Nights of Malta (and Days Too!)

All it took was a couple of short flights and I've swapped the Alps for the Mediterranean. Malta is a lovely and fascinating place, for reasons I will now ramble about.

Lovely?

Well, for starters, there is the Mediterranean climate, which means that I'm back to bare legs and sandals, and adding to the tan which has been accumulating sporadically.

What I find most charming about Malta is the buildings. They are, in vast majority, build out of the local stone. It's a soft, warm sandstone which I can't help but compare (despite the cringe it will elicit) to the crisp heart of a Malteser. Houses, government buildings, defensive walls and churches in all styles are build of the same stone, blending in seamlessly with the rocky ground on which they are built. From a distance, across the water, they glow in unity under the sun - but up close they are all different, with brightly coloured shutters and large window boxes.

Fascinating?

Because I am a history freak (I can't really say I'm a history geek, because it's more of a recreational pursuit for me) and this small group of islands is crammed full of history, and history of all different kinds.

Linguistically, it was here that a 'Rosetta stone' style monument was found in the 16th century with Etruscan and Greek, which allowed for the beginning of being able to understand Etruscan script.

Militaristically, it was the sight of the defeat of Suleiman the Great, which was the beginning of the tide turning against the Muslim attacks on Europe in the 16th century.

Artistically, Caravaggio came here after he killed a guy in Rome (as you do), joined a monastic order (as you do) and painted some of his amazing High Baroque masterpieces for them (as you do) which are now on display for all to see (as I did).

Nationally, they have only been independent from England for about 40 years, so English is a national language (along with Maltese), they drive on the left side of the road, and they have lovely red mail boxes everywhere.

It has also been amusing because we have caught up with some cousins, who moved here from Malta, and have a beautiful 10mth old baby who has kept us all entertained. Next stop; Poland - but first a 24 hour stop over in Barcelona! (for those of you who know what Europe looks like, I know that it appears I have gone mental and have let a drunk plan my itinerary, but then maybe I've just had a few too many wines in the last few weeks...)

Things I Didn't Know About Paris

- The Eiffel Tower is brown, not gray.

- The Mona Lisa is not in a room by itself. In fact, it's in a room full of Venetian painting, which is all a it weird.

- Everything is the same price as in Australia, it's just that the price is in Euro, which is worth about twice as much as the dollar. I stopped converting back, and haven't dared to look at my bank balance since.

- There really is a Patisserie on every corner.

- The Bastille Fortress was demolished a very long time ago. Actually, I may have learned this in French history, but forgot. Sorry Sue...

- They have some Metro lines with trains on rubber wheels, it's endlessly fascinating.

- The Notre Dame cathedral is so well restored that it looks like it was built 8 years ago, not 800 years ago.

- That I would have quite as much fun there as I did (A big thankyou to the Kings and Queens and People of Paris for building such an interesting city, collecting so much art and knocking up Versailles too. Also, big thanks to Benoit for dinner, my parents and Claire for a fun night out (in the red light district, no less) and Alex who took the walking tours around the city and Montmartre).

Russin Around

There's been so much sightseeing to do over the last five days or so that I've been a big to distracted to blog. Thus, I would like to present my top three highlights from the capital of Russia, Moscow, and the 'Northern Capital', St Petersburg:

Moscow
- I'm sure I've said it before, but the metro is amazing. Every station is unique, and decorated with mosaics, or leadlight, paintings, bronze sculpture, plaster moulding. The trains are occasionally rickety, but it's an incredibly fast, efficent and effective way to move around the city.
- Visiting Lenin. Claire was excited as she's now completed the trifecta (Ho Chi Minh, Mao and Lenin). I was excited as it was a rainy day so we had Lenin to ourselves (excluding guards). Also, we got to walk in along red square - which was the only way we got in there as it was still closed after Moscow day.
- St Basil's - It looks like it's made out of icing, it's so colourful. Ivan may have been terriblee, but he was also terribly cool for getting it built.

St Petersburg
- The Hermitage and Winter Palace. Over 3 million works of art - that's one for every member of the population of the city. We spent about 4 hours there and only saw a fraction of the art. There were whole rooms of Rubens and Rembrants and a couple of great Da Vinci Madonnas. You'd have to spend a week there and still not get to see everything properly.
- The city itself is beautiful, full of lovely churches and buildings and places of historical importance (I studied the Russian revolution and this place is seeping with important events, places and people from that time).
- The Hermitage. What can I say? I am an art nerd and this is art nerd heaven.

Tonight Claire and I are catching a bus, and when we wake up we'll be in Estonia and back in the EU! I'll make sure to write again from Tallinn.