Ta' Marinton Victoria

We arrived this morning, everyone on the top deck to witness our entry into port. It was so windy up top that one almost fell over. I enjoyed playing Winged Victory while watching the coastline.
The harbor is fantastic, ancient fortified walls, forts, escarpments, limestone, cobblestones, towers, ships. The colors hurt the eye they are so brilliant. From the sea to the sky to the boats and wooden ...

I've just popped over to Malta for a day & a bit (as you do!) to say a quick hello / goodbye to my parents (and bring them lots of goodies over for the last time in a while).

The weather is a little warmer than the UK, but not as warm as it's going to be in a week's time (ha ha ha).

Anyway, I'll keep this blog short so ciao for now!

Anita x

... places we visited:

Savona

As it was raining and cold here, decided to spend the day aboard and relax and enjoy the fabulous view of the city from the 12th floor of the ship and teach the children how to play 500.

Barcelona

Walked from the ship into town, needed the exercise and didn’t want to pay the exorbitant cost of cruise transport. Hit the Paseo de Gracia (Main Street), so interesting and buzzing with ...

... the City is a massive fortress - the Citadel - which was - as are most of the fortifications on the island were built by the Knights of St. John. Malta must have more fortresses per square meter of any place on the face of the earth. When you ruled by a military order of monks for a few hundred years they seem to have kept themselves busy by building - churches and the aforementioned fortresses.

... resources and our money togeth** to make an amazing party. We even w**e contacted by the embassy in support of our party. We had plenty of Am**ican flags, food (of course, poolside BBQ and all the sides you could imagine), music (the day the music died, classics, 90s, 80s, ev**ything), games (be** bongs, be** pong), drinks (be** and jungle juice) and some Canadian stuff too (th**e are 6canadians h**e so we had to represent them as well). We all partied und** the tent h ...

... rain all morning and after a few minutes I said "Perhaps we should move off the beach, looks like it is going to rain." After a further few minutes of procrastination we decided we should probably move and about 20 seconds later a monsoon hit. It was incredible and we all got completely soaked to the core, including our pizzas. It was fun though! Around 30 minutes later the storm had shifted out to sea and the weather completely cleared up and provided us with a very sunny afternoon ...

... the place hadn't become one huge urban conglomeration. The small pedestrian streets of Victoria were bustling with people doing their saturday morning shopping, but still had a nice atmosphere to them. I spent a while walking around, taking some photos of the Basilica of St George before making my way up to a spectacle that could be seen from almost every corner of Gozo, Il-Kastell - The Citadel. Built in the 16th century, it was a miniature version of ...

... they are all ancient rickety old things that blow copious amounts of smoke and guarantee the roughest ride imaginable. The bus drivers must possess considerable skill manoeuvring the metal behemoths through the narrow streets whilst avoiding the crazy motorists that buzz about Malta everywhere you go. My Lonely Planet guide book informs me that whilst there are 400,000 people who live in Malta, there are 325,000 cars. No joke. The amount of cars here is ...

... ihmetella mita ihmetta olen ikina tehnyt niin oikein elamassani ansaitakseni kaiken taman!? Niita elaman pienia hetkia, jolloin kaikki on vain taydellista... Olen jo oppinut olemaan pelkaamatta turhan paljon muuta meriliikennetta, hyvaksynyt etta veneeseen paasee aina vetta ja sitten pitaa vaan menna kuumaan ja meluisaan konehuoneeseen pumppaamaan vesi pois ja kaikenlaista ihmeellista ja uutta. Veneesta on tullut kotini ja mita enemman aikaa kuluu sita tutummalta se tuntuu ...

Hi all, Well, it's been a couple days. Day before yesterday was a much needed "day at sea", spent mostly getting in some serious sun and pool time. Tough work... That night, we went to Karaoke in the Savoy Nightclub here on the ship. Caroline and Jeff both sang -- Caroline did "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and the crowd started cheering for her after the first four notes she sang! Jeff did "Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison style). Caroline is now a finalist in the "Celebrity Idol ...