Friday, March 19 Valletta and Personal Visits

Dear kids & grands,

How is everyone doing? Cathy, do you feel better now? How is the track practice going? Has it been cold for running? Are G-ma and PaPa surviving? How is my Ellen? Is she still sleeping with Mama's pillow? I wish I had Ellen's pillow to sleep with--I miss you!

Today was quiet but eventful--some wonderful things to tell you! First, we had breakfast in our hotel with Phil and Louisa, who also liked our quirky little place! This hotel was once an old house--it takes up most of the block, with many little passageways and hidden little nooks and crannies. Just down the hall from us there is an open winding staircase that is painted with 400 year old Maltese frescoes in deep red and dark gold!

After breakfast, we said goodbye to Louisa and Phil and headed uptown to Valletta centre--today was a national holiday, so all but the little tourist shops and cafes were closed, but there were people everywhere! They had extra buses running out to Rabat for the festa--we planned to go for the parade, but the day clouded over and then it began to rain--in fact, it began to hail!! We ducked into a little shop on Republic street to wait it out. A very dapper, elegant silver-haired gentleman in beautifully cut suit and topcoat was in the shop chatting with the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper invited us in to take refuge, and the business man asked us if we were on holiday. When we said yes, he recognized that we are American, and he began to ask all sorts of questions about our visit to Malta: where we stayed, how long we came for, how did we find out about our hotel, why did we choose Valletta, etc.

We visited for about half an hour--the gentleman spoke lovely King's English, was terribly charming and polite, and the shopkeeper brought out pictures of his wife and himself aboard an American warship that berthed here, and we had a great time answering questions about America. When the rain finally stopped, the gentleman took his leave, and the shopkeeper told us that the man was the Maltese National Minister of Tourism!! (and a prominent attorney). We hoped we passed the test as tourists!

We decided to walk down the street to take a tour of the Casa Piccola Rocca--a palazzo of a Maltese nobleman--the Marquis de Piro. It is the only such house in Malta open to the public, and as today was a holiday, the staff was off duty and the Marquis and his wife were hosting the tour, and there was only one, at 12:00. We were just in time to get in! It was a fascinating beautiful house full of antiques and treasures--lots of original artwork, both old (15th century) and new--I could've sworn I saw a Picasso! The tour lasted about an hour, then we headed out to go to the bus station--we wanted to go to the festa in Rabat/Mdina. But it was windy and rainy and so cold, we decided to stay in Valletta. As we wandered about, someone called out our names--it was Phil and Louisa! They had come back to Valletta for lunch at their favorite Italian restaraunt (not Pizza Hut!). They invited us to lunch at Luciano's--a cozy little upstairs restaraunt with fabulous pasta--lunch included wine--we had the local white, and it was just right with the penne and mushrooms I had. Louisa had "blood orange juice"--it was fresh squeezed and a deep ruby red, but was from oranges (maybe from Italy?).

We had a terrific time swapping travel stories and plowing our way through piles of pasta--not to mention polishing off a carafe of wine! We said goodbye after lunch, and came back to our hotel. We had two messages! Rosette, the lady from the internet, called and invited us to spend Saturday with her--we will meet her tomorrow morning at 10, and perhaps visit San Angelo (the Knights fort) and the oldest temple ruins in the world at Hagar Qim (a-jar eem). After talking with Rosette, Gordon's father called and asked us to tea at their home in Tarxien! so we hot-footed it to the bus in the pouring rain and headed out to visit!

We passed a lovely afternoon and evening with Jane and Donald M_. Their home was, quite simply, spectacular. It was small--along the lines of a 3 bedroom brick rancher, but Wow! There were arched doorways flanked with twisty columns, the walls were tiled floor to ceiling--lovely patterns--and the floor was all tiled in great big tiles with a deep sienna-colored florentine kind of swirly design--each four tiles together made the pattern. It was incredible--and the furniture!! All heavy old dark wood, deep red upholstery, heavy red velvet drapes in the front sitting room. In one bedroom, Jane had set up her sewing room--she had a professional (industrial) sewing machine, serger, ironing set-up, cutting table (with rulers printed on it)--what a deal!

The main bath was so elegant--deep navy blue wall tiles with a little light blue flower on every 5th or 6th tile (the tiles are big ones--probably 6x6 or 8x8"). The fixtures were all white with gold, complete with bidet, vanity, tub, shower, etc.

They invited us into the kitchen, where we had tea (yes, Daddy drank tea!) and cake--lots of cake! It was a very rich pound cake with fruit filling and chocolate coating--delicious! We told them all about meeting Gordon, and about the Nutcracker, and our visit with Gordon after the ballet in February. They showed us pictures of their family, and we talked about Malta and America. They are the nicest people! Very deeply religious--Catholic with a "born-again" kind of fervor for the Bible, but not pushy or fanatic about their faith--just deeply sincere and excited! We talked about Bible study and family and dancing, and then Aunty Mary showed up, on a visit from her home in England, so more cake and tea came out, and more pictures!

We shared pictures from the Heart Ball--they kept remarking on how tall and fair everyone was! (very different from Maltese!) Before we left, Jane offered us a whiskey--I nudged Daddy to say yes, because I had just read about this in a Malta book we have written by a Maltese--to be offered a whiskey is a sign of serious hospitality, and it is considered quite rude to refuse. I had never had this Scotch before, but since Daddy drank tea, I drank the Scotch! They brought out biscuits (cookies), and more Scotch! then more cookies, and so on--my head began to spin, and I kept inwardly thanking God that Daddy was not driving! (Donald had only tea, but Jane drank with us!) After about half an hour of this, we called a halt and said we had to go! Donald piled us into his 1967 Morris (he is original owner, and it is in perfect condition!) and drove us back to the gates of Valletta--he does not have a permit for inside the gate, so dropped us off just outside--a short walk to our hotel. The cold (yes, cold) night air perked us up, and the whiskey kept us warm from the wind as we headed "home".

When we got here, David (owner's son--dad's e-mail pal) and Joe (the chef) met us in the dining room and wanted to hear all about our visit to Maison M_ (the name of the house is on a plaque by the front door). They new of the family (but Malta is small enough that anyone is likely to know another person's relatives.) So we chatted with David and Joe about our visit, and about Malta, and we shared pictures of our family--then it was time for baths and bed--daddy is waiting to hook up and send this so he can go to bed!! Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny (everyone here keeps apologising for the weather--but we had 3 nice days before the rain, and the rainy days had their own charm, so we are not complaining!), and we get to meet Rosette.

Take care, and Grandma and PaPa, hang in there, we'll be home soon!

love, Mama/Mommy/Faye

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