I have learned that time flies when you’re having fun. At dinner tonight I was shocked to discover that tonight is Thursday rather than Wednesday. I usually write my blog on Wednesday. If I don’t get it done now, there won’t be a blog this week, so here goes.

I have learned that I am old–officially old. On the trip over, two different men jumped up and helped me put my bags in the overhead bin. Two other men—(gentlemen as in gentle men) helped me lug my luggage down the rolling stairs from aircraft to ground. (Americans are spoiled. We expect jet-ways as opposed to stairs. Roll-aboards work on jetways. Lugging luggage is challenging.) And when I got on buses to get from aircraft to terminals, two young women (gentle women) offered me their seats. I accepted the help. I was grateful, , and I said thank you.

But the whole episode reminded me of a letter to Dear Abby or Ask Amy or Carolyn Hax or Ann Landers. (One of those, because those are the ones I read.) The angry young woman who wrote in was pregnant. (That’s how I know she’s young.) How do I know she’s angry? Keep reading. She went to a social event—at one of her other children’s schools, I believe. There was no place to sit, so she sat on the floor. A man near by—a gentle man nearby—offered her his seat which she did not accept because “he was defining her by her pregnancy.” (See, that’s how I know she’s angry, to say nothing of RUDE! which, as it happens, means I am defining her by her behavior!) In addition, the very fact that the man offered her his seat was an example of his toxicity masculinity to say nothing of his privilege! Are you getting this? He offered her his chair and he is somehow in the wrong! What’s wrong with this picture? What’s wrong with her?

So on this trip, every time someone has done something kind for me, (like lifting my luggage), I have said thank you. I have NOT berated them for defining me as being old because, guess what, that’s exactly what I AM old—old as dirt!

I have learned that, not only am I old, I’m also old fashioned. In Monaco, we stayed at the Hermitage Hotel which happens to have a lovely, fine dining restaurant where Bill and I had wonderful food followed by the best desserts we have ever tasted. Unfortunately several of the other people in the room were Ugly Americans, wear-dated millennials, who were far too busy taking photos of their food to actually eat it. And they spent their time taking selfies both in the restaurant and out on the seaside patio.

They reminded me for all the world of a group of toddlers—the ones whose parental units have no common sense—and their kids are allowed to run rampant in restaurants—disturbing other guests, tripping the wait-staff, knocking over things, and just generally creating havoc. I wanted to stand up and say, “SIT DOWN AND EAT!” That’s what I wanted to say—I did not say it.

Each room on the Silver Whisper has it’s own assigned butler. When ours came by to see us for the first time this week, he introduced himself as Reynaldo. I almost fell into the hallway. People who have read Man Overboard will get this joke.

Yesterday in Antibes we took a four hour guided tour in a 1953 Citroën. It was wonderful. First gear grinds because, as Bill tells me, the gears aren’t synchronized. I guess that came later. What I can tell you for sure, however, is that the back seat of that 1953 antique had way more leg room than the new Cadillac we rented in the States a couple of months ago. Since we’re still on some other time zone, I spent a lot of my time in that back seat, snoozing. And loving every minute of it! Because, guess what, I AM OLD!

Today we drove from Porto Fino to Genoa where we had a wonderful pesto-based lunch at Zefferino’s. The restaurant was established in 1939. The chef, who is 78, is the son of the original owner. He’s also the guy who made the pesto. The man who served our lunch is the son of the chef and the grandson of the original owner. All of which leads me to say that age is a wonderful thing.

I would write more, but I’m falling asleep right now, and tomorrow is another day of cruising and wine tasting.

See you later.