Jawn: Anita’s right. You are romanticizing what was. The Med. isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Greece’s economy moved beyond swirling the bowl and is somewhere downstream of the toilet. Italy’s isn’t all that great either, same for Spain’s. There are some interesting genetic traits to deal with the climate down there. Go across to the other side of the Sea, and well, there’s not much grand over there.

Strange; northern Europe ranks pretty high in livability, including Norway, Sweden, etc.. Would love to go see it, if I could ever get enough tranquilizers to handle the flight. Haven’t had too many issues with the northern Europeans I encounter out in the Dakotas. Too bad none of the female Finns I’ve encountered are particularly interested… between my British Isles ancestry (queue up Welsh names) and the Finns’ apparent love for vowels in strange places, could have some interestingly named kids…