Once, many years back now, my family on my mothers side squatted on the Island of Malta for a couple of generations. Which, really, was our sole reason for traveling there. Since that time, possibly only in the last few years, Malta has been trying to reinvent itself. It wants to be the cool hangout for the super (or at least moderately) rich. You can buy yourself citizenship (for just over 600k plus extras), and will be rewarded not only with a passport to the EU, but also rather pleasingly low tax rates. The magazine on the airlines (Malta Airways of course) was all about pimpin’ the Island. Which came across as slightly desperate, and just a little bit tacky. Not what they were looking for at all. We were looking for this: As my people (kind of) come from Malta, certain things have leaked into our fantastically Mongrel Aussie-hybrid customs. Example 1: Mushy Pea Pies Firstly, let me say that it is amazing to be in a country that understands the concept of a …

On our final day in Rome, we visited the Vatican. We didn’t prebook tickets (which I hear you can do online), so it took us about 40 minutes to get inside. Which was not too upsetting- Andy read, I pretended I was a dinosaur who like to eat fruit- and was much less time than promised to us by the assorted men trying to sell us overpriced guided tours (‘2 hours’).  We spent a bit of time flouncing around the courtyard. It was pretty cold: So we headed into the museum. First stop- slightly creepy creepy room filled with heads and busts: My sister was really into Greek myths when she was younger. Ella chose Artemis- the hunter goddess, as her goddess, a slightly odd choice for one who has possibly not owned a flat shoe (and definitely not taken to running) since forced to do so in high school. My goddess was Athena- goddess of wisdom, and goddess of war (she had a temper that I respected and could identify with). We’re practically the …

Sometimes, when I start writing this blog, it feels like coming to confession. Not that I’ve ever, to my knowledge, been to confession, but because they always start it (in the TV shows and movies) with ‘it’s been six weeks since my last confession’ So. ‘It’s been four weeks since my last (Roman) holiday’. Rome day 3 started in the Piazza del Popolo, and with honest intentions to get a bit of culture into ourselves by visiting museums, art galleries and the like. But the sun swayed our souls, and we ended up swanning through the streets, marching through marketplaces, and checking out cats. Plus there was some magnificent fence leaping thrown in there. There was supposed to be a market ‘just around the corner’ from the Piazza, but of course, we couldn’t find it. So we wandered the lands instead: The wandering of course involved some eating and posing. The icecream was of the ‘ok but not fabulous’ variety, which means I’m not entirely sure what the top flavour I’m chowing down on is. Possibly …

New Year, New Blogging Resolution. We’re 9 days in and it’s not looking great eh? This last week has been filled with the type of exhaustion that can only come from coming back to work after getting a little bit too used to holiday life. Luckily, we’ve been pleasantly surprised on return to The Deutschland to find that Autumn is lingering (which frankly seems deserved after it stubbornly refused to get into Spring for so long last year), and the weather is hovering at a rather pleasant 10 degrees. But shall we travel back to Rome anyway? After the trials of the colosseum, the Man and I needed some meat. And what better place to eat said meat, than at Ducati? (which after a quick google I can very confidently say ‘is a company that sells motorbikes’). We both opted for beef burgers, because a) there is no beef in Deutschland and b) Germany burgers tend to be ‘American style’. Oh yeah, and c) mine came with blue cheese! I had such high expectations, I mean, just look …