Another glimpse into Pisa

Since we visit Pisa quite regularly & I've posted on it before, I only took a couple pics this time. Had to show Pisa in the spring & needed to post one of the NetJets hat in Pisa :)

Since the weather was GREAT there this time, we got out of the hotel a lot more. I actually found during my morning run, that the perimeter around the ancient city wall on the north side of the river, is a little less than 4 miles. I've jogged around airports larger than that! It's truly amazing how much they crammed within the walls of these old cities in Europe.

We also found (as expected), that as the weather gets nicer, the crowds get larger, prices rise & hotel availability drops!

Was another great trip to the Tuscan region of Italy & I always look forward to returning!

Here's a shot of what's left of one of the ancient Roman bath houses. In the background, you can see a part of the Ancient city wall. Surprisingly, much of the old city wall around Pisa is still stand & much of that is north of the River Arno, which bisects the city.

A taste of Cyprus

Our latest trip took me to the city of Pafos on the southwest coast of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. We were only on the ground there for one & a half days so we had to make it count. First day there, we headed across the street from our beach front hotel (Venus Beach Resort) to a place that rented various autos. We chose the open cockpit Dingo.

Cyprus has been independant from Great Britian since 1960 & although the primary language is Greek, we found that everyone spoke very good English. The people were all very friendly & helpful, as tourism is one of the primary industries of the island (along with wine production).

Cyprus is a great place for outdoors lovers to visit. There are many hiking & biking trails, as well as places to fish or just sit on the beach. In the winter months the Troodo Mountains offer cross-country & downhill skiing as well as my favorite, snowboarding. The peak of Mount Olympos is near the center of the island, rising to 6,400' above sea level.

This Dingo was made for off-road travel, but was a fun ride on the road with no windows & street tires! :)

That's right, since Cyprus was a British colony at one time, so they do drive on the left side of the road. Thankfully, I only found myself on the wrong side of the road once after traversing our way part-way around a traffic circle in a clockwise direction (rather that the more familiar counter-clockwise direction). This did of course cause a mass of horn honking & my quick response on the reverse gear! :)

Anas takes a turn at driving in the mountains & I find out that without an instrument panel on the left side of the vehicle, there is NOTHING to deflect the bugs away from one's face!

Now for a little snorkeling in the Med. The water was VERY clear & a little cool (by Egyptian standards, Anas said). Not a whole lot of life to be found here, but a good place to practice for me, before our planned snorkeling (& maybe scubba) trip to the Red Sea later this summer.

In this area, there were many small valleys in the rocks, that ran right up onto the shore.

Most of the fish that I did find here weren't more than about 6" long.

My Office

Here's a few pics of our plane (2001 Cessna Citation Excel) on the ramp in Naples, Italy. Fresh out of the service center in Paris, with a wash & buff job!

Paris, France

Got to enjoy a couple days in Paris while we waited for the Cessna Citation Service Center to perform some scheduled maintenance on our bird. Weather was pretty nice here with temps in the low to mid 50’s…much better that when I was last there in mid January.


I tried to get a good picture of the Eiffel Tower on the way into the airport, but the bumpy air was working against me. If you look real close you can just make it out in the top left quadrent of this pic.

Unfortunately we didn't go up in the Eiffel Tower because of the long lines. Will have to get there earlier next time.




Welcome to The Louvre. This is one BIG museum of mostly paintings & sculptures!

Yes, this is the real / original Mona Lisa (as far as I know :)

Me & Anas relaxing by a large fountain outside The Louvre.

Waiting for the metro.

They sure do have large metro cars here...two levels on some!