Former BJ reporter John Dunphy, retired from the Orange County (California) Register, and wife Rebecca Allen are home in Lakewood, California after six weeks in Europe.

They had to wait on a KLM plane in Amsterdam for a few hours while mechanics looked for a screw to repair an oxygen mask door but, as Rebecca put it, “The landing at LAX (Los Angeles) was like butter spreading on a hot pancake. So smooth!”

Their Europe playpen included St. Denise de Pile (in southwest France on the Isle River,  Madrid, Genoa, Milan, Venice, Rome (The Vatican and the Trevi Fountain). 

Their host families were in Bordeaux, France and Madrid, Spain.