Gone to Gozo

Hello from Victoria

That's the city of Victoria on Gozo Island. I was up for over 30 hours yesterday, rising early to go to an excellent (free) web seminar at the Science Museum before finishing last minute packing details and heading to the airport. It seemed to be a short flight now that the airlines have movies on demand. I watched 3 and a half movies so will have to rent The Painted Veil when I get home. As usual, I changed flights in Amsterdam, and since I had a 6 hour delay, I made it my business to finally get to the Anne Frank house/museum. It's a quick 10-15 minute train ride into the city, then a quick tram ride to within 2 blocks of the huis. I was dismayed to see a long line at 8:45 a.m., but it was only a short wait after the doors opened. The museum does take you through the actual house the Frank family lived in. Though it's a sad story, I was pleasantly surprised by two things. The rooms themselves were fairly spacious, and the staircase you may have heard about was not as claustrophobic as I'd been lead to believe, though the steps were steep. It has a lovely view of the canels that Amsterdam is so famous for. There was a little bit about Anne's friend Peter, which coincidentally I found a book here in Malta about "The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank". Apparently he was lost in the war, but Anne's father lived into the 70's. I think the blessing for us is that we know about the family's saga due to him. He outlived his whole family, yet didn't let that do him in. Rather he brought Anne's story, as hard as that had to be for him.

After visiting the museum, I had to high tail it back to the airport for my flight to Malta. Luckily no movies on this flight, so I could get a short cat nap. Once I landed in Malta, it was to the bus to city center, where I transferred to what I learned was to be an hour long bus ride to the ferry that was to take me to Malta. After 25-minutes, I retrieved my luggage and sought out a phone to contact the hostel I was staying at for a ride "home". By this time, I was rather tired, so the prospect of trying to find a phone, then finding one that only accepted a card was a real challenge. Luckily a very nice police officer saw my frustration, took pity on me, and called the hostel. While I waited, he told me about the fishing boats in the working harbor, the various bays on Gozo, the touristic economy here, the Maltese language and way of life on Gozo versus Malta, its bigger and more hurried sister.

I'm staying at a very quaint hostel here, with a view of the windy, turbulent bay at Marsalforn, on the northern coast. After debating whether to rent a bike or a car, I decided to take the bus. There are rolling hills here which make bike riding arduous. And after seeing more of them today on the bus, I made a smart decision, especially since the bus is convenient and inexpensive. I traveled into Victoria, then on to Xaghra (pronounced shaa-rah) to see one of the oldest windmills in the Maltese area, then saw a grotto and cave that are under houses. The were found when digging down to build a basement in one case and a well in the other. How would you like to have that under your home. In these cases, the owners are cashing in on them. I also saw the oldest free-standing structure in the world--Ggantija Temples, not that they're anything to really look at, but maybe they are spiritually.

Victoria certainly makes me think I'm in a part of Europe. I visited The Cathedral of the Assumption (after seeing the Church of Our Lady of Victory in Xaghra), and was again reminded of the opulence of the Roman cathedrals. This showed off Mediterranean Baroque architecture. The Museum displayed a picture of St. Agatha, one of the patron saints of Malta. It showed her being de-breasted. A bit repulsive in my opinion. I distracted myself from that by having a glass of Gozo-produced cab wine, and a feast of local cheeses, olives, capers and sun-dried tomatoes.

A visit to a local book store along the stroll to the bus station, and it was back to my local home. It certainly is quite is this bay side town, with all the aspects of a small town--no grocery stores open in the evening, if there even is one in this small area. There's something to be said about this way of life.

We';ll see if I'm up for diving tomorrow. The water temps are about 18 degrees C, that's 68 degrees F. I want to see a cuddle fish and a seahorse, so my fear of cold my be overridden.
More later if I don't have hypothermia.