Navidad 2009

Here are some updates from Christmas and New Years travels with my Dad and his wife Diana.

Malta was kind of a Middle-Eastern Mediterranean where they spoke Maltese, some Italian and English as a second language. A place rich in history but quite small probably less land mass than Idaho, but more saint’s bones and supposed historical New Testament connections. We went for a harbor cruise in a colorful boat. The tour guide’s English consisted of the memorized tour, spoken with a quizzical and somewhat understandable accent. We were chilly in the wind, wearing just shirts in the sun, but thankfully the sun shone until we got into port and safely made it to a café before the downpour. We soaked ourselves in the rain exchanging buses and getting to the hotel, but it was fun. Dad and I enjoyed the pool and sauna quite a bit at the resort. It was nice to be warm in the shower, as the showers as the residence change temperature with every few button pushes. The food was good, delicious and relatively cheap brazil nuts, figs and yoghurts. We were in a bit of a tourist trap area, but we enjoyed olives and other treats. A qassatat is a Maltese sort of empanada type “snack”. I had a few good ones with olives and spinach. Hm. Valleta was a lovely port town, hosting small shops, lots of cafes, foreigners and Maltese alike, St. John’s co-cathedral, with a floor of decorated marble knights’ tombstones and a tapestry hall. I love seeing old tapestries that stretch way above my head, are hard to see in the lighting provided to protect the fabric and are so detailed, but with completely yarn-dyed woven designs. We saw Sliema, Mdina, Rabat and St. Paul’s catacombs, which could be explored at your own pace more than those of the Appian way in Rome, which was cool. We saw the sunset from the lookout on Mdina. The was a beautiful and fully red sky and over half of the island was visible from the viewpoint.

I spent a relaxed New Year’s Eve and didn’t stay up until midnight, but was up by 9 AM the next day to celebrate Idaho’s New Year’s Eve with a sauna trip. J I contemplated New Year’s resolutions... including learn French, brush up Adobe Illustrator, train up to and do the Camino de Santiago, help Alli with her business idea and apply to work at an Embassy, learn to play harmonica, play guitar and volunteer...