Ancient Relic Tour Day 21

Final day of the Ancient Relic Tour! What are the chances again of having the fossils picture taken in front of their store! We had a lovely day shopping in Brighton. Came across a Lego store…awesome as my oldest grandson Ayden is a Lego freak. Took tons of pictures for him so that he could get ideas.

Dear Hubby would hardly believe that there was a Krispy Kreme Donut shop here, and I loved the mannequins at H&M.  The boutiques, cafes and shops were delightful on the North Lanes of Brighton….did way too much shopping!

Alas, last night with the relics in UK….tomorrow back to Canada and to reality…..and to my Dear Hubby who has been so wonderful to let me go and spend special time with Dear Mom. One more sleep Hun.

Ancient Relic Tour Day 20

Well we left the beautiful islands of Malta and Gozo and headed home….well part way…to Gatwick Airport. Dear Mom was getting the last few pictures taken before she left forever.

We were reminiscing about the trip over breakfast and I asked Dear Uncle what the most memorable part of the trip was and he said that it had to be when Dear Mom climbed the staircase to the Lookout Tower at Popeye Village.

I was on a village house veranda when I look over to see her starting to climb this gigantic steep, steep staircase. I’m too far away to get to her, but Dear uncle is closer, so I yell over to him to “Stop Her”. It’s too late and she is already on her way up. Dear Uncle hesitates… looking quite confused with the whole scenario (seems he wasn’t confused, he has a fear of heights).

When I see that he has missed the opportunity to stop her, I decide  on a different tactic and yell over again “ Go after here, so you can at least break her fall!”

Now both the fossils are on the staircase to hell. I barrel over there myself….this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening. But it was.

They do get down, in one piece.

As we are reminiscing, Dear Mom gets all pissy and says she wishes that everyone would stop treating her like a 2 year old. I’m just explaining that I’m trying to make my job easier by keeping an eye on her rather than what might be the alternative if I don’t. She does some crazy shit…just cause you don’t feel 88 doesn’t mean you’re not 88. I told her I imagined the Headlines in the local newspapers….

90 YEAR OLD FALL TO HER DEATH

AT THE TOP OF POPEYE”S VILLAGE LOOKOUT

People would say…weren’t her children watching her at the time?

So needless to say, I needed alcohol, so look at what  found…

What a novel idea, prepacked glasses of wine. OMG what will they think of next. I’m sitting in the hotel room,sipping my high tech, plastic glass rose’ wine, both the fossils fast asleep and I feel like I should be in a trailer park*_*_*&**_)*_$#*_)*@

There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there's no place like home.

Ancient Relic Tour Day 19

Well our last day in Gozo…we pretty much crawled onto the Hop On Hop Off  bus today…travelled to see the Ggantua Temples, thought to be the oldest free standing structures in the world(in other words, older than dirt and next to the fossils). Dear Mom and Dear Uncle wanted to visit the craft village so that was another stop. Dear Mom got yelled at by a shop keeper for taking pics with her camera when there was clearly a sign that said no photography allowed. I pretended I didn’t know her.

She has a tendency to push “I’m 88 and I’m deaf” to the extremes! *)(*&)&)*_*_)*_)*^&*&%*%^*

One final Cisk and one final look at the harbour before heading back to the UK.

 

Ancient Relic Tour Day 18

Today we took it fairly easy. Hopped on the hotel shuttle into the capital of Gozo, Victoria. We didn’t have much time there, but it’s a very small town anyway. Low and behold, what did I find… a fabric store…….Not that I would buy anything anyway…I think I’m at the max for my luggage weight as it is, but is was just nice to go in have a browse and get my fix…..Yes I did run my fingers across the bolts, like the fabric addict I am. Three weeks is a long time to be without fabric! There was the issue of price as well, I looked at 1 bolt and it was priced at 15.95 euro  which would convert to about $22.50 Canadian per meter…ouch.

The shop was called Terry’s Fabric and had an overall good selection considering the size of Gozo and the size of Victoria. They even had Ackfeld quilt hangers in stock!

I felt right at home when I saw all the Christmas bolts that must have just come in and were waiting to be put on the shelves. What’s a fabric store without a 50% off selected fabric sale and look at there supply of novelty buttons.

These are the views from our room….the harbour, the church and the swimming pool, which we spent the afternoon at today…Wonderful!

It’s about 100 degrees in the shade here, very, very HOT. Usually the first thing I do when we get back to the room is turn on the air conditioning as I’m dying. Tonight Dear Mom says to me….”Can you please wait to turn on the freezer till I get into bed and under the covers.”  Honest to God, she took an extra wool blanket out of the closet tonight and put it on her bed.

Ancient Relic Tour Day 17

The Fossils seem to do much better on the Hop on Hop off mode of transport than the city buses so we have opted to tour that way. I think that they like to know what bus to look for an each stop and that it will take them to something new and exciting to take pictures of.

So the Hop On Hop Off bus it was….and trust me they are not hopping off nor on these things….they are barely getting on and off.

Today went kind of for a scheduling _ _ _ _ (fill in the blank) as we had about 45-50 minutes to catch the next bus at each stop.  Throw in lunch and a bathroom break and you have missed the bus and have to wait another 45-50 minutes…..why is it that they eat so slow? and take so long to pee?

I could have done the island in full on one day, however looks like it will be another full day to get everything seen. Plus we did call it an early day as Dear Mom’s feet and ankles started swelling. She’s never complains, bless her heart, but you could see her steps a little heavier….shame on me, sometimes I forget she close to 90.

Beautiful sights today….Ramla Bay…sand the color of paprika, Ta’Pinu Sanctuary, a beautiful church believed to have miraculous powers(I should have prayed for the Hop on,Hop off to go better)… and my favourite…The Azure Window.  Another full and wonderful day spent with the fossils….everyone should see the world through their eyes.

Ancient Relic Tour Day 16

We are off to Gozo today, the last leg of our journey.

After breakfast today, we took the “lift” like we always do at the hotel(Dear Mom found all the stairs a bit much). We have been using the same elevator for over a week and each time we have, I noticed we would get some strange looks from some of the people we met on it.

Today the door opens and there is a man already on and we go to get in and he asks where we are going….we say 1st floor….he says “you should be using the guest elevator, this is the service elevator for staff”…..now all the looks make sense! &)(@&#)!

We drove by taxi to the north of the island to catch the ferry to Gozo, a short ride, but the seas were quite rough.  I’m always a little worried as Dear Mom suffers terribly from sea sickness.

We got ourselves checked into the hotel and headed right back out to take another ferry to Comino and the Blue Lagoon. Trouble was it was not a ferry but just a large motor boat. Poor Dear Mom…trying to mange getting on the boat as it moved back and forth from the dock. You literally had to try and make a jump for it….it would come up to the dock with one wave, then go out, then back in, then out and you couldn’t quite judge how far it would sway. At one point I thought Dear Mom was going to do the splits as one leg was on the dock and one leg was on the boat and it started to move away from the dock….her legs were spreading further and further apart, when just in the nick of time the boat swayed back into the dock. First thing she did was get her little bag out just in case….but she managed fine.

It was very busy, hundreds of people enjoying the seaside venue, one of the most popular on the island. Very pretty and the water was wonderful to swim in.  We enjoyed the day, the sun and the sea.

On the way back, the fellow who is driving the boat decides to gun it and we are literally flying over the water, hitting the waves, spray everywhere. Dear Mom and I are sitting near the back where most of the spray was hitting and Dear Mom is getting the worst of it, as she’s closest to the water.  The spray started lightly, but the faster he went and the more waves he crashed through the worse the spray got. One minute I look over and Dear Mom seemed ok and the next her glasses are half over her face, her hair is soaking wet and she has her eyes closed due to all the water. I’m freaking….then I hear her laughing, and laughing….we were going to fast for her to think about sea sickness.

By the time we got to the harbour she looked like a drowned rat….but she was still laughing…Bless her heart.

Ancient Relic Tour Day 15

I just can’t believe how the Fossils are co-operating this trip….no issues to speak of really, other than Dear Uncle searching his bags, pants and shirt for his sunglasses, quite in a panic till he finds he’s wearing them already.  Plus after he assured me he had turned off the dog alarm before entering the dining room, the moment we sat down …..Someone let the dogs out! *__*_*_)&*@_!#$*_$& I’m sure the hotel will be happy to see us leave tomorrow!

Dear Mom has been quite good as well….other than accumulating a whole suitcase of pamphlets and brochures, even of places we haven’t been…..oh and then there was the heated discussion of Scottish politics….by the way she was the only one who was heated, neither Dear Uncle or I really cared if the referendum passed.

Today was a chauffeured tour…oh how I love these, as I actually get to relax. We visited the Prehistoric Temples…..

The Blue Grotto, however the sea was far too rough and no boats were attempting the swells. I’m so happy that Dear hubby and I got to do the boat tour on a previous trip.

The salt pans, Marsascala for lunch and then Marsaxlokk…

The Bush-Gorbachev End of the Cold War monument and Dhar Dalam Cave..

Tomorrow we are off to Gozo for the final few days of our trip…maybe a day too soon as Prince William is coming to Malta to celebrate Independence Day and is staying just across the road from us at the Presidential Palace.

Ancient Relic Tour Day 14

We travelled back to Valletta today, opting to travel by ferry to the Three Cities. On one of our tours, someone mentioned that we should not miss St. John's Cathedral in Valletta a so that was on our list to complete before we leave. I am so glad that we did take the time to come back and visit it. It was really amazing.

Hard to imagine that a church built in 1572 would have quilting blocks inlaid in marble for the floor…..Look, 1/2 square triangles and split hexagons!

Ancient Relic Tour Day 13

Well today was my day….enough of all the history and ancient relic crap….how about a fun day to Popeye Village.

This is Sweetwater ….the village set that Disney built for the movie Popeye starring Robin Williams. It was kind of bittersweet to be there…great to see where the movie had been filmed but sad for the fact that he is gone.

I would have had a ton more pics, but struggled with my IPhone today……took a ton of pics but can’t find them in the albums on the phone. Very frustrating! *_**&_*_*_*_)**^)&). The ones I did get were from my regular camera.

It was a beautiful place to take pictures, and Dear Mom and Dear Uncle hasd great fun snapping pics of everything.

They had a nice area for swimming there as well with lounges and water games, boat rides and restaurants….just a great way to spend a day relaxing!