Should be sleeping, but thoughts of what I have seen so far are keeping me awake. My first thoughts of Malta: Small. Mix of Greece and Italy. An exotic place full of history.
Jenny's house is quite nice. Looks more like a museum than a house. Outside her window you can see the University and hospital along with the street below that has a wire fence holding in a horse and a deer. Random? A little. The ocean is visible, but you can't smell it. The roads are even smaller than in England as are the cars.
Malta is a cool place in some aspects. Cool from a history point of view that it is still being rebuilt after the Second World War. The Opera House is still in ruins as are a few buildings in Three Cities. Malta is fixing some of the roads though because the Pope is coming next week. Their are signs all over the place announcing his visit.
The first night, we went down to Three Cities. It's by the harbor and a cool part of Malta. Very beautiful. There are churches EVERYWHERE! I heard one for every day of the year, which I actually believe. The old ones have at least two clocks with different times... why you ask? To confuse the devil. Apparently saints have Rolex's. The harbor is full of boats, most of them privately owned and it costs a lot of money to keep your boat there. We went by one beach that was full of foreign students who come to Malta to improve their English. Jenny said that they are all annoying and drinking and partying is code for improving their English. I met Jenny's best friend Max who was IN GLADIATOR!!!!!! She was one of the children sitting on the steps when Lucilla and Commodus ride back into Rome. So have to rewatch that scene and figure out which one is Max.
(Down in Three Cities)
We got dinner and I had pizza (shocker, I know) and then we went to the movies to see Kick Ass. We are a sick culture to laugh at that movie, and yet I did. An 11 year old is killing EVERYONE and it was funny. And for some reason Nicholas Cage was trying to be William Shatner which was hilarious. I met more of Jenny's friends though and I found them pretty cool.
On Thursday, we went to Valletta, which is the capital city. I got to ride on a Malta bus!!! Haha, well I've never ridden one, but it reminded me of an old Southern bus and I thought I'd be seeing Rosa Parks. It was so hot on the bus!!
(Malta bus)
We walked around a little bit, I got postcards to send to Auntie Helen and Grammy and wrote them while sitting in front of the President's House. We went down to the water around St. Elmo's and saw the bell that the British gave to Malta for their help during the War. After that and failing at trying to tan, we went to The Pub. Ollie's Last Pub. Where Oliver Reed died. I sat in his chair! AHHHHHHH! He had a heart attack after multiple bottles of liquid (rum or vodka) and arm wrestling Royal Navy sailors. Hehehe. I signed the book and yes ended it with, "What we do in life echoes in eternity". I had to. Someone else put Strength and Honor.
The pub itself is so cool. It gives a new meaning to the phrase, "Hole in the Wall", because it looked like someone had dug into the stone and set up a bar. The ceiling was jagged and stone like. It was very small maybe six tables and few bar stools. I got served Bulmers from a can. A CAN! I buy cans at Costcutter, but put it in a pint glass and it tastes the same. I was so amused though. On the walls, one side had Oliver Reed pictures and articles from his death and the other side was for the Royal Navy. It is a traditional British pub. There are a lot of regulars and we got to talk to a few.
One guy was from Scotland, from Fife, I believe and he was on the last ship out of Malta when the British left. He's come back and might settle in the area. I have to read up on my Scottish history because we were talking about William Wallace and the other figures from that time and what I learned in Scotland was different from what they were talking about. Ugh. So must do my own research. There was another guy, this one from England, who lived in Canada for awhile and was on the Antarctica Survey Team. That was cool. He was a big guy and he stood up to show me his jacket and nearly fell over. Haha. It was like 4pm. I tried to talk hockey with him, but he just complained about TV timeouts in American sports and how it disrupts the game.
I really enjoyed my time in the pub. Graham was closing early because he's the only one working behind the bar. His wife does help out, but she had an operation so she's recovering. I'm so glad though that Jenny texted him or we would have missed out on the pub. I would have cried.
The weather was okay, warmish but very windy. I had a coat with me at all times.
I'll finish my Malta post tomorrow, I still have Friday and the chaos of going home.
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