Heather and Adam's visit gave me a little umph in my appreciation for Florence. I am so thankful that I have such a wonderful family and we have the opportunity to share a joy in exploring the world. It was a thrill to take them to my favorite spots around Florence, like my favorite pizza place, or chatting at the wine store. I also may have never tried so many gelato places since my favorite place was closed for the cold weather. Luckily, though, Heather and Adam were able to taste its magic the last couple days.

I read somewhere that the present could be compared to a roll of film from which memory selects photographic highlights. Of my 5 hour trip my memory now only retains a few static images. My layers of experience had settled into a compact and well-defined narrative: I became someone who recently took a train from Florence to catch a flight to Malta. We started exploring the island that night, though there was, inevitably, a lot more beneath these brisk words than that. To describe every moment that makes up our little trip, would be nearly impossible, so I'll sum it up.

We hopped over to Malta for a break away from the city. We just can't seem to stay away from the water. And the best thing about Malta: pastizzis!!! These little pastries are filled with all sorts of things. There's pea ones, ricotta, ham and cheese (my favorite). For some pocket change we ate every pastizzi we saw. Another highlight was the colorful fishing port, a quiet escape from the unexpected high-rise hotels and vacation rentals.

Getting around, we ignored the advice of taking buses everywhere and instead rented a car. We wanted to be free! And good thing Adam was there because there are few people I would trust with the position of driving on the left-hand side, in a manual car, on the fast-paced roads of Malta, with no road signs. There was a sense of familiarity, it is just a car and just a road, but simultaneously coupled with everything being completely opposite. Malta is pretty tiny so luckily we had a hard time getting lost.

Even though it is such a small island, the oldest discovered temples, an underground megalithic hypogeum from around 3200 BC are found here. It was strange to see an ancient piece of architecture so well preserved, and it was only discovered in the early 1900's. Construction workers accidentally discovered it, which makes me wonder what other history is buried, waiting to be rediscovered.