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Malta

Friday, April 7th, 2006

Cathedral of St. Paul
Cathedral of St. Paul

Kathy has already covered some of the annoyances of Malta (mainly the traffic), but I must admit that I rather like this country. Everything’s quite close together, the whole country being only about the size of a large city, and the buildings are just amazing. The one downside to the buildings is that almost all make use of an identical colour of stone on the outside, but once you get inside them, they are something to behold.

The picture is of St. Paul’s Cathedral, which Kathy touched on. The interior is almost entirely done up in marble and very colourful paintings.

– Neil

Some Thoughts on Malta

Friday, April 7th, 2006

We’ve added a few photos. We’ve only been able to upload one camera so far, not that there are many more pics on the other.

A few random thoughts about Malta:

Traffic is crazy. Everyone here drives, and they don’t necessarily obey the traffic laws (or rather, suggestions). The good thing is that there are a lot of cross walks, at least in the busier pedestrian areas, many marked by stop lights. Also, many vehicles here don’t appear to have mufflers (at least not effective ones) – it is very loud here, and we are getting weary of not being able to hear each other and having to repeat.

There is a LOT of Catholic iconography (is that the right word?) – many homes and doorways are adorned with small colourful images of Mary, and there are churches on every block (all of whom seem to ring their bells at least every hour – the one just down the street from the guesthouse rings every 15 minutes, even through the night, though it’s not bothersome enough to keep us from sleeping). Although the exterior of the buildings are very plain stone, the inside of the one cathedral that we visited today (St. Paul’s, in Mdina) was very colourful, and very ornate. The artwork was quite stunning, in one dome it was done in 3d – there appeared to be some mobiles or something similar hanging from the top of the dome, that blended in with the painting, that made it appear 3 dimensional. Quite unique.

The whole country seems to be under renovations. There are cranes and large trucks everywhere, and again on almost every block, there are one or more buildings that have either been demolished, or appear bombed out, that are being rebuilt. It’s neat to see very old buildings, nearby rather new buildings, with a bombed out shell in between them. I didn’t get a picture of it, but right near the gates of Valetta, there is a building that appears to have been almost totally bombed to the ground, only partial exterior walls remaining, that has been converted to a parking lot. Why rebuild it when you can use it for parking? On that note, it appears there are no rules for parking, except that if you park in some of these lots, don’t expect to get out until the end the day – many vehicles are quite literally blocked in.

~Kathy

The Day of the Living Dead

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

Our flights to London were long and relatively uneventful. Our seats wouldn't recline properly and we found it almost impossible to sleep on the transatlantic leg, so by the time we got to London, we were already feeling kind ... [Continue reading this entry]

No More House!

Wednesday, March 29th, 2006

Well, condo. It's all packed up, and we passed the keys on yesterday. I am now officially living out of a pack. 6 days to go!

I took my cats to my parents, who will babysit for the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Preparations Well Underway

Saturday, March 18th, 2006

Syrian Visa
Syrian Visa

Well, most of the preparations necessary for this trip are well underway. We've jumped through bureaucratic hoops and optained our Syrian visa...the only visa we can't ... [Continue reading this entry]

More Ticketses

Sunday, March 5th, 2006

Today we actually booked the flights to Cairo. It was a bit of a decision to make, as the original plan taking us through Copenhagen is no longer an option (go figure). So we had to decide on direct from ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ticketses

Saturday, March 4th, 2006
So we bought our first leg's tickets yesterday. Round trip Edmonton to London. And, wow, were they ever expensive. I'm glad I budgetted more than I expected to spend for the transatlantic leg, because we almost spent ... [Continue reading this entry]

Lights, cameras, action!

Monday, February 27th, 2006
We have an offer, a deposit, and condition removal date is Friday. If all goes well, possession is March 31, and we should be on a plane!! Thank you to everyone for all the support and encouragement, and I'm sure ... [Continue reading this entry]

It’s going to happen, I swear!

Sunday, February 19th, 2006

I just haven't sold the condo yet. This place is really targetted for a specific market, and I just haven't tapped it yet.

We're practically ready to go, otherwise. We have all the shots, most of the gear, most ... [Continue reading this entry]

Delays

Thursday, February 9th, 2006

I guess this blog is looking suspiciously dead. It is not. It is simply waiting for departure. I have all my funds together, but Kathy's plan is to sell her condo, so we have it listed, but not yet sold. ... [Continue reading this entry]