Tuesday, November 21 – More of the Same

We decided that, if MA felt better, we would go out for lunch today.  We fondly remembered the restaurant where we had eaten in 2009 and, luckily, D was able to find its name in the journal for that cruise.  He took the time to Google it yesterday and found references to its being closed.  The young lady at the port’s information kiosk was kind enough to call the restaurant but with no luck; she called one of her coworkers who is assigned to that area of the island and verified that Ron’s was no more but that there is now another restaurant in the same location.

In the meantime, he had written to the travel agency we had used in ’09 for information on a possible substitute for lunch and invited the owner and/or the guide we had used to join us.  Alas, Joan, the guide, was sick and Chris, the owner, had too many appointments to have lunch with us.  After all, it was very short notice.  Chris did offer the alternative saying that Ron had moved to another venue nearby.  We discussed it but opted to stay home rather than risk being late for an early all-aboard. 

While he was out and about yesterday finding the information booth, D saw that the Veendam was not alone at the Valletta cruise dock.  Farther down the pier was a P&O cruise ship which has been dogging us for several ports.  It may have been the Poesia.  For once, the Marinara was nowhere to be seen.  Wedged between the Poesia and the Veendam was a British destroyer, its bow [the pointy part] almost touching our stern.  It looked like to beagles getting to know each other in a dog park.  The warship was still behind us when we ate dinner, but the Poesia left Valletta as we watched from our table last night.

Valletta was interesting to watch this afternoon.  When we went to lunch on the Lido, it was bright and sunny.  The city was shown in sharp relief, but as the afternoon progressed, dark clouds appeared behind us and the bright sections of Valletta began to fade as shadows deepened and rain approached.  It looked to D like an El Greco [?] painting of Toledo, Spain, with rolling thunder clouds over the town. 


TOMORROW – Palermo, Italy

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