Boy, do we love Greece! I’m not sure what we were expecting…I guess our expectations were low and our knowledge pretty limited. The people, sights, sounds (live music everywhere), smells (bitter orange trees in bloom everywhere that smell like lilac)—what a wonderful country! We said goodbye to Naufplio and headed back to Athens. Our final official outing was a visit to the Greek Parliament, which provided us with a short but fascinating look inside the workings of the government. Our tour guides bid us a fond farewell with a lovely... Read The Rest →

After spending a few days in lovely Athens, we headed out of the city to the Peloponnese, which took us across the canal of Corinth and through some breathtaking mountain scenery. For some reason, most of us had no idea we would see such beautiful landscapes, and we didn’t realize how much we missed seeing all that lush green vegetation! Our destination was the seaside town of Naufplio, which was as charming and picturesque as you’d imagine. But before arriving there, we stopped to visit the ancient city of Mycenae.... Read The Rest →

We arrived in Greece on Saturday, April 20, ready for our second big travel excursion with the students. The following day, we visited the Acropolis, the new Acropolis Museum, and the Agora. As if that wasn’t enough, the four of us returned to the Acropolis in the evening, when there were hardly any visitors and we saw the stone monument reflecting the late day sun. It was breathtaking, and a wonderful way to end our first day in Athens.

Today we had a fun outing with Nana and Papa, who are now becoming seasoned Malta travelers! We began by treating ourselves to a cab ride to Rabat, a much nicer way of traveling than the bus! After sampling same pastizzi from the famous Crystal Palace restaurant, we wandered the narrow streets of Rabat and ended up at St. Paul’s church. Before you knew it, we all decided to go down into the catacombs, an immense series of underground tunnels, originally used as burial places, later used as air raid... Read The Rest →

Today was one of those days where not much was on the schedule, but Malta surprised us once again. Our main task of the day was to find a sporting goods store in a city called Birkirkaka, not too far from Sliema but requiring an hour-long bus ride. It was a rainy day, and none of us were too excited by this adventure. We found the store, and even found a nice pair of shoes for Kyle, which was the goal. But we also discovered the town of Fleur-de-Lys, near... Read The Rest →

Finally, we made it to Gozo! Ever since we first arrived, every single Maltese person we’ve met has said “you must go to Gozo.” And it was everything we hoped and thought it would be—much more open space, fewer people, quieter, and breathtaking scenery. Rather than describe in detail each place we visited (we had a coach drive us, so we took full advantage and tried to see as much as we could) here’s a quick run-down: 1) Dwejra, the inland “lake,” and nearby Fungus Rock. Awesome boat trip through... Read The Rest →

Twice every year, there is a regatta in Malta—one on March 31, to celebrate the departure of the last British soldiers in 1979, and on September 8, to mark the retreat of the Ottoman Turks in 1565 and thus the end of the Great Siege. So, we thought we’d watch from a nice perch atop Fort St. Angelo, in Birgu. This was our first time in this city, just across the Grand Harbor from Valletta, and it was a lovely and charming old city, with narrow, winding streets and a... Read The Rest →

You might think that it’s a slow news day when an entire post is devoted to reporting on an errand to a government office, but it was an experience we won’t soon forget! Since we are in Malta for more than 90 days, we need a residence permit. This will allow us to travel (more or less) freely during our stay, especially during the latter part of the trip when the 90 days has expired. Because of the hard work of Jennifer Self and a colleague at the university, the... Read The Rest →

One of the places where we’ve found another community, apart from our wonderful Luther students, has been Holy Trinity Church. It’s an independent Anglican church about 3 blocks from our flat, and from the first Sunday we visited, we’ve felt very welcome. Today was a special Lenten lunch, not too different from what we might experience at Good Shepherd in Decorah. We were served bread and soup, homemade by several volunteers, along with water and juice (no coffee!). The weather was beautiful, and when we were done, we played in... Read The Rest →

Wow…I’ve been negligent in updating this blog for the past few weeks…and now things have really piled up! So, back to Saturday, March 23. As a result of a successful direct mail campaign, we learned about a children’s concert at the Manoel Theater in Valletta, featuring the Malta Philharmonic playing all kinds of fun, slightly Halloween themed music. We had heard about this theater from other directors—it is a small, baroque theater, with one floor of “stalls” and then several floors of box seats around the sides and back. As... Read The Rest →