Malta, November 2008 - Last day

Met Karen at Bonicelli’s, the café’ next to the hotel for breakfast. We then went shopping in Paceville, a little village up the hill from St. Julian’s. We found a glass shop that we had been looking for, I bought two pieces. We then found a large grocery store where I picked up a lot of UK cheese.
We met back at the Hotel around noon were a van took us to the airport. After we checked in we all got together for lunch. The flight was on time, no issues at the airport.  Got back home, had dinner upstairs and went to bed.

Malta, November 2008 - Walking tour Sliema & Valletta

Headed to the lobby, no one else was around.  We failed to make plans the night before.  Went for a small walk to kill time until the others showed up. I studied the Malta map so I knew where to go and what to visit. As it turned out everyone went on his or her own way. Karen and I were the only two who teamed up, which was fine by me since we get along so well. We walked around the peninsulas along the bay and shore of Sliema. We ran into a young French girl by the shore, we took turns taking pictures with each others cameras then said goodbye. Half way around Sliema, we ran into a couple from Ireland. We ended up talking and had a cup of coffee with them. They were a strange couple, I got a weird vibe from them, and thought they might have been scammers. Karen and I then continued our journey down to the Sliema shore at Sliema Creek inside Marsamxett Harbor. Karen wanted to stop and shop but realized that we should head over to our destination. At the Sliema Creek walkway there were many harbor cruise boats available, definitely will take one next time we are in Malta. We were only interested in the fiery that takes us over to Valletta. The fiery was only 93 cents, which beats taking a bus any day. The fiery took us across Sliema Creek and Marsamxett Harbor to the bottom of Valletta. We disembarked and walked up the steep road to Valletta where we started our walk around the old fortress of the city. There are many cafes, restaurants and bars. We ran into the cute French girl again. We found a small café’ on the side of a hill and went in for a small bite to eat and a beer. We ended up at a small park and took a few pictures then cut across town because I was not sure where I was. There was a film festival going on. We ran into Maureen, she had just got there and did not want to head back, which is where we were going. We got to the fiery, Karen was impressed with my sense of direction once again. Once we got back to Sliema, we started shopping around at some of the stores. We stopped at the Tex-Mex restaurant we saw earlier in the day. The food was tasty but was not Tex-Mex. We continued back, taking pictures and talking as the sun was setting. It was a long fun day with Karen.
We all met in the lobby for dinner, Deb, . Deb, Karen, Maureen, Troy and I had arranged for a van to take us to an upscale steak restaurant, Madeline’s Cottage. We had ordered an appetizer that the waiter offered, it was full of seafood, later we found out it was 75 Euros. Most of us ordered steak that was very good. I also had a pumpkin soup, which was very good, I ended up sharing it with everyone. After three bottles of wine, we headed back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel and went to “Muddy Waters” a bar next to the hotel. They had a local ale that was pretty good, Blue Label. The jukebox was good playing rock, Karen was dancing as usual. Deb and I started talking about grunge bands, she's from the Seattle area. Karen and Maureen went back to the hotel while Deb, Troy and I went back to the Irish bar for a few pints.

Malta, November 2008 - First trip to malta

Off to Malta! Flight was delayed an hour and a half. Sam was on our flight and offered to by dinner for us, he was staying at the hotel next to ours. Our hotel was right on the shore of Balluta Bay. Everyone checked in then met in the lobby to go to dinner. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant near the hotels. We had three bottles of a local wine, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Pinot Noir. The Cabernet Sauvignon was the best tasting. After dinner, we went walking around St. Julian’s Bay and found three bars very close to the hotel. We went inside the Irish bar for a pint. Back to the hotel for the night.