When life gives you lemons........eat rabbit belly.

Yesterday, while Skyping with Sam, I received an email informing me that I would not be able to fly home through Germany.  The airport workers at Frankfurt Airport are on strike.  While I was certainly not pleased with the delay, I realized that I now had a 1 1/2-day paid vacation in the country in which I found myself stranded..........Malta.  Not a bad place to get stuck.  Being the adventurer that I am, I was determined not to waste this opportunity.  Last night I ate some delicious pasta, and I don't know if it was the pasta or something else (delays, change of literary), but I only slept about three hours before I decided to get out of bed and begin the day.

 I began the day at a little cafe..........hey, that rhymes........with a pastry full of ricotta cheese.

 Check out the title of the bottom-right smoothie.  Funny.

 Sitting on a bench waiting for the bus to arrive.

 I took a one-hour bus ride to the Mdina Glass Factory.  They make some gorgeous items.  I like the sign above the glass.

 Following my tour of the glass factory I walked 30-45 minutes up to the ancient city of Mdina.  According to Wikipedia, "Legend has it that it was here, in around 60 CE, that Paul the Apostle lived after his shipwreck on the islands."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mdina

 Selfie........but only because no one else was foolish enough to walk along the narrow roads with the crazy Maltese drivers flying by.

 Gate to old Mdina

 Looking out over Malta

 At this point I was famished, so I decided to stop at Gululu for lunch.

 I found this as I was walking to Gululu.  I suppose that love does indeed turn things upside down at times........or something like that.  Does that even make sense? :)

 I was told to try a Maltese favorite.........rabbit belly (Zaqq tal-Fenek).

And so I did.  Thumper's belly was delicious.  The veggies were excellent as well.

 Walking back to my hotel.

View from the top of the hotel.

I gave him a few coins and he played me a song.  It would have been a romantic moment were Sam here with me.  In fact, this entire place is pretty romantic, though not so much when you walk alone.

The day is only half gone, and while I am tempted to continue exploring this tiny country, I am simply too tired.  The next time I get stuck in Malta I shall explore another section of the country.

Wadi Rum

Yesterday I went to Wadi Rum.  I grabbed two long pillows off of my hotel bed to make the ride more comfortable for the person not driving.  I explained to the hotel staff as they saw me walking out with two large pillows that I would bring them back the next day.  My bum needed them.

Cliff (one of Dad's former students) is in town for a week on business, so he helped me drive.

Approaching Rum Village.  Yes, this photo has been enhanced (hey, I only pushed the "enhance" button once).  It's not that colorful in Wadi Rum.

Saleh (our guide) took us to where his camels were hanging out.

I got my video for Spencer's halfway mark!

 Watering the camels

 Remnants of T. E. Lawrence's house.

 See me?

 With Cliff

For you, Stacie.

I thought sand-boarding would be pretty cool.  It wasn't.

 We went to Saleh's camp to relax while we waited for the sunset.

 Saleh fed his goats

 Check out the white one up top.  His horns wrap around his ears!

 Waiting for the sun to go down.

 I climbed up the rock to get a better view, but on the way down I was thinking about Jarem and his climbing equipment.  Going up was easy.  Coming down was scary!

 Saleh's camp from above

 Saleh took us back to his home in Rum Village where his daughter had prepared us a delicious meal. That white stuff is cheese from his goats.  So good!

 With Saleh

After stuffing ourselves we drove another 90 minutes back to Petra to stay the night in the Seven Wonders Hotel.  Cliff got up early this morning to hike to the Petra Treasury.  He is going to meet up with a colleague and do more exploring around Jordan today and tomorrow.  I drove back to Amman alone, but on the way out of Petra I saw this cafe.  Interesting that they spelled it correctly on the big sign, but changed the spelling on their fridge to the left.

Wadi Rum was the last thing I wanted to check off my list here in Jordan.  Now what do I do? :)  Work.

Oh, and with all the driving we did in the last two days, we didn't get pulled over once!  Miracles.