Life As I See It

The leg is better, I’m getting around but I still need to rest it on occasion. We’ve covered a lot of ground. We went to the Blue Grotto, Mosta church, and Mdina today. The blue grotto is just a quick boat ride along some of the cliffs on the southern side of the island. They take you into some shallow caves and the water looks really blue. It was a lot of fun, and I only got the occasional spray from the surf.

The Mosta church has the third largest unsupported dome in Europe. It is pretty impressive. They had an incident during WWII where a German bomb came through the dome during a service. It didn’t go off and no one was hurt…

The highlight of the day for me was Mdina. It is called the silent city and is the original capital of the Island. We didn’t actually see a lot of the place, we went into the cathedral and its museum. The cathedral is beautiful of course, it isn’t as large as some of the famous ones in Europe, but it is densely appointed inside. Lots of marble, gilt things, etc. They’re very impressive. We’ve seen two so far, one in Gozo and the one today. We actually thought that the St. Paul’s shipwreck church was one of the better ones we’ve seen. That’s in Valetta and we stopped in on a whim, good thing we did. You’re not allowed to take pictures in the churches, it’s too dark anyway, just take my word for it that they are worth seeing…

The plan for tomorrow is that we’re going to wander around and see if anything is open. This place is extremely Catholic and it isn’t clear if anything will be open or not. Looks like a pretty leisurely day is shaping up…

Isaac

It didn’t start auspiciously, I told the desk to wake us up at 7:00, when I got out of the shower, Beth informed me that they were an hour early… grrr…. anyway, we took the ferry to Gozo, the smaller, sister island of Malta to look around. I booked a tour for this, it would get us to a lot of different places quickly and we could always go back later if we felt that we missed something. Despite feeling like cattle on a couple of occaisions, I think that it went well. The highlights, IMO, were Ta Pinu, a basilica built on the sight of visitations of Mary, the cathedral on Gozo, and the citadel. Gozo is only 5×7 miles with a population of 28,000, yet they have 40 churches there! That doesn’t include the numerous wayside chapels. I’m pretty sure that it is the smallest diocese in the world… I’ll put some labels on the pictures soon, With any luck, we’ll get to see Valetta tomorrow…

Isaac

Beth and I got back from a day on Gozo, it was quite nice and the pictures are now up on my site. I’ll get around to adding some descriptions soon, and I’ll even write about the trip itself, but not right now, maybe tomorrow…

Isaac

OK, this is long, and I swear, a lot. So if you are offended by f bombs a la “Planes, Trains, and automobiles, do not

Did a few things different to the web page. Most of the stuff was behind the scenes, but there are a few noticeable things as well. You can now go directly to my pictures on Flickr from the main page. I’ve gotten rid of the gallery section of my site. Let me know if something looks weird….

www.homepage.mac.com/isaacc7

Isaac

Hope that everyone is having a good time. I finally got out of St. Julians today and went to Valetta. This is the capital of the country and was built all at once back in the 1400s I believe. The whole place is one big fort, quite interesting. They also have an extraordinary cathedral, although it doesn’t look it from the outside. I walked by it twice while looking for it! Anyway, I took some pictures and put them up. I’ll take more once Beth Gets here. The leg is sore, but I can walk around. My vacation can start!!! Everyone have fun, let’s make this year even better than the last…

Isaac

I am still being amazed at the stuff buried on my iTunes collection. Because I listen to such a huge variety of music, things get buried. And since I listen to it in a more or less random order, some things take years to get played. I had two interesting things come on today. The first was a bootleg recording of Sarah McGlachlan doing “Angel” Yes, I know that it was played to death on the radio, but this one was a duet with her and Sinead O’Connor. Let me tell you their voices are perfect compliments, a wonderful performance. I always think that it’s a crime to keep things like that from the public, why don’t they record it and sell it? I’m sure that it would have sold a bunch back when it was at it’s height of popularity.

The second song is from NOFX and is called “Lori Meyers.” I’ve always had a great respect for any artist that can throw our preconceived ideas back at us and show how strange they really are. Of course the best ones also hint that we should have them anyway. I like honest art, music in particular. Hole’s first album has always been exhibit “A” for me in this regard (“When I was a teenage whore”, etc..). This song is a quick snapshot of the same kind of brutal honesty that I love.

I booked some tours today and asked about all of the Italians showing up at once. It was crazy last night, I got out of the internet cafe around midnight and the place was swarming with young Italians. Most of them looked to be between 16(!) and 20, and the clubs were thumping. Apparently it’s like this every new years, they come on the 29th and leave on the 2nd. I wonder what the appeal is, I’m sure 16 year olds can drink in Italy as well. It’s probably just a cheap way to get away from the parents and party. It’s kind of nice, I feel like I’m in an actual vacation spot, and Italian is a nice language to listen to, even if it is usually shouted…

My leg is better today, but still sore. Now it’s an aggravation to walk 10 blocks, not a test of my willpower. I’m keeping up with the motrin and resting it. I’m hoping to go to the capital tomorrow and start seeing some sights! In the meantime, I’ll get some Arabic done (I keep telling myself this, maybe I’ll actually do some) and enjoy the broadband at the cafe:-)

Oh yeah, congratulations to my step sister Kelly! She is expecting her first child and it’s not twins!!!! There was some worry since Patrick’s family has a long history of twins, but they dodged it this time:-) Here’s to a an easy pregnancy and trouble free delivery! With any luck, I’ll be able to come see you before the big day. Until then, you’ll be in my thoughts and prayers…

Isaac

Well, casino at least, I’ve only been to one so far. Hopefully I’ll resist going to any other ones. The one I went to is supposed to be the largest, but it is incredibly small by American standards. They seem to be going for the “classy” feel, it is a pretty subdued atmosphere as compared to the casinos I’ve been in. They have machines scattered around the place, but they aren’t jam packed, I’ve actually had to look to find a machine that I would be interested in playing. I’ve always managed to find something to throw away my money on….:-) The table games are pretty limited, there’s no craps table, which I think is a mistake. It’s always the most exciting table out there, it always has the most energy and noise. I know, that’s really American, but it is fun. All they had was Roulette (Monte Carlo style, no double zero), blackjack, and dragonara poker. I usually camp out at the roulette table and have fun, but with the minimum bet at 5 Maltese Lira (around 15 bucks!), it was a bit too steep for me. I’m used to 50 cent chips… Still, it’s always fun to check these places out, and they managed to get money out of me…

Up until tonight, I though that I might be the only person in my entire building. I came home from the internet cafe and was stunned to see hoards of people checking into the hotel. When I left to go to dinner, I had to slip in between 10 or 12 families (scuzi, scuzi) to get out. They’re everywhere, and they’re loud. In the apartments, they are playing loud music with their doors open, just in case I can’t hear it… Here in the internet cafe, they are arguing, and shouting to each other, I wonder if they’re hard of hearing? Anyway, the whole place has come to life, it’s filled with people. Makes it a bit more bustling, and with more energy. I think it’s a good thing, but it was a real quick turnaround…

Isaac