of them, go in and do my sight seeing. Everything was deserted at that time of the morning. Then I came back and met my associates for breakfeast.

On our way out of town, we stopped by the Vatican. After passing through security ( the attempt on the Popes life had been the year before) we proceeded into Saint Peters. We had been in St. Peters for about fifteen minutes when suddenly the trumpets blared and the procession of Cardinals began. Pope John Paul passed about 4 feet in front of me.

We then proceeded up to Firenze. All in all, a delightful day capped by the magnificence of Firenze.

We too have some magnificent cities in the US and Canada that I am sure you would enjoy. New York, Montreal, Toronto, New Orleans, Miami, Quebec City, Denver, Vancouver, etc.

Brian