Miki - A Self Potrait

Night 16/Day 17: The Road back Home

We Sequesterd a cabin all for ourselves once again and made ourselves at home. We ate loads on this train ride, finished off most of our food.

We got to Siracusa in the early morning. We spent a good half hour hunting for Torrone which we didnt find. We ate some nice Pasti, then just chilled out in a Park. Miki then went to continue the hunt for Torrone but only found Sort-of-Torrone.


After a long/boring morning in Siracusa we jumped on the tiny train to Pozzallo.

The Shocking Truth


In Pozzallo we savoured the last afternoon of freedom by walking along the beautiful beach, and hanging out in a shitty Cafe near the ferry, where we ate loads to get rid of the small change.

The Ferry left Pozzallo at 19:30. We met the same guy on the ferry that had shared the Taxi with us 17 days ago to Siracusa.
We planned to meet our friends later that night in Paceville for a couple of Drinks.
At 21:30 we were back home...back in Malta... 'Malta...Beautiful Malta' Egypt

And so the Story ends.

DAY 16: Vatican Museums... Strike 3

We woke up and went to check out. When we asked the woman at the reception (not the same woman a different one) if we could leave our stuff she said it's 3 euros each. Now this isn't a lot of money, but out of principle we couldn't accept it. Every hostel offered this service for free.
After talking to Canada, we were told the Romania had a man over all night and he had yelled at the Hostel owner about this. They were pissed off! Apparently Brazil had been charged way too much for the night, compared with the Canadians.

So we cunningly put our stuff in the Canadian's room. when the woman saw us leaving without our bags, she was real pissed hehehehe.

We went to the Vatican Museums, in the Rain, but there was a queue all along the Vatican walls. Half of the people wouldn't even to get in before it closes, so we had no chance. We walked around really sad that we had no chance of seeing the Museums.

We then went to check out thr train schedule, and headed back to the Hostel where wer found the Canadians, the Brazilian and Egyptian outside with all their stuff and ours too! They were leaving the wretched place (except Egypt who liked the place).
We agreed to meet later on for a couple of beers.

We headed to an eatery were we got a lovely pizza. Then we went to see a couple of things we had missed on our first visit; the Cappucin Crypt, which is adorned with the bones of the monks; and the Church of Maria della Vittoria, which we had already seen but not properly.
In this church there's Bernini's statue of the Ecstasy of St Teresa, which is featured in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons (lol everything we visited was in this stupid book). Suppost the bad guys burns a guy in the church.

We met up with the Canadian's in Piazza della Republica where we got a couple of drinks and exchanged contact info.

Then we headed to the Train Station and got on our train to Sicily.

DAY 15: Back to the Crackhouse in Rome's Asianic District

We got back to the Hostel in Rome late at night and we had to pay extra coz of the stupid stupid hostess woman. Who has since, become the enemy :@

After a long nights sleep we got washed and all spiffy to go and meet my mummy and Joe at Piazza di Spagna for lunch.
We went to Ostello a nice restaurant with brilliant food but crappy service.

Piazza di Spagna was full of people coz it was the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the Pope was saying mass nearby. After Lunch (at about 16:00) we walked through the crowds and caught a glimpse of the Pope (or was it father xmas? i couldnt tell he was wearing white and red and a pompom hat). We went shopping in Via Condotti, we went into a Versace!

After saying goodbye to mum and Joe (they had to catch a flight to Paris) we went back to the hostel to get something yummy to eat.
We made some new friends. Reuben & Tannis, a Canadian couple (well reuben was originally from Australia, but he moved), that were happy to see us coz we were the only other people in the hostel who spoke english.
Egypt and Romania were still there, we had met them 2 weeks ago in the same hostel.
Egypt was a real nice guy who helped us cook, and apparently likes Malta... 'Malta, beautiful Malta'
Romania is a whore, who does her best to annoy her roomates (luckily not us), we were in a room with two very alright Italians.

We spent the night chillin with the canadians, and Brazil (also a very cool guy).

After a good night of drinking and merry making we went to bed.

DAY 14: Florence, Home of Master Painters, Sculptors & Poets (Not footballers Mike:P)

Our first excursion was to the Uffizzi Museum. So much to see. There was something from all the Masters, great works of Raffael, Caravaggio, Leonardo and even two Self portraits of Rembrandt.

The corridors are adorned with loads of Statues and busts, there just wasn't enough time to see everything. There was Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, loads of famous Filippo Lippi paintings, Botticellis, including his Birth of Venus and Allegory of Spring and Caravaggio's Medusa.

Obviously no photos from in here!

We then went to the Academia, the home of Michelangelo's Davide. This is extremely well kept, and photos are strictly forbidden. We checked out all the other Art in there.

We went for a walk, ate pizza, took some nice photos and got our next train ride sorted.
Then we went on a hunt for Dante's house. Eventually we found it, (apparently they converted the house into a Museum, but that was closed) and took a photo of the plaque, which is a qutoe from Inferno. It's pretty cool that Dante would have actually walked around the same streets in his youth, and seen the beautiful Beatrice somewhere there.

We did some Grocery shopping for the train ride, and headed back to the hostel for a shower.

Then it was off to Rome again!

DAY 13: From Crackhouse to Monsatery

We arrived at Milano early in the morning. We were dead tired and feeling a little sick. The guys in our Cucetta were sick and insisted in keeping the window closed. We wanted to run around Milan abit before catching our train to Florence but we really weren't up to it. We slept a couple of hours in the waiting room, looking like real hobos.

We caught our next train without a problem and got to the beautiful city of Florence.

We spent a good hour or so Hostel hunting. hmmmm, we were sure it was in this street... 'what's it called?'
'Pope Pious X Hostel'... 'hmmmm where could it be'
Right opposite the church of Papa Pio X we found what we were looking for. An old monastery which had been converted into a church school, had a little hostel in it.
We went through the gate and past the courtyard. All the way up the stairs were pictures of Jesus and Saints. wow ... 'hope we won't have to go to Mass every night'

As it happens the hostel was a very nice place, quite clean, safe and relaxed.
We washed up and headed out for a bite to eat and then a walk.

Florence is so beautiful by night. We went to Ponte Vecchio, Pallazzo Vecchio we saw the loads of old statues, even the copy of the Davide, the church of Santa Croce and took a nice pic of the River Arno.

We chatted a little with our roomies (2 spaniards & a jap) who were really cool.
A Maltese guy came into our room (this really freaked us out) and gave us some advice on what to see.

We slept real well.

us all pooped out

Day 12: Paris Revisited

From Lille we got on a train to Paris. On the train the conducter told us we had to pay a supplement because it was a TGV, so basiocally we spent a night in a Ghent train station for nothing. Oh well, we lied a little and said we didnt have enough money, and he let us off paying half only.

We got to Paris, mid-morning, and spent the rest of the morning trying to fit our kits into a locker at the station. heh it was quite a feat but we manage to squeeze them in, after breaking one of the clips of my bag which i (Debono) replaced with a bungee cord i was conveniently carrying around .

We then headed out to Paris, smelly as can be, to check out the stuff we missed the first time around. first we headed to Musee d'Orsay, which was closed coz it closes on Mondays apparently. Then we went to Notre Dame.
What can one say about Notre Dame? Its very beautiful cathedral, kick's Sacre Couers ass, that's for sure. There was an orchestra practicing inside, which was really cool and added to the beauty of the place.

Then we headed to the Picasso Museum, which houses the largest collection of original Picasso's, including his early, more conventional works, many of his sketches and plans for larger works, and many of his masterpieces. There was definately too much to see.

We caught a train in the Evening to Milano... yet another long journey.

Night 11: OK Here's Belgium...Now wheres the chocolate?!?!
(A night of Turkish kebabs and Hommelbeer).

Our plan was to take a train from Amsterdam to Brussels, then from Brussels to Lille and then on to Paris. We didn't book a direct trin coz with our interrail card we would still need to pay a supplement, whereas taking short distance trains would be free (or prepaid).

We got to Brussels at 21:30, and the people at the information office told us there would be no trains out of Belgium after 21:00. We were stuck in Belgium for the night. We then tried to ask them when the next train would leave for Lille (in the morning) but they were really rude and just sent us away, closing the info office for the night.

We decided (since we could go on any internal train for free) to head over to Ghent (we're not sure why.

In Ghent we were guna sleep in the station but at 00:00 the station was guna close for a few hours so they kicked us out. We roamed the streets of Ghent until a nice guy at a 24hr grocery store pointed us to the bars.

We spent a couple of hours in one bar drinking Hommelbeer, then went to a Turkish kebab place*.
Heading back to the trainstation at 03:30 where we slept til morning. Then we caught the train to Lille.


*we have concluded that, Turkish kebab places have become the most international establishments in the world, every place we went to had loads of these. In the one street we saw in Ghent there were about 4, right near each other, all with authentic Turks.

DAY10: Van Gogh Left quite a good Impression (tihihihi)

Waking at about 10:00 we exploited the Hostel's free Breakfast and stuffed ourselves, also stocking up on a couple of panini for the day.
Our morning was well spent in the Brilliant Van Gogh Museum.

The Museum houses a vast collection of Van Gogh originals, from his early, more conventional days to his peak. The most famous ones, 'The Potatoe Eaters', 'Sunflowers' and his self potraits, were on display along with his paintings from his MontMartre period and the ones when he was in the mental asylum.
It makes you wonder how all these masters were all a little crazy.

We spent the afternoon running around Amsterdam enjoying the canals and general beauty of the place. We went to the train station to get some information, then went out to spend the evening in the Hostel which had a lovely little bar.

DAY11: Last day in Amsterdam

The morning was spent in a Park, complete with a lake and duckies. The weather was good, but very cold.
We did another walking tour of Amsterdam, getting a couple of pics of the Canals. It's so cool people actually like on Canals like on TV.



We weren't happy that evening when we had to leave this beautiful city, we were off to Paris, via Belgium.

DAY 10: Canals, Bikes, Tulips, Bikes and Bikes.

We arrived in Amsterdam in the Early Evening and we were exhausted. That didnt stop us from wandering around the streets after depositing our stuff in the hostel and having a quick shower.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city, the canals are really spectacular. it was bitterly cold, especially around the canals coz it gets really windy around them. Every one in Amsterdam rides a bike and they even have really wierd toilets (only for men) right in the middle of the road and at real popular junctions.

Well we got a little lost in the Streets of Amsterdam but eventually we found PC Hoofstratt and Paulus Potterstraat and from there we made it to the hostel (we really enjoy saying the names of the streets).

We had an earlyish night.

Day 8: Fish & Chips, The Manchester Gay District & a relaxed Evening with an Irish Folk Band
We arrived in Manchester, late morning. And in the Coach station we booked a coach which left Manchester at midnight to arrive in Amsterdam the next day in the evening. We then headed tothe Ticket office to pick up our Tickets, but the box opened at 14:30 so we went to a nearby Chinese Fish & Chip Shop (funny eh?). Then we hung out in a dinner, had a nice coffee, basically killing time.
At 14:30 we got our tickets and had a word with a couple of Local Volta fans. This crazy guy in a T-shirt (it was bloody cold) and another two people were gonna wait from 14:30 for the band toarrive so they can talk to them (the stage entrance was onthe side of the building so it was possible to meet the band). We considered waiting with them but we had to book a hostel for Amsterdam so we headed back into town.

Back in Manchester centre we hunted for an internet Cafe. The best one we found was in a Gay Bar in Canal Street. Very good deal, if u buy a drink you get free internet. So we got ourselves a couple of pints and booked a hostel for Amsterdam.

Buy about 17:30 we were back at the Carling Apollo, all hyped up for the second Volta gig, when we found something very distressing:














The guys we had seen before were still there. Apparently they had met the band. the band walked uipto them and told them the show was to be cancelled. The lucky people got their photos taken with all the band members. Ok maybe it's not as good as an actual show but they're still pretty lucky. heh if only we stayed there eh?!
We went round back and the crew were loading the equipment back in the Truck, they weren't very pleased, lots of work for nothing.

We were really depressed at this point. You can imagine eh? The first night in Birmingham had really hyped us up for the second gig.

Oh well we went to drown our sorrows in an Irish Pub.
At about 21:00 a little Irish folkband were playing. They were two guys, probably in their mid-Thirties, one playing Guitar and singing (he had a very very nice voice) and the other playing bagpipes, recorders, mouth organs (an assortment of wind instruments) and singing at times. The nature of good Irish folk music is that it just cheers you up.
These guys were amazing, and really they did cheer us up. It wasn't the kind of show we had prepared for but I totally forgot about The Mars Volta for a couple of hours.

We left before the end to catch out Coach. The coach ride we were about to begin was to be the longest journey of our trip.

Night 8: Manchester - London - Calais - Lille - Belgium - Amsterdam - Bleh!!!!!!

We spent the night on the Coach down to London, where we changed coach.
We arrived at the White Cliffs of Dover, early morning, where we boarded a P&O ferry.
Very uneventful.

DAY 7: From Voltaire to Volta

Got up Bright and Early and all excited coz at 19:00 the doors to the Carling Academy (Birmingham) would open for us to watch the Mars Volta*
The only obstacle was that there was about 1,000KM between us and the ticket office and the Academy.

Oh well! we left the hostel thanking the Hostel Caretaker for helping us out the night before :-P headed to the Trainstation and got on our Eurostar train in time.
An uneventful train ride followed, we slept through most of it. The Eurotunnel isnt very interesting at all, once they spent so many millions on it they should have put something interesting in it, at least it would justify the high price of the journey.

Arriving in Waterloo station at about 10.00 we wasted no time on getting to the coach station and booking seats on the next coach to Birmingham.
We slept on the coach.

We arrived with loads of time to kill, so we ae a nice big meal at Macdonalds**.
We picked up our tickes from the box office and waited for the show.

Doors opened at 19:00 so we went to wait at about 17:30 when there were very few people. By 18:00 the queue was superlong.
We got in at 19:00 without a problem, and the people and the door/cloak room congratulated us on having brought the biggest bags to a show in the history of the Academy. Despite the 'No Food or Drinks' Rule they allowed us to take in the Pasta and sauce, and instant rice which we had in our bags.

Ok after a long wait (til 21:00) the bands intro music (the theme from Fistful of Dollars, Ennio Morricone) came on. Very dramatic entrance. What followed was a 2hr [more or less] spectacle without any breaks.
I'm not going to attempt to describe the Volta's music, or live experience, but they were as good as i expected and much more than that even. I took a couple of photos but due to the lighting and the people moving around they're not very good. I borrowed some much better pix from a girl called Pill (a Mars Volta Fan, who i met through the TMV fansite, who is coincidentally the girl mentioned in the next post, one of the lucky ones who met the band and broke the news to us) .

The Singer did some funny stuff in the show, apart from the regular latino dancing, he played around with one of the security guy's hair and took off the headphones of one of the girls...and then just jumped into the crowd.

*The Mars Volta are a band from Texas, they play rock music but very strangely, its very guitar orriented but they use loads of latino style percussion, very wierd psychdelic organs and stuff, saxophones, flutes. check out their website www.themarsvolta.com or the very well kept fansite www.thecomatorium.com

** we had made an oath not to go to Mcdonalds on the trip but we decided its not a sin in England, as long as we ate fish and chips there on one occasion.










Night 7: Despite the 24 hour drinking law, Birmingham was like a ghost town

I was told that Birmingham had quite a nightlife, and after the 24 hour Drinking Law had just been passed we figured we would have no problem hanging around there at night.
But man, just after the show, Birminham centre (near the Bullring) was completely empty. No where to buy food from or anything.
We went back to the coach station and tried to catch a coach, but since we didnt have a ticket and the ticket booth was closed, they wouldnt accept us on the coach (they usually accept people if there's room but apparently there wasn't any).

Well the next Coach was at 03.00. Luckily we met this real funky couple from Oxford and went to hang out with them at an allnight pub. After drinking a couple of pints we headed back to the station. The 3AM coach didnt accept us either so we slept in the station with plans to buy a ticket as soon as the booth opens at 06.30.

The Bullring in Birmingham (a massive shopping centre).

Day6: 'Je Suis Desole'

We woke up early and headed straight to Mont Martre, where we got some Crepes for breakfast, and stopped at the Dali Museum. This kicked some ass. (Too much cool stuff to write about).Miki with the Space Elephant

We then checked out Sacre Cuore which was very nice and big but was a bit plain (it was no Vatican). There was a replica of the St Peter's statue and we touched its foot too.

We took a short Break from Sightseeing and went to the Gare du Nord where we got sorted for our trip to Engerland.

Next on our list was the Eiffel Tower. Got there by Metro and walked to the very top, lucky enough to get there right at sunset, but didnt get any good pics coz the batteries were dying.


After getting real cold we left the Tower and headed for Arc de Triomphe, which is indeed quite Triumphant. Walked down Champs Elysees, did some window shopping (ie went to HMV).

It's true what they say, the Paris is super Expensive. So to save money on food, knowing that the hostel we were staying at had a microwave, we had bought microwave food, not the most appetising of foods but at least we could afford it.

we waited all day to eat this microwave dinner but when we got back to the Hostel (which i remind you is in the Mental Asylum District) we smelt the smell of an exploded micronde.

The caretaker that was there had only about 3 teeth left in her mouth, and she couldn't speak a word of english, all she could say when we told her we were starved was 'Je suis Desole!!'

So we took our microwave lasagna and went round the centre of Paris asking Restaurants if we could use their micronde... after bout 3 restaurants some nice guy cooked our food and we ate well and went to bed happy.

Pics of us at the Louvre

Day 5: Bonjour Paris!
We spent our first day in Paris with our usual ritual or hauling all our stuff around town and getting lost while we hunt for our Hostel. We found Richard Lenoir Boulevard only to realise it was in Rue Richard Lenoir; right off Voltaire Boulevard
When we got to the Hostel, in the Lunatic Asylum District, we washed and ate and went straight to the Louvre.

Miki with Diana

The Louvre was a pleasant experience, saw lots of nice stuffs, including Ms Mona Lisa, The Wedding Feast of Cana, xeba xeba other stuff by Leonardoand & Co., as well as Napoleon's Apartments, which were not bad.
We saw loads of ancient Egyptian and Greek Relics, and just before we got locked in we caught a glimpse of the La Valette sword, which is all on its own.

After walking round Paris, aimlessly, we got tired and went home, ate our microwave dinner, and slept.