Sunday 4 December Malta
Awoke to the sound of the ship’s thrusters and our view out the window was of the illuminated enormous city walls. The dawn light was just lightening the sky at 7am. We stood on the balcony and watched as the ship ever so gently inched towards the pier and the ground crew fastened the ropes. After a quick breakfast we went ashore.
Along the walls to the Victoria gate and then inside the city walls which has very attractive streetscapes.
It was very quiet at first but slowly the city came to life as shops began to open and people made their way to church. J went into ‘The Malta Experience’ which explained the turbulent history of this tiny speck in the Atlantic Ocean. Located an internet, looked at views from various vantage points, did a tiny bit of shopping, then made our way back to the ship.
MSC musica in the distance
This is the way of the future, electric car charged by wind power.
Another “yeah whatever” buffet lunch then an unplanned but very nice Nanna Nap. J had gone to The Mind Game (must ask her about that) so I headed to the gym. Chockers with Paulos, Pablos and sultry senoritas with BIG shiny hair. Managed to get onto a bike for 25 minutes then timed my move to get a stepper for a further 25. That was excellent. We thrummed our way westwards with only one single tanker blurring an otherwise clear horizon. The sun gradually went orange as it arced towards the sea. It actually missed the tanker by a finger width – they will never know how lucky they were. The sun folded itself behind Tunisia and the clouds dimmed while a solitary jet trail slashed an incandescent scar across the sky.
Dinner had a German bent. Starting to find the waiter a bit better (actually just inured to his deficiencies). It seemed to drag on a bit tonight. The show was devoted to classical music, which the Italians love and they are very proud of their own. There were four soloists (Solo Mioists?), a violinist and Maestro (picture John Malkovich in a black silk dressing gown on a bad day) on piano. The baritone seemed to be busy staying down there but when the other three got going they really shook the deck. The tenor did Tourna a Sorrento with gusto and then they closed with O Sole Mio, which they took turns at doing solo, then the men together, the sopranos (not the ones with guns) and finally the whole lot. Wow.
We went straight to the pleb entertainment area at the other end, where there was an elimination dance game (form groups of a particular number when the music stops). Those South Americans play hard and rough - shoulders, elbows etc (and that was just the women – I joke not). One fellow actually had to be helped off after he got one in the ribs. Then there was a Latin line dancing interlude, which was interesting to watch, and finally a “guess the song” game. To get a chance you had to run to the front and sit in the chair, and once again it was a bogun bacchanalia of yobbo women clawing at each other to get up there. They all seemed to be from Rio deChaneiro or Achentina, which brought about a frenzy of Applauso from the crowd each time. There was a matronly red-haired middle-aged woman at the aerobics class today wearing a Richmond Tigers top – I so wanted to run and hug her and hear her speak English (which would probably have been “Bugger off you creep”).
They are allowed to smoke in that particular room, except while there is organized entertainment in progress. This refinement is either lost or disregarded by a fair number of them and we play our own game of Hide The Ashtray. Each time the waitress brings a new one we stuff it behind the seat. Seems to work.
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