Malta

As we landed in Malta, we wanted Eddie to drink some milk, since swallowing helps to equalize pressure in the ears. So we told him that the milk would be good for his ears. Then he tried to put the milk in his ears! Luckily, it was in a sippy cup with a valve, so it didn't spill all over his head.

On our first day in Malta, we ate at the Fortizza, a restaurant in a little old fort on the beach. It's built of sandstone, like everything else on Malta, and since it hardly ever rains, you can't tell how old anything is: stuff from 1300 and 1800 look alike. Eddie was tired from his long airplane journey, but the rest of us ignored him and stuffed our faces.

He's been sharing our food, having some of whatever we order. He'll eat just about anything we give him, except lettuce, olives or anchovies. His taste for some veggies seems to vary day by day, though.

The hotel provided us with a crib, which was frighteningly rickety and had a drop-side secured with a simple slide bolt latch, which we had foolishly taught him to open with a latch board. So we couldn't leave him to fall asleep on his own.

That night, we went to Valletta, the capital of the Knights of Malta, on a bus. Entry into the city is through immense walls, with huge outerworks around a little gate reachable over a narrow bridge. Those knights were serious! But a few blocks down, there were no walls along the seaside. Didn't they have to fear attack by sea more than by land? What's up with those guys?

Strangely, Valletta seemed like a ghost town, with all the restaurants and shops closed, around 8pm. We ended up at The King's Own Band Club, where it seemed like most of the staff had gone home and a busboy and a waitress were trying to run the restaurant by themselves. Eddie entertained himself by saying "baby" over and over (looking at some pictures of children.)

On the second day, Eddie visited some cool playgrounds near our hotel, and made friends with a Maltese boy. After his nap we took a taxi to Mdina, the old capital. This is a small stone city where he enjoyed walking around and watching horse-drawn carriages go by. After lunch he convinced us to take a carriage ride, which went all over the little place. We tried to teach him that horses say "neigh", but he would only say "bah", like he says for sheep. He hasn't been doing Ns for a while.

The next day, Eddie hung out with Nonno, visiting playgrounds and walking along the rocky beach visiting pools, while his parents had lunch in Valletta and made their way to Tarxien to see the 5000-year-old temples there. That night, a friend of Nonno and her boyfriend drove us around the southern coast, which we hadn't gotten to. We got out to walk along the coast by the even older temples of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, which were closed, but we saw the outside. It was nice to see some of the island which wasn't covered by buildings.

Poor Eddie is short on sleep, but he's being very good. He loves stomping around in all these new places, and getting attention from people. He can also tell when something is impressive, and he'll point and say "Oooh!" What a good little tourist he is!