First full day in Malta

***what I have also learned, is just because it says your post is saved and then you post it - does not mean everything uploaded - so here is the expanded version****

Things I have learned in the last 24 hours.

When you look at the weather report, believe it. Even if the skies are very blue outside but the weather report says rain, prepare for rain.

Before you pack a purse just to hold your phone, make sure the phone fits in the purse.

So in the morning, we decide to explore Valetta a bit more. We know the canon is shot off every day at noon, so we head there (along with at least 2000 people from the newly docked cruise ships.

We hear the explosion and that’s it…time to see more of Valetta.

The line for the co-cathedral is too long, so we head for the presidential palace.

Lots of weaponry. I decided to just see how heavy one of the spears on the rack in the top right was. Unfortunately for me, it was pretty heavy and as I was quickly trying to set it back in place, the guard yelled down the hall “don’t touch that”…oops. Well I can tell you it was VERY heavy.

When we come to an outside transition in the palace - we find it is storming.

We sit on the stairs with about 30 other people waiting for the storm to pass. The smart people with their umbrellas climb thru the rest of us and get on with their tour. We wait about 20 minutes and see that it is not going to pass- so we brave the rain to head back to the hotel. I make it a block before I detour into a shop to buy an umbrella. Now we can move on. We see the line for St. John’s co-cathedral has significantly diminished- so we get in line.

In spite of the rain, the cathedral is as packed. We work our way through and head outside.

It is still raining.

Once back at the hotel, we head to the pool. This is a commitment to go as it is a hike to get there. We check it out - but will come back another day.

And now back to our room to get ready for tonight. It turns out today as a celebratory day for Malta. This was their Independence Day - and this is the 60 year anniversary. When I booked the hotel, we were invited to join in the celebrations for a black tie dinner. Jim was excited to join in, so we amended our packing list.

Now we had to pack for casual day clothes, something to wear for dinner, swimwear, walking attire and now black tie. Of course we should have added rainwear, but we had no room.

The dinner is a recreation of the same meal served at their Independence Day dinner in 1964.

We were seated at a table with 4 people from Malta, two British women and a couple who moved to Malta from Spain just last week.

The President of Malta was in attendance- and spoke before dinner.

After dinner, Jim wanted to go meet the President, as she was only 2 tables away from us. One of the men at our table obviously knew her and offered to go introduce us. Jim tried to convince me to go for a photo opp- but I thought it was a little too invasive so I passed. Maybe be I should have gone. Oh well, and with that we call it a night.