Valletta, Hypogeum Hal Saflieni, and Tarxien

Valletta is a busy, bustling, and vertical city. Its main street is the highest point, and it runs down to the sea in every direction. Streets are narrow and steep, in some cases, the sidewalk is steps.

I toured the St. John's Co-Cathedral, which doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside, every inch is opulent Baroque. There is an audio tour which is interesting, and a museum which showcases additional art and an amazing collection of vellum Choir Books - illuminated manuscripts with verses from the Mass.

After spending most of the morning walking around - and not finding anything worth buying for gifts - I caught a bus to Paola, to visit the underground megalithing temple Hypogeum Hal Saflieni. Because of its fragile condition, the number of daily visitors is strictly limited, and bookings must be made weeks in advance. On the tour, I met Carolyn from New York City, and a couple from Alberta, Canada. After the Hypogeum tour, we walked to Tarxien, another megalithic temple complex, and then did the bus back to Valletta. From there, we split up, each going back to wherever they were staying.

The howling wind that kicked up yesterday continued today, and by 5 p.m. it had started to rain. During dinner, it was pouring, and then a magnificent electrical storm provided sound-and-light effects for half the night.

The dinner buffet was local Maltese food, and there were a pair of musicians with guitar and mandolin who played Portuguesd and Italian music. The first two pieces were ones Dad used to play on his guitar - "Love in Portugal" and "Back to Sorrento".

Always Have a Plan B

We were to do a SCUBA dive this morning, but circumstances conspired against us. We plan to rent masks and fins and snorkel on our own another time. So Marty came back to the room, got dressed, and attended the day's conference events, and I took a walk around the town if St. Julian's, where the hotel is located, and took pictures of this'n'that.

This view was taken from the porch of a dilapidated and unoccupied building up on the hill. I found a "mall" and bought a couple of things to bring home, and continued walking around the Paceville area and the Hilton. Additional photos are at Flickr - click the Flickr "badge" in the right sidebar to get to the Malta album.

I probably should have taken the bus and gone back to Valletta, but since I didn't have a well-thought-out "Plan B", I spent about 3+ hours exploring the area around the hotel. There are a lot of run-down buildings, trash in the streets, and abandoned storefronts. No homeless, though! and everyone is friendly and helpful. The Hilton is in a newer area and has well-paved sidewalks instead of the 10-inch cobbled walkways along most streets. There are also no street signs, so maps are useless in that respect. Scaffolding from the construction sometimes completely blocks the sidewalks, and you have to walk in the streets, dodging cars and trucks that come charging around blind corners at high speeds.

Had major problems with my phone! I tried calling home, but didn't hear ringing; Marty called me and the phone didn't ring - but it did vibrate. I couldn't call his phone nor pick up the voicemail he left. I couldn't play any ringtones - thought my phone had died! However, after I turned it off and then back on, all the sound came back - so it just needed a hard boot after finding the local phone network. I think I'm back in business.

What We Did Today

This is the balcony attached to our "tower" room - it was an upgrade, but we were so tired, we didn't want to wait a couple of hours for a room, and this one was available immediately. We face the south-east, and have a picturesque view of the Dragonara's casino on one side, and the Saint George Hotel on the other side.

After our breakfast buffet, we walked around in the town of St. Julian and did a couple of errands - the adaptor we brought for the laptop can't accommodate an American 3-pronged plug, so we went to C&M Ironmongers on the recommendation of a shopkeeper, and he had just the thing we needed. The laptop is happy again.

What's really nice for us Americans is that Malta was governed by the British for so long that English is spoken by most residents. That has made it very easy to get directions and ask for help.

Errands done, we hopped on a bus and rode to Valletta - but Marty didn't want to get out and explore, so we hopped on another bus and came right back. We ate lunch at Huggins Wine Lodge in St. Julian - they have a sidewalk cafe that serves hot meals and sandwiches - and came back to the hotel to catch up with e-mail and blogging.

Tomorrow we plan to do an intro SCUBA dive, and tomorrow night the conference begins. I'm planning to explore the islands on my own, beginning on Wednesday. I'll have four days to see what I can see. First stop on Wednesday will be Hal Saflieni, an underground megalithic temple.

Malta is for Millionaires

It was a long trip - I think it was about 24 hours from door to door - but we made it to Malta! We landed at Heathrow, then took a motor coach to Gatwick Airport, and from there hired a cab to drive us to the Copthorne Hotel London Gatwick - about 10 min. from the airport - for an overnight stay. The Copthorne Hotel would have been a great place to spend a few days! It's built on an old farm house and set in acres of woods and gardens. Lots of brick arches and windows onto the wild gardens with walkways, benches, and woods.

I had arranged to meet a couple of distant Soutar cousins, Carol and her daughter Emily, for dinner, and we had a comfortable visit along with the buffet. We've been corresponding for several years, so it was a treat to finally meet them! They drove about an hour from their home to visit in cold and drizzly weather.

Next morning, we took a very early cab to the Gatwick Airport for the flight to Malta. We arrived about 1:30 in the afternoon, and by the time we arrived at the Westin Dragonara Resort, Marty's conference hotel, it was all we could do to stay awake! The time difference of 9 hours, being unable to sleep on the plane, and getting only 5 hours sleep in the hotel caught up with us in spades. We crashed.

Knitting for Those in Need

Here's an idea for the holidays: The folks at Central Library and the branches of Sacramento Public Library are participating in a project to create and distribute knitted and crocheted blankets and afghans to families in need this winter. This is perfect! The pieces are small, great for bus or train busywork, and work up quickly so you can't get bored or stuck, like you can when you begin a bigger project. Here's Central's blog post, which contains a link to the Warm Up America Foundation and instructions for the piecework. I'm starting mine tomorrow!

Slinging Hard Work for Future Fun

I am exhausted; my back is tired and my feet hurt. This evening, I worked for 5 1/2 hours at one of the food concession stands at Arco Arena, home of the Sacramento Kings basketball team. Here's a photo of the cash registers just before they opened the doors for the public. It takes 40 workers to staff a concession stand - 12 cashiers, and about 3 people per cashier as runners, cooks, etc. I am usually assigned to "condiments", which means I wear latex gloves and wipe the counters after spills, keep the paper napkin, cup lid, and drinking straw dispensers full, and tell people where to go (ATM, BBQ, elevator, etc.)

The Maloofs, owners of the team, allow nonprofit groups to work at the concessions and keep a percentage of the take. On a good game night, each stand can earn $1,000 for the group, and each group can typically work 5-8 games per year. I am doing this to help the sophomore class parents raise the funds for a huge graduation party in 2010. Known as "Grad Nite", this all-night party is usually held at a bowling lanes and features food, games, entertainment, prizes, photos, laser tag -and bowling, too. It typically costs around $20,000, so the parents begin early and start raising funds in freshman year. In Patrick's class there were over 550 graduates; Laurel's class will be about the same size, I think.

Meebo Me!

I've been thinking of ways to keep in touch with the family while we're on vacation. Cell phone calls will cost almost $3 per minute in roaming fees, even though I've activated worldwide roaming service through my carrier. So I needed to find a way to manage keeping in touch without using a cell phone. Here's what I've worked out so far:

1. Skype - make voice calls using a computer, microphone and speakers. Adding a webcam allows live video, as well. My Skype ID is asowens51us.


2. Old-fashioned e-mail, the asynchronous way to communicate. It's not real time, but allows lengthy and descriptive communiques.


3. Meebo Me - I've created a Meebo widget in the right sidebar of this blog which allows you to send me a message in real time, even if you don't have an instant messenger account. You will see instantly whether or not I'm online. Just type in the lower box, and your message appears in the top box, along with my replies. You can edit your "nickname" so I know who you are. Even if I'm not online at the moment, you can still leave a message. Try it out!
   

8th and K

It looks like a prison, but actually, you're looking at a picture of Sacramento's early history. In the late 1800s, businessmen banded together and trucked in enough dirt to raise the streets of the downtown area closest to the river by 10 feet to resist the annual floods. This made the 2nd floor the first floor, and the former street-level 1st floor became the basement. Recently, a building was torn down at the corner of 8th and K Streets, and in the empty lot, the arches raising the street are visible. The pavement in the foreground is the current street level.

There is an underground warren of tunnels and basements that few have ever visited, and that is used by homeless people for shelter. Occasionally, the fires they build to cook over or warm themselves by get out of hand and the old building overhead becomes a blazing inferno. That's what happened to the building that used to stand where the empty lot is. There have been holes like this one in the blocks around the library for the last 15 years. They are slowly being built up again - too slowly - but the new buildings are adding cachet to the old downtown area. This one is right across the street from the library.

I Think my Skype is Fixed

Skype is a service that provides voice communication via your computer, instead of a telephone. The only requirements are the free software download, a microphone and speakers or headset. If you also have a webcam, you can even send video of yourself, so the other person can see you while you're talking. If he, in turn, has a webcam, you can have a two-way video conversation. For Free! Worldwide!

Here's me, as you would see me if we were skyping.

I was really disappointed this summer, while visiting Mom, to find that somehow my Skype couldn't record my audio. I was hoping to be able to set up a connection with Michael in Toronto, so Mom could talk to him. Although I could hear incoming calls, the microphone couldn't send my voice. I think there was a conflict with something else that was trying to use the sound card, but we weren't able to resolve the problem before we left.

Finally, tonight, I uninstalled, then reinstalled the camera drivers, and made two successful Skype test calls. I think I'm back in business, just in time for our trip to Malta later this month. If we leave one of the laptops at home, we should be able to have video conversations with the kids while we're away, and save the cost of an international cellphone call.

In case you get inspired, my Skype ID is "asowens51us". Skype me if I'm online!