My New Life in Malta

I just had the very happy visit of my friends I & Ø, who live in London and made the short trek down to Malta for a few days. It was lovely to show them around and enjoy their company, not least because after not seeing each other for many years we are now living on the same continent and this was our second time meeting up this year.

To start with, I will brag about a personal accomplishment. I drove to the airport to welcome them, and it was my very first time driving by myself in Malta. It was also my first time driving by myself on the left side on the road, and my first time driving alone with a gear-shift car. With much pride in myself, and surprisingly calm, I arrived at Malta International Airport ahead of schedule and with no major problems. (I still turn on the windshield wiper when I want to indicate, but that should not harm anyone...)  After several practice runs over the past year in which M got very nervous, I decided I just had to go out and drive by myself. However, my new found confidence is still daunted by the Maltese traffic and erratic driving. Slowly but surely, I will conquer that too.

The weather did not cooperate, but we did manage to cover the island's major sights. Or as much as we could cover on such a short visit. Malta has a surprising amount of things to see and do, as my guests soon discovered. One highlight of their visit was that as we were strolling down Republic Street in Valletta, we came upon a formal ceremony in honour of the president of Germany who was on a state visit to Malta. We got to see the formal salute by the Armed Forces of Malta, as well as the President and Prime Minister (and many many others) shaking hands with President Köhler.

Later that day, as we were on a bus from Paola back to Valletta, the motorcade went by right next to us. We chuckled because he seemed to be following us. Then in the evening we walked back to Palace Square. I was hoping that now that all the formalities were over I could show them the Grandmaster's Palace. Instead, we got quite a treat: all the dignitaries were coming back for another formal event, but this time they were arriving one by one in their fancy cars... and we stood right at the door and watched each one alight right in front of our eyes! Ambassadors, Government Ministers, some MPs, other dignitaries, and the Maltese President, Prime Minister along with, once again, the German President! We joked that we were like the people who stand outside the Academy Awards and comment on the incoming celebrities.

I pointed out to my friends that one of the things I most like about Malta is the feeling of safety. While every place in the world has crime, there is really not any major crime to speak of here, and I feel safe just about everywhere. A perfect case in point was that we were allowed to stand there and watch all of these important people go right past us, as other "normal people" walked by as well. In this day and age when the news only speak of terrorism and bombs, it is nice to know that there is still a place where government figures and civilians are able to stroll along the same street without a major security circus.

The following day we were walking by Pjazza Kastilja, where the Prime Minister's office is located, and we saw all of the official cars outside again. This time there did not seem to be much of a show, so we went off to Mdina... where we soon found the motorcade going by us yet again. Yes, he certainly must have been following us!

A couple of days later, when my guests had left, the Queen of England came to Malta for a brief visit. It was the day of her 60^th wedding anniversary and she wanted to spend it here. It turns out that Queen Elizabeth II and her husband lived in Malta at the beginning of their marriage, before she was a queen. It was the last time in her life when she was able to live a normal life, drive a car, walk in the streets, etc., so she has a very fond feeling for this country. That day I was over at Wen's house, so we decided to go into Valletta together and see if we could catch a glimpse of her.

I imagined there would be huge crowds and that we would see nothing. But it turns out Malta is the perfect place for a royal sighting. The crowd was a fairly small size, and we were able to get a place right in front of the barricade. And on a corner, no less, so that the queen would have to spend just a few more seconds as she turned our way.

Now, I have never been much into the British royal family in particular. When Princess Diana died, I was truly surprised by the big deal that was made. I thought it would be like when any other famous person dies. And so I surprised even myself when I caught the first glimpse of the queen coming out of the Upper Barrakka Gardens and I began to yell like a little boy "there she comes, there she comes!!!"  And soon enough there she was, about a meter in front of my face. I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. She seemed quite warm, and very human. In fact the way she walked and carried herself, she reminded me a bit of my grandmother, who would be roughly her same age. Just then, someone across the road with a big bunch of flowers called her over, and she was gone. Rats, if only we had thought of that trick!

Still, we saw her get in the car, and Wen managed to take a great picture of her with Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, which you can see by clicking: here.

I wonder who I will run into the next time I go to Valletta.