Apr 28, 2009 - Last day in Malta- well, sort of

So tomorrow we're off to Cyprus. I know exactly nothing about Cyprus, so I guess I'll be doing some internet research tonight. We come back here on the morning of the 5th, and leave again on the 7th- so we still have a day and a half, which will be the perfect amount of time to see the last couple of things I want to see. Today the caretaker of our guest house offered to take us around a bit, so we took him up on it. I'm pretty sure he's harmless. We went to a toy manufacturing plant called Playmobil, which has an indoor/outdoor playland...

Apr 27, 2009 - Recovery

Not much to report- we got up, had Chinese for lunch, and headed to the travel agent guy. He said that late Friday he got a smoking deal on tickets and hotel to Cyprus..and so we're going there instead of Tunisia. I really would like to see both places, but we can stay in Cyprus longer, and it's not an all inclusive, so we'll be out exploring the culture more. I have to go pick up the tickets tomorrow and we head out Wednesday. Tomorrow we will also take the bus to the ruins in the south...if it's not too windy. Today I have to hold Kadu's...

Apr 26, 2009 - Sicily

Not that I'm complaining, but a one day tour is no way to see Cicily. I got up at 4:30 am, got ready, got Kadu ready, and we were out the door ready for the van to take us to the ship at 5:30 sharp. Good thing, because it came at 5:35. The ride took exactly 90 minutes, so they played a kids movie about a talking chihuahua that Kadu seemed to enjoy- between exclaiming "Mom- dogs can't talk!" about a hundred times.In any case, it made the time go by. We docked in a town called Pozzallo, which looked to be quite pretty- although we just had a...

Apr 25, 2009 - Marsaxlokk

We succeeded in having a more low key day than yesterday if you can believe it. We rolled out of the hotel around noon and made our way to the bus station. There should have been a direct bus from our town of Sliema to Marsaxlokk, but we couldn't find it, so we went to Valletta to the main station to catch one. It gives me a little break to ride the bus, really. Kadu sits still, looks out the window, and sometimes even quits talking for a while. The bus ride from Valletta was around 30 minutes, so it was pretty relaxing. Marsaxlokk is this...

Apr 24, 2009 - St. Paul's Bay

Today we made a plan for the rest of our time here in Malta, which includes 2 side trips...one to Cicily and the other to Tunisia (N Africa). The way the days fall, we will only be able to do a day trip to Cicily, which will begin at 5:30 am and end at 11:30 pm. Good thing there is door to door service! We will be leaving Wed. for Tunisia, and fly back here on Sun. Then we'll have Mon.-Wed. to see anything I think we missed before going to Italy Thursday the 7th. After making the arrangements and watching Kadu take and hour to eat half a...

Apr 23, 2009 - De plane! De plane!

Sadly, when I taught Kadu how to point and yell that phrase, Devin and her friends had no idea what it meant..... Today we took a seaplane tour over the north side of Malta, did a figure 8 around Comino and Gozo, and came back over the south shore of Malta. Very cool. The weather was a little cloudy, but nothing like the last couple of rainy, windy days. Did I mention I hate wind? More than rain or even snow. A person can't think right when it's windy. I think I read that wind is why North Dakota has such a high suicide rate. In any case,...

Apr 22, 2009 - Recognizance Mission

So it turns out that the airline wants like $350 for us to change our tickets and go to Italy early. What I've decided to do instead is take a side trip to Cicily (90 minute boat trip) and possibly one to Tunisia (about the same). Today we went to the old city of Valletta to try and figure out when we can go/costs/etc. Turns out the ferry service to Cicily is every day, in and out of one of two main cities. We just have to decide our dates. You can to day trips with a tour sort of thing, but I'd rather stay 3 or 4 and wanderWe never did...

Apr 21, 2009 - Back in Malta

As much as I'm truly trying to write a little bit each day...there is absolutely nothing I can say about yesterday. I poured rain, we walked to eat lunch and came back to the hotel. Watched Wall-E on the laptop, had dinner at the hotel and went to bed. Too wet to do anything or go anywhere. Today we came back to Malta. I did enjoy Gozo, and I am very, very glad we decided to stay in the main city of Vitoria an take bus trips out every day. Life would have been more complicated and less entertaining had we stayed in the tiny village of...

Apr 19, 2009 - Marsalforn

Yesterday when Kadu and I were out and about in search of lunch, an older, chubby smiling taxi man of about 55 yrs old pulled over to ask if we needed to go anywhere. I smiled back and politely told him that we were just going to hang in town today. but thanks. He started to rattle off places he could take us and things that he could show us, and I figured he was just hustling and trying to make a buck- so I explained that we had been to all of the places he suggested, but thanks anyway. Finally he looked at me and asked "what do I have to...

Apr 18, 2009 - City Day

So I sent out the blog early yesterday, and nothing terribly exciting happened at night- unless you are Kadu boy. We walked to the town square for dinner, and found the weekend "get fit (especially you kids)" festivities were happening. The weather had turned quite cold, and we were of course not dressed for it because it had been so warm during the day. Anyway, we HAD to eat outside because there were dozens of boys in the square jumping over a ramp on their BMX bikes. A few more were skateboarding. Kadu was enthralled. HE wanted to know...

Apr 17, 2009 - Fabulous day with a capital F

Ahhh, What a difference a B-12 shot makes followed by a good night's sleep. I feel like a new person. My prescription was in my lost suitcase, and when I got it back I guess I just got distracted and put it off. I feel great! We got up relatively early and headed down to breakfast. Then it was off to Ta' Dbiegi to look at some hand made crafts- metal working, glass blowing, silver filigree, etc. To be honest, it was underwhelming. Although Kadu and I both thoroughly enjoyed watching the glass blowing. I would have bought a few things, but...

Apr 16, 2009 - It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Up and at 'em! Well, okay, we were really only at breakfast like 15 minutes earlier than yesterday, but at least today they weren't putting the food away when we arrived. Lots of sausage and eggs, so I'm trying to get Kadu to protein up before we head out. Today we went to Dwejra Bay. It was stunning, and I forgot the memory card to my camera. It was in my laptop from uploading yesterday. Damn. We liked the area so much that I told Kadu we could go back tomorrow. My camera let me take like 15 photos on it's internal hard drive, but then it...