Pictures of Malta

I have a bit of time before I have to leave for the airport so I thought I'd add some pictures from Malta.

The island is steep in places, and these stairs were built so the knights could clank up to their lodgings from the fortress. Apparently, you can't step up too high when you're in full armor.

Many of the street corners contain these niches with saints and other statuary. This one made me think “… and your little dog, too!”

This is a view of Fort Elmo at Valetta (the main city), hanging over the side from Upper Barracca Gardens.

The Siege Bell Memorial. Malta’s been conquered, a lot. The signs warn people that the bell is rung at noon.

Kids having fun after school.



Part of the view across the harbor. You can see how high the walls were built.


This is at dusk, looking towards Fort Elmo.



Me at one of the old temples, Mnajdra. It may have been built 3000 years BC, they're not sure exactly, but it's oneof the oldest structures on the planet.



The "Silent City" of Mdina. Built to be defensible, no street is longer in a straight line than an arrow can fly.


Looking out over one of the canyons, to the main bus terminal and our hotel, the Phoencian.

Another Frankfurt Story

So, our flight to Malta was routed through Frankfurt. And I now have another ‘don’t fly through Frankfurt” story.

Our flight was delayed due to thick ground fog, so we landed 10 minutes late. We had barely 40 minutes to get our connecting flight. We came into the ‘A’ terminal, somewhere in the 20s – it was hard to see. Our connecting flight was out of gate B55. Frankfurt is a huge airport – bigger than Dallas Fort Worth, more spread out. We had looked at the terminal layout in the flight magazine and saw an underground tunnel to get from A to B.

We walked and walked, and finally got to the tunnel. Walked through it and finally got to A – it took about 25 minutes. We did have to go through security again on the way. No problem there, everyone was waiting to board. When they let us through, we all got onto a bus. It pulled away and started heading towards the tarmac; I thought we’d get to a plane and head up outside steps to board. But we kept going. Passed the lower gates of B, kept going. Crossed a wide open expanse with lots of other ground traffic, kept going and going.

Finally we came to a plane, and we were let out to climb up the outside steps. I looked up, and we were parked at gate A26. … Wasn’t that the gate we’d arrived at? Once we got inside, Logan asked the flight attendant. Indeed, that plane had just come in from Munich. The same @#!!! plane from the same !@##!! airline! But it took us almost an hour to get there.

“Sibirische Kalte” and other stuff

Well it’s really cold here. I’m happy we’re not in Paris or Berlin, as the temp in Munich is merely -11 C, instead of -26. We have the blessing of bright sunny days, which helps make up for the cold. I am again really happy to be so close to the Ubahn station, today I zipped down there & took the train 1 stop to Karstadt, to do my grocery shopping. I did walk that far earlier, to go to the health club. I didn’t want to make that walk twice. Even in my big puffy coat, and with my big puffy boots, the cold seeped in quickly.

A week ago, I attended a memorial service for Susan, one of the ladies in the club. She was what I now consider to be young – 57 – when she died of cancer in the fall. I did not know her well, but the general feeling was ‘we in the club support each other’ so I went. Sadly, during one of the tributes, her friend mentioned the first time she’d seen Susan (when they met, just 4 years ago), she was larger than life, a wine in one hand & a cigarette in the other. Oof. DON’T SMOKE! STOP SMOKING! It’s deadly! And the health problems sneak up on you when you’re in your prime – kids just grown, you’ve sorted out all the career muddle, traveling the world.

Over the weekend, we sought a break from the cold. Logan booked us a flight to Malta, the farthest he could get us south in Europe. And as a plus (and the deciding factor) they speak English there. Had a great time wandering the island, marveling at the massive fortifications and learning quite a bit of history. I must have been asleep when they talked about Malta in the context of WWII – there were over 3500 bombing sorties over Malta, as it was so strategically important to the allied forces. It’s very close to North Africa and Italy, and served as an airplane and submarine base. The pictures of the rubble were astounding. 1 in 200 Maltese lost their lives, 1 in 70 was injured. And this type of conquest has been going on for centuries - Phonecians, Romans, Turks, etc. Fortunately, current pop culture has not overtaken them yet. And Malta & Gozo (the other island just a 15-min helicopter ride away) have some of the oldest standing stone temples on the planet. It was fascinating to walk around them. Of course, the weather wasn’t great, but that also keeps down on the number of tourists. It was much like Northern California now – cool, rainy and windy. But it wasn’t Siberian!

Fairy Tale Sights

The weather broke 5 days ago, and it's been foggy in the mornings and clear throughout the day. This has led to hoarfrost, formed by the fog. The place looks like a winter wonderland until it melts (or sublimates - it's been cold!)

Today I had a 'field trip'. I've been dragooned to be secretary for Ladies International Association for 2006. We are recruiting new members, and early this morning Jackie, the Prez, picked me up & we drove to the Munich International School close to Starnberg Lake, to talk with their PTO about our club. I took these pics on the grounds of the school. Would have taken more but it was -13 Celsius and my fingers couldn't take the cold - I can't work the camera with my gloves on.

Catching up with pictures

Here are some pictures I took at the local Weihnachts markt, before the weather closed in (and they closed down). These were taken at the Munchner Freiheit market, around Dec 20th. I visited 6 of these markets, which sprout on the first Advent weekend (end of November). They all were different. One was very small, maybe 10 stalls, all selling figurines to put in your creche. (Have I mentioned how overtly catholic Bavaria is?) One was a 'middle ages' market, and had only handcraft like candles, felt hats & scarves, wooden toys, teas, etc. The overall images was great, all the vendors were in period costume and the music was non-electrified. But the giant Christmas tree lit by LEDS in the middle of it all kinda ruined the effect.

This market, near our apartment, also focused on local handcraft: jewelry, pottery, clothing, toys, lots of decorative things for the home and garden, and food & drink. I miss it now, the plaza seems very empty & cold in comparison.

New Years Eve recovery

It's taken a while to catch up on sleep! Not much happening this week; Gayle is back so Breeze went home on Wednesday. I miss her, what a sweet cat!

Found some pictures of the fireworks at the Freedom Angel on New Years Eve on the Toytown site, and Adrian has graciously consented to me reposting them here. You can see, in the dark, the people at the side of the road and the fireworks going off overhead:

New Years Eve madness in Munich

A little background - Logan had the week off between Christmas & New Years. He was going to rent a car but was not able to as he's in progress to get his German license, and the clerk wouldn't accept the paper saying that at the rental desk. (The previous clerk did.) So we spent time exploring the city.

On Dec 27th, the stores reopened here and we went shopping. Got me a pair of ski gloves, which I have been using every day, and got Logan a couple winter coats (good sale prices). And the next day, we went shoe shopping. He got a nicer pair of waterproof shoes and I got a great pair of warm boots.

Good thing we did that shopping, too. On Dec 30th, it was -5 Celsius here. I think that translates to about 10 degrees F. Freaking COLD!!

Fortunately, on the 31st, we had a warm spell. It was +10, which is low 40s. Everything was melting, and we wandered around during daylight exploring a part of town we hadn't really seen yet.

On New Year's Eve we stayed home for dinner, then prepped a bit for going to a friend's dinner the next day - I made a gingerbread & an appetizer. (Did this mostly to stay awake!) Then at 11:00 we left the house & went to the river Isar, east of us.

We got off the train and above ground about 11:50, and followed the crowd to the river. Well, let me tell you, it was a celebration like I've never seen. First of all, everyone carries a bottle or two of bubbly. Most people had glass champagne flutes too. (We saw a few people using disposable cups, and some drinking out of the bottles, but they were the minority.)

Second, from Dec 27th through store closing on New Year's Eve, in Munich, you can buy fireworks. So everyone loads up, heads outdoors and starts setting them off. We heard a few bangs going off all night. And heard a few in the subway stations - people do set them off there.

We ended up at at the Maximillians bridge over the river which was lined with people 4 to 5 deep both sides. Lots were setting up bottle rockets. A few were lit beforehand. Sometimes guys were lighting small bangers that they'd toss in the crowd, down low. At midnight, things really started exploding. You are literally in the middle of a fireworks display. They're going off in all directions, mostly overhead. But you gotta keep alert, because people (and it was by far mostly boy-type people) don't particularly care who's nearby when it goes off so they just light 'em and step back themselves a couple steps. Plus, some people are pretty wasted by this time. Some of the bottle rockets were going a bit more horizontally that I would have liked.

Some people had sparklers, and there were thousands of bottle rockets, some were ground displays that sprayed up like a fountain of colored light. We made our way to the edge of the crowd at the bridge, where it seemed safer, and watched for a bit. Then we walked along a river path to the Luitpold bridge and the Freedom Angel monument. This area has multiple levels, the east bank of the river is much higher than the west bank. The monument is high on the west bank, and the street curves down to bridge level. There are stairs down from the monument to a fountain plaza at bridge level. There, the street over the bridge and up to the monument was closed off. Some people were shooting off very elaborate displays and some that looked like "real" fireworks - very high cascades of golden sparks, with stage 2 and sometimes 3 extra explosions and more sparks. This area is one of the best known, and hence most crowded areas.


Took this picture of the monument back in March. The picture below is a view from the base of the monument looking down to the fountains (covered to prevent freezing) and the street and bridge. This the the area that was blocked off and covered with people setting off the fireworks.







It was still warm, the fog was rising off the river. All the smoke from the fireworks collected, making things very misty and blurry. The barrage lasted for at least 30 minutes. We could see other places in the city where the fireworks were going off, too. There are some bridges over the river where you can see a ways up & down stream, to other bridges. I'd like to be there next year.

We started making our way home, and walked a mile or so back to a train station. Passed some more displays on the way, trying to stop & watch the overhead ones while avoiding the ground-level explosions. We got off the train at Munchner Freiheit, the big plaza near our house. Just littered with spent fireworks and bottles. And this is an area surrounded by buildings. My head was ringing from all the percussion where we had been, I was glad we had gone to the river because I think being among buildings with all the bangs and echoes might have been too much for my poor ears! Got home a little after one. We could still hear random bursts from different directions, pretty much all night.