Wednesday Pottering and thinking

Last night I finally had a good sleep, but my system will be further challenged tomorrow. I am getting picked up at 4.45 am to go to the airport to catch a 7am plane to Rome. Thence train to Firenze.

This morning I dawdled over breakfast, finishing my novel set in Malta. The main character met his lady friend at the main Valletta  bus stop. I have been there several 

Then I spent ages , still trying to sort out what will happen with my bag on the flight tomorrow. What the lady told me on Monday was different to what the check in email said and I found 2 different Malta air sites which conflicted with both. So who knows what will happen tomorrow. 

Valletta, the capital is on a little peninsular, but there are lots of nearby peninsulars with similarly aged buildings.  There are remnants all around Valletta of the large  defensive walls around the city. There are some gardens  on the top of part of the walls that I went to which give a good view of a Birgu ,one of the other old places on neighbouring peninsular. At the bottom of the high wall ( there was a lift) is a small  wharf where small local boats take you across the harbour  . 6 people Max, 1 boats person ( all men that i saw, but maybe there are women). The boat had an outboard motor but when we go to the other side, the boatsman used 2 oars standing up, forward facing,  in the front of the boat to manoeuvre his boat into the queue to drop off passengers at the same wharf as people were getting into the boats. People were white relaxed and patient.  Again, I hope I have a decent photo or 2.

I was heading to a museum at the old fort, but stopped for a coffee and croissant and sat outside watching the boats, locals and tourist walk past instead. I wandered along looking at the  many millions of dollar boats. I looked up one of them, Mystere., a luxury 43m super yacht.  100,000 euros ( per week, plus expenses! )  to charter  6 guests, 3 cabins ,  5 crew who i suppose sleep in cubbyholes. 100,000 Euros = $163,000.  Who has a spare $28,000 plus 1/6 of 'expenses' and wants to come with me? Has to be low season though. High season is even more expensive.  Seriously  though, I did wonder, as I sat, about people in the Ukraine, Nepal, Gaza .

Next post from Firenze.