To begin the tale, this is my second overseas trip this year – the first being to South Africa and Zambia and it started auspiciously when the flight from Dulles to Frankfurt left more or less on time at a few minutes past six on Thursday night. (This would be 14 June 2012.) We were flying on the new Boeing 747-8I – an airliner that seems designed to cram as many people as it can into as little space per person as it can.
I caught what I thought was my first bit of good luck when I proceeded to my assigned window seat and was asked by a man flying with his wife and three small children if I would mind taking his assigned aisle seat in the center section. Relieved, I readily accepted. Not only do I find window seats a bit too confining but when you have a rodent sized bladder the thought of needing to possibly pop across two other people half a dozen times on an 8 hour overnight flight simply seems rude.
My good fortune would be tempered a bit by the tall slouchy teen seated behind me who initially had his knees jammed so far into my seat that I couldn’t move it from the upright and locked position. I asked one of the flight attendants to help rectify the situation (remembering that at his age I was probably just obnoxious enough that if the cranky old guy in front of me had confronted me directly I would have found other ways to make his flight uncomfortable).
In addition, the flight had at least 4 other babies and a dog! I was just nodding off (and finding time for those moments is never easy for me) when I heard a dog barking. My immediate thought was, “That’s a weird dream.” But I looked across the aisle and saw a woman with a pet carrier and a dog’s head popping out of it. I think at that point, I decided even occasional sleep was unlikely. Unfortunately, the selection of movies on this flight wasn’t particularly appealing though I did watch Big Miracle with Drew Barrymore.
The 747-8I is equipped with two cool cameras – one looking down from the nose and one looking ahead so you can effectively have a window seat or a pilot’s eye view regardless of your actual seat location. Of course, an overnight flight across the Atlantic provides for dull viewing. All in all, I’d say the South African Airways experience was nicer than Lufthansa but only because of the quiet and the movies.
While waiting for my connection in Frankfurt, I struck up a conversation with a gent from Malta named Edward. He provided some information and insight that might come in useful while on my sojourn. He lives in Sliema which is just across the harbor from Valletta and before boarding the plane he gave me his phone number and told me to call him should I need anything during my visit. I thought, “Malta and I are off on the right foot. I’m going to like this place!”
Arriving at the airport in Luqa, just outside Valletta, there was no one at immigration to check my passport. I later realized that Malta is a party to the Schengen Agreement. It allows free travel between 26 European countries and since I passed through immigration in Frankfurt, there was no need to check my passport on my arrival.
Patrick, my landlord for the week, was waiting for me when I arrived from the airport and we did a walk-through of the flat. My first impression was that this wasn’t the best layout for a man with a rodent sized bladder since the bathroom is on the opposite end of the flat from the bedroom. (The bathroom is on the other side of the far wall and the front door is a bit less than halfway from the bedroom to the bathroom.)
The apartment uses an interesting conservation method (or maybe it’s just a way for Patrick to cut down his rental expenses) – one more or less turns everything on as needed: the gas for the stove, the hot water heater, even individual electric outlets. After orienting me to the flat, he continued being a nice host and landlord. First, he took me up to the roof terrace where I was greeted with this view
and where I met our neighbors John and Sally with whom I would become much better acquainted before my stay was through. Then he walked me around the neighborhood and served as a guide when I asked him about places to shop.
Here’s a map of the city of Valletta. Toward the bottom of the map just left of center you can see the Upper Barrakka (on the map Barracca) Gardens. Look for St. Paul Street just above that. The flat I let was probably just about the ‘u’ in St. Paul. You can use this map as a guide when I describe my days in Valletta. To give you some idea of how small Valletta is, in the light-yellow section in the lower left corner of the map you can see a white circle that marks the Bus Terminus and Triton Fountain. Just above that is the City Gate at the bottom of Republic Street. The length of Republic Street from the City Gate at one end to the WarMuseum and Fort St. Elmo at the other is between 750 meters and a kilometer or less than a mile .
At that point, he left me on my own and I continued to explore the area by just walking about the city with no set destination. Here’s some of what I saw and some pictures of my flat. I did a bit of grocery shopping and went for another walk. It was hotter than I expected but I didn’t mind since I’m more comfortable in heat than cold. In fact, throughout my stay, the island, well, the country was under a heat wave that kept temperatures about 5 – 6 degrees hotter than normal.
I was walking back to the apartment when I heard someone call my name. Sally and John were sitting at a café sharing some wine and it was Sally who called out to me. I was so done in that I didn’t initially recognize one of the four people in Malta I knew at that point. They invited me to join them and we shared some wine. I managed to get a bit of a pleasant buzz and during our chat I learned that John is a retired professor from York who came to Malta for a vacation 5 years ago and essentially never left. Hmmm.