"The Country of the Blind and Other Stories" by Herbert George Wells

After I have finished with Anne Rice (whom I remember being much better than what actually is) I took a break from reading - which in my case means simply one day without book, just to clear up my head - I took a look upon my virtual library and decided to look up to something different, let's say to a genre that I don't usually visit. Not long ago I have read "Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy" which was a lovely collection of short stories written in Fantasy genre. It also inspired me to check out some more Fantasy writers, so I ended up over-dosing on George R. R. Martin and for no matter how exciting it was, for now I am just fine with swords and magicians. This collection also reminded me that I don't usually go for Science Fiction, perhaps because all that talk about Aliens, space ships and technological details puts me off - with notable exception of Frank Herbert's "Dune" I have not been specially interested in this genre. But I did my very serious research and found out several pretty famous titles so now I have another pile to check out and decided (in the spur of the moment) that now I'm going to read some serious Science Fiction. Maybe not too serious and too technical, because (just to play it safe) I started with father of Science Fiction, famous English writer Herbert George Wells who belongs to mostly 19th century so (I hoped) he wasn't too technical. 

Of course, I know H.G.Wells from before - in fact, one of the very first movies I saw in the cinema as a kid was darkly disturbing 1970s version of "The Island of Dr Moreau" which actually is horror story of the first order for any adult reader, not to mention a small child who was left traumatised for life. But since H.G.Wells is so well-known and legendary writer, he fell into group of those people I somehow got impression I was very familiar with where in fact I knew movie versions of his novels - I do have both "The Island of Dr Moreau" and "The Time Machine" (which I always loved) and this happened to be the whole extent of my knowledge. Just like with Jules Verne (another famous writer and visionary) Wells is someone I thought I know well, where in fact I can only name famous titles. So right now I decided to start my Science Fiction with him, as he basically started the genre. 

Science Fiction my foot - quickly I realised this is collection of short stories that have absolutely nothing to do with Science fiction, Wells simply compiled his earlier works published in various magazines and it is delightful in its own way but no Science Fiction. In his introduction, Wells explains that at certain point magazines seriously pursued and even encouraged the genre of short stories, which readers at the time loved and some famous writers in fact got their start this way - the whole tradition of short stories somehow declined and eventually almost disappeared with time, nowadays magazines mostly focus on short articles, photos of celebrities and colourful adverts but there was a time, long time ago when people actually read articles. I clearly remember the contest in my local paper, long time ago, where one of the stories haunted me long afterwards and in fact I recall its title to this day - it was "Školjka" (The Shell) but unfortunately I don't recall the author, it was about young village girl, innocent in her youth and as she finds a pretty, shiny thing on the floor, she assumes it is a shell so she proudly pins it on her - it turns out it was not a shell but a pin from a uniform of German soldier killed by her relatives and as Germans search the village for the killer, she was noticed on the window with her "shell" and quickly executed with the rest of her family. So this is what I always think about short stories - Wells basically agrees with me - they are little masterpieces meant to enjoy in a short span of time (waiting rooms, trains and such) where the story if its really inspired and imaginative stays with us much longer than we expected. It takes a special skill to create such little miniatures and I am right now deep in fantastic world of H.G.Wells though so far there is nothing remotely scientific about them, in what I have read so far he is firmly standing in the present time and describing everyday people around him, but he is truly good. It is also a welcome change of pace for me after reading all these history books and Anne Rice.

Another writer who became world famous for his short stories was Guy de Maupassant whom I definitely need to check out.

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Dear reader, once I wrapped my head around the fact that this, after all, perhaps won't be Science Fiction collection in a sense of space ships and aliens, it turned out to be very enjoyable read - some of his stories are truly magnificent and unforgettable in a sense that border on fantastic, they only seemingly happen to be in present time but is characters always live trough some unexpected, weird adventures. I thought he might have been influenced by H. P. Lovecraft but than I realised Lovecraft came after him (and was much darker). One of the stories I just read was titled "AEPYORNIS ISLAND" and it was truly excellent, about a man who found him stranded on a deserted island with a egg fossil from some ancient bird - egg somehow actually hatches and the man has to live with little bird that belongs to long disappeared species of animal that lived in completely different era. Two of them live alone of this island in harmony as long as the bird is small but as it grows and becomes dangerous, where eventually two of them compete for power - ancient bird is bigger and stronger, human much smaller and more dangerous for he is cunning and clever. Eventually there is inevitable end which I won't explain here, its truly excellent. So it IS very interesting and I actually can't wait to continue reading this - maybe it wasn't exactly what I expected but its thrilling read.

"The Witching Hour" by Anne Rice

"There is a house ... in New Orleans..."

It is an ancient mansion, completely covered by overgrown trees and garden that now hide what used to be a brilliant palace full of spark, elegance and style. Everything is in ruins, neglected, dark and foreboding, people passing by can only glimpse figure of old woman sitting in front porch, wearing enormous Emerald necklace. The whole town knows Mayfair family, their generations of strong-willed women and only one in each generation inherits this necklace, only one being the chosen one. There is a secret society of psychics, called Talamasca and their members have for centuries quietly and silently, from a careful distance following Mayfair women, from medieval times when they used to get burned as witches, to a present century when they amassed huge wealth and influence. Servants and informers talk about ghost in the house, a ghost that constantly follows, protects and assist Mayfair women trough the centuries. The youngest Mayfair was given to adoption on the day she was born - decision was made that the child must somehow get away from this house and family - but now young doctor Rowan Mayfair finds out that her biological mother has died and since her adoptive parents also passed away, there is nobody to stop her from going back to New Orleans for the funeral and to face the family she never knew, the huge house she inherited. Aware of her own special powers, Rowan knows nothing about the family - its up to the man she had saved from drowning (Michael Curry) to get in touch with Talamasca and finds out who Mayfairs actually are and what dangers might wait for Rowan once she arrives back to the place she was sent away from as a baby.

Along with Stephen King, Anne Rice is the only author that I had ever encountered who have a skill and power to keep me glued to the book from the very first page. With everybody else, I have to work my way trough to get in the mood but these two have special talent to grab my attention immediately. While King constantly keeps me on the edge with his horror and general creepiness, Rice is seductive enchantress weaving her web of atmospheric, gothic web and honestly I almost forgot how good she was. Years ago I remember loving her vampire novels but after a while she got caught up in similar style & stories, at least that was my impression - it happens to many successful authors (including Dan Brown) that both audience and publishers expect them to continue in a particular style and inevitably they start to repeat themselves. That is why you can clearly feel the excitement and freshness Anne Rice had when she changed the gears and left vampires behind to start something at least slightly different - its like she took a breath of fresh air and discovered the beauty of writing again.

I had actually read "The Witching hour" long time ago and promptly forgot the details - like with so many other books, I remember only the impression (which was very good and exciting) and that it has two sequels, but somehow I never got around to finish the trilogy so now, after reading three non-fiction history books in a row, I decided it is time for a break and let's enjoy some good fiction. It didn't bother me that I actually read this before - it felt like a completely new book anyway and I was thrilled with it so much for the sheer pleasure of changing the subjects. As much as I loved my history books, now it was time to look the other way and Rice occupied me so much that I found myself reading it long into the night and than again first thing in the morning, even before the work. One thing that I noticed now - the story is exciting and powerful as long as we are in present time, following Rowan, Michael and Talamasca but at certain point Rice makes a mistake: she slips back to the very first Mayfair/Talamasca connection which was centuries ago and somehow gets caught up in description of every and single generation up to now. Perhaps it wasn't her intention but the story suffers because we loose excitement and concentration for the main characters, as she goes on and on about various Mayfair women and at certain point you actually start to fidget and wonder will we ever go back to the main story or is this it, the saga about Mayfar family trough detailed description of each generation? It reminds me on those old relatives who would strangle you with stories about long gone family members and you just feel exhausted afterwards. So right now I am on the second part of the book but I quietly lost the initial enthusiasm because story went completely off the track and in fact I am still in 1920s (long way to go to the present times), probably this is why I never continued with sequels because I was afraid it would be more of the same. Pity, because it starts wonderfully and it might be one of my favourite Anne Rice novels if not for this strange change of focus. I really wish that at certain point the story returns to main characters again because so far I am deep into testimonies from servants, spies, nurses and nuns trough each century and it gets a bit tedious. 

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The story finally reaches present time around the page 600.

It considerably slows down, testing reader's patience - at this point, after you have read chapter after chapter about every single generation of Mayfair women, now we are treated with extremely detailed (and quite unnecessary) description of every step Rowan and her lover made once they returned to New Orleans. Rowan and Michael eating. Rowan and Michael re-decorating the old house. Rowan and Michael driving the car. Rowan and Michael opening the window.Rowan and Michael preparing the wedding. And though its nice to see these two so much in love and enjoying each other's company, it does make you question whatever happened to this book? It started exciting, it started dark and dangerous and threatening and full of dark corners, where now we are reading about quite mundane, ordinary daily routine of two people who talk to each other chapter in and chapter out. "Don't worry, everything is going to be OK" "Oh but I feel something bad is going to happen" - this is my description of several chapters full of dialogues exactly like that. At the end, when the novel finishes as it does somewhere in limbo, I was honestly relieved and now I know exactly why I didn't bother with sequels. I really have to be in the mood to continue with other two books.

"1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed" by Eric H.Cline

"The economy of the Greece is in shambles. Internal rebellions have engulfed Libya, Syria and Egypt, with outsiders and foreign warriors fanning the flames. Turkey fears it will became involved, as does Israel. Jordan is crowded with refugees. Iran is bellicose and threatening, while Iraq is in turmoil."

Sounds familiar? Just as I expected and always used to say, there is nothing new under the sun, everything always happens in circles and what you just read is not a description of current political situation but rather a description of something that already happened long time ago, in fact around 1177 B.C. in the area we call Mediterranean - it was the end of Bronze Age and kingdoms were back than known under different names but they were in the very same spots we know today. Author Eric H. Cline explains in very interesting way all the known details and archeological discoveries about that times and how it came that all those kingdoms (that depended upon a certain natural resources from Middle East - it was Copper back than) eventually all fell down like pieces of Domino one after the other. It was catastrophe of huge proportions and the end of civilization back than, but new empires and new civilizations came after them.

One difficult thing for all the historians and archeologists researching this period is that countries and kingdoms were known under different names back than so with few exceptions (Egypt for example) most of these old names mean nothing to us today - the Hittites, the Mycenaeans, the Canaanites, the Cypriots - are known only from ancient documents and letters, others we can only guess. What they all have in common is certain diplomatic language (kings all wrote to each other as "dear brother" expecting support in wars, gifts, trophies and ships full of slaves), market connections where they all imported and exported products (vines, perfumes, swords, clothes, etc) and they all fell one after another when certain enemy fell on them - we know this enemy only by descriptions as "sea people" who burned, pillaged and destroyed city after city. Even mighty Egypt who fought back and pushed them back, never completely recovered from their attacks. What I found fascinating is how these ancient kingdoms behaved in exactly the same way our governments and politicians behave today - they used polite diplomacy first, then brutal force when necessary, even used embargo on certain kingdoms or islands who stepped out of line. Most of things in this book happened in twelve century B.C. and archeologists found the story in excavations of cities long burned and destroyed - we can only tell these places were completely erased and it was not earthquake but enemy who killed citizens and burned the palaces, but who did it, nobody can tell exactly. One after the other, kingdoms of Bronze age fell apart and it was the end of the world as Mediterraneans knew back than. We think the world is connected today but than again, so it was in twelve century B.C. with Middle East being the main resource of Copper and Tin  necessary for making Bronze weapons. It makes you wonder how much history repeats itself, our own times simply reflecting something that had happened already.

"Ripper Street: Season One"

Another recommendation and lo & behold, from the very first minute I not only loved this one but suddenly realized what was so wrong with the previous TV series: this is British TV show. Which means that "The Killing" had this particular cookie cutter, mass-produced feel to it - we have seen shows like this time and time again, another crime, another detective search but this one is European production so it has completely distinguishing quality.

First of all, it is a period piece set in Victorian London - precisely in poorest slums of East London bursting with immigrants, criminals, beggars, prostitutes and what was basically a twilight society. Everybody wears historical costumes, which gives a show a decisive, unreal feeling so even though we are dealing with crime & murders, we are in the world of Charles Dickens and not CSI forensics. Police detectives wear old-fashioned, bushy moustaches and sideburns, ladies are buried under the layers of Victorian clothes (hats, petticoats, gloves), children run around with bare feet. Yes, it is crime story - hence the title, hinting at the most famous murderer of the day, Jack the Ripper - but most of the time Jack the Ripper is just mentioned as a threat and not really part of the story. Each episode had different story and what connects them are three main characters (police detectives) and their wives/girlfriends that we see each time. It is almost unspoken but the main character here is East London itself, from the very beginning one of the very poorest areas of town, place of nasty smelling and low paid jobs, poverty, orphans, place where locals often took justice in their own hands, the part of town where aristocrats and high society (like Oscar Wilde) went only for fun & adventure (just like in 1920s wealthy New Yorkers visited nightclubs in Harlem for kick of forbidden fruit). This time I am not disturbed by neither crime or violence because it is not realistic and everything is set in particular historical period, perfectly re-created and fascinating to watch. Of course it makes you wonder what kind of live you would live in society like these - classes were so sharply divided that majority of people worshipped every penny and would (and were) commit any crime for it. The sheer abundance of everything we have today - food, clothing, comforts of all sorts - were beyond the reach of people back than, who struggled to survive in overcrowded town. Fascinating.

"The Killing: Season One"

This is something recommended by my colleagues and boy, did I had hard time with this TV serial.

I found it so dark, gloomy, unpleasant and altogether heavy that it became a chore rather than a pleasure - after all, we watch TV serials not for the sake of sadomasochism but because we are interested - well in this case I really did NOT enjoy it at all and each time had to force myself to watch another episode, at the end I just wanted to get over with it and be done.

Considering the honest excitement of my young work colleagues who were following it night after night, I actually asked myself what's wrong with me - apparently they loved it - and to be absolutely honest to myself, it might be that at my age I had already seen too many TV serials with similar themes: female detective, forensics digging under the fingernails of the victim (young girl, of course), thousands of suspects where each and one of them is hiding some secret, soap bubbles growing on and on and on. This is American version of celebrated Danish original but I can only focus on what I got here - American version - and not that actors or even scripts are bad, on contrary, acting was very strong (specially grieving parents, family and school friends of a victim) however at this point it seems I am a bit over the whole idea of crime-as-entertainment , I simply dislike watching another TV show where people cry, suffer, kill each other and detectives dig under someone's fingernails, I have seen too many of those and had enough of them. There is a point where I just don't find it neither entertaining nor amusing and don't want this to be my choice of how to spend evening - friends tease me that I had mellowed with age beyond recognition and it might be so, I rather think it has to do with conscious decision not to accept whatever just because it has been served in media. There is so much violence and brutality everywhere, served as entertainment that I need to keep it away from me - honestly I don't think its even healthy to watch too many of shows like these - besides, we have already seen story like this covered many years ago in "Twin Peaks" where everything was focused on murder of a young girl. So my conclusion is, this can only be exciting to my much younger colleagues who don't know better. I managed to go trough the first season - very reluctantly - forcing myself each time to go and watch another episode where someone cries and rain constantly pours, not a trace of sunny skies in this series. As I finished the last episode, I sighed in relief and won't even think about continuing with second season.

"Sulla Tua Bocca Lo Dirò" by Mina (2009)

Spiritual twin to earlier "Dalla Terra" album by Mina, where great Italian singer recorded music with religious material from centuries ago, this one focuses on classical composers and opera repertoire. In fact, Giacomo Puccini is represented with five songs so it was almost "Mina canta Puccini" and it makes one wonder why she didn't simply focus on what is obviously her favorite classical composer. 

The cellophane is excellent - orchestration, arrangements and backing musicians are very tastefully done, everything lead by maestro Gianni Ferrio who approaches this music with sensitivity and respect, without ever sliding into easy-listening. And the idea is not half bad, if you take it as concept that arias from opera could also be sung as a melancholic ballads instead of full blown showpieces they were originally written as. Black-and-white video clips from 1960s are testimony that way back, several decades ago, Mina used to sing Puccini this way as a part of her now-classic TV shows, she would sing aria of Mimi from "La bohème" not as operatic coloratura but as a slowed-down sentimental ballad and it worked, since she was young singer in a full control of strong voice. 

Unfortunately this album came a little too late. At this point Mina was 69 and even if the spirit is here, the voice is not anymore. I understand the age eventually ravages every instrument but her voice is now a shadow of its previous glory and its impossible to listen this (frankly, very brave and ambitious) recording without noticing that sheer will, charisma and focus can not hide the fact it all sounds seriously lifeless. She still holds impossibly long notes in "Mi parlavi adagio" (famous as instrumental piece by Albinoni) and even somehow manages "Nessun dorma" but the effect is depressing since behind all this pretty music and angelic orchestration, it is the sad, shaky voice that once used to be glorious. As always, she choses some English language bits (always the oddest, most eccentric and unsuccessful parts of her discography) and her take on Gershwin brothers is well, one of my least favorites ever. This is a rare example of the whole album where the cover picture and backing musicians/arrangements are actually best part of the package, lady herself was obviously brave enough to attempt this but she should understand that it actually doesn't sound good anymore. Album like this should have been recorded several decades ago, not as a sad farewell. The cover suggest ever-young diva but it all suggest Norma Desmond to me. 

"America's Hidden History" by Kenneth C.Davis

As you can see, I enjoyed previous book so much that I decided to continue with Kenneth C.Davis some more. 

This particular book covers the period of some three hundred years, from the arrival of Christopher Columbus to start of American Revolution - what author does here, since he has more space to focus on particular time, he unearths several lesser-known stories and creates chapters out of them.

It starts with arrival of Columbus who brought pigs with him (a gift from Spanish queen Isabela) to feed his sailors, well the very same pigs brought germs and microbes with them that eventually spread all over the new world and created greatest, unintended epidemics that killed millions of Native Americans who had no immunity to these diseases. (I couldn't help but remembering that in a Muslim religion, these animals were always considered "dirty" and "forbidden" ). From there, author follows the interesting and mostly forgotten characters from American history and gives them proper spotlight and understanding about the atmosphere, the times and politics of the times. I knew about Anne Hatchinson but was not familiar with stories about Hannah Dustin and Mary Rowlandson, both early heroines of their times. There is a whole chapter about young inexperienced country bumpkin who grew up to be George Washington (and circumstances that formed his character and personality), the story about famous Boston's "Tea party", its aftermath and consequences (once the city port was isolated and blocked by royal degree from king George III, other American colonies started to ship food and supplies to Bostonians in a rare show of solidarity which resulted in a feeling of unity amongst colonies against rule from England) and right now I am at the chapter about Benedict Arnold. 

What is really interesting here, besides obvious curiosity about people and stories mostly long forgotten is the explanation how it came to be that American colonists, who were perhaps just few generations divided from old world and who still had family connections to the other side of Atlantic, started to feel resentment about distant government, harsh taxes and overall abuse from aristocratic circles back home  who in most of the cases have done nothing to actually create this new world. Two opposite fractions - loyalists and patriots - were created and the atmosphere was ripe for some drastic change, at the point where revolution and eventually independence became the only logical conclusion. Author explains all of this in a very interesting way so what could have been a dry history lesson again becomes exciting read - Kenneth C.Davis truly loves history and it shows in his passion, excitement and style. I could read his books forever. 

"Don't know much about history" by Kenneth C.Davis

It took me a long time to understand and accept that people from different background/various countries have their own particular educational system which is naturally focused on local perspective. There is no such thing as common knowledge, what I had learnt in my own school has just a passing resemblance to what my friends from other countries had learnt - one of the surprises I faced during my life in foreign countries was the fact that suddenly I found out that (for example) my friends had no clue about geography, foreign languages, history, cinema, music or anything that was outside their language area - where I knew a little bit about everything and could name at least capitols of European countries, my friends did not even know where these places are. Even now I meet passengers on my ships who have only vague idea where Croatia is. On the other hand, my own knowledge is probably very spotty if you ask me about something they were taught in schools.

When it comes to history, this is subject that had long fascinated me - the curiosity was always there, though it never showed in my school grades because what our high school history teacher wanted more than anything was the dates. That plump, sweet lady was obsessed with the dates and it was all she talked about, which naturally made extremely boring history classes, where everybody basically just switched out and either gazed trough the window or meditated until end of the class. It is really pity because teacher can truly light the flame of lifelong passion for any subject if he/she only show excitement instead going trough tedious routine as this lady did - she probably counted the minutes herself, however we always dreaded her classes because she would just rattle important dates and expect us to remember them. One particular day, almost towards the end of my high school I realised that my history grades were always lousy and decided to correct it, not that it would change anything in my life but I wanted to prove it to myself that I can do it - specially because I always loved history anyway. So I got prepared, memorised whatever the subject was and when the next time when this lady asked my comatose class is there anybody who volunteers for exam, dear reader, I stood up, floored everybody (including history teacher) and was the star of the day. It didn't help with final grades but it showed that I could have done much better if only I woke up earlier.

"Don't know much about history" are of course lyrics of wonderful old song by my beloved Sam Cooke and historian Kenneth C.Davis used it wittily for title of this book, focused on American history. His goal was to present history not as a boring, dry subject but as a exciting story that has all ingredients of great drama - sorrows, danger, happiness, heroes, traitors, winners, losers, lesser known facts and descriptions of long-gone scandals or different perspective people had back than. Because my own education was focused on my geographical area, I could talk about WW2 if you wake me up in the middle of the night but honestly I am not so familiar with other worlds. This is where Kenneth C. Davis comes handy because he wrote book that is that rare kind, educative and entertaining at the same time. He starts with discovery of America, Jamestown, Pocahontas and Pilgrims and from here off he goes to American Revolution, Tea Party and many other fascinating stories from American history that most of the people know just vaguely from the movies. Not only foreigners but even Americans themselves need to be reminded, according to author who had a personal mission to create something interesting out of potentially dry subject. It sold in millions, created a publishing sensation and in fact, started the whole "Don't Know Much About... " series, which I intend to check later. What I loved the most about this book was the sheer passion and excitement of author who wrote it as the best thriller, so I actually couldn't put it down and read it with greatest pleasure. The ancient history was fascinating but what interested me the most was XX century where I only realised how ignorant actually I was until now. Davis is also surprisingly clear-eyed and objective historian (if there is such a thing) which is very important because the past eventually gets re-told from different perspectives and official story could be different from what we remember, in this case author is informative but consciously detached and not hiding from dark corners in American history - every chapter comes with the list of useful literature so this is something I truly loved. 

"Horses and High Heels" by Marianne Faithfull

Who could predict, back in 1960s that of all people it would be Marianne Faithfull, that pretty, angelic face with trembling voice and alluring innocence (soon to be crucified in media for her "dangerous acquaintances" with bad boys) who would mature into respected mature artist with charisma and longevity? Of course she metamorphosed into completely different person and shed the old skin to emerge like a decadent aristocrat now, smoky and ravaged voice in place of her innocent younger self - although media never completely let go and has focused on her alleged notoriety ever since, Faithfull herself occasionally playfully going along with it, part of her appeal for me is that I imagine that somewhere deep inside under all that cellophane she is still actually same person like before, just better at hiding it. I know it because from my own (now middle-aged) perspective I understand that we never change completely - under the layers of years and experience we are quintessentially always the same person we always were, the same old heart still beating, dreaming and hoping although we learned how to appear self-assured. 

Listen "Horses and High Heels" and marvel at vulnerability, sensitivity and yes, even sophistication that 65 year old Faithfull brings to this music. Like everything else she had done, each of her albums have a different approach and reason - where earlier she either collaborated with famous songwriters, producers or even focused on Bertold Brecht cabaret music, here she visits New Orleans (yes, there is a song by Allen Toussaint) and does her usual eclectic and eccentric choice of covers but this time she actually rocks like never before and for the first time I started to think, God, Marianne now actually rocks almost like Mick Jagger ("No Reason" by Jackie Lomax). It is truly fascinating listening experience not only because this is 65 years old grandmother rocking and smoking and caressing her whiskey, but because between the lines and under the surface she is honest to herself and not afraid to address serious questions - songs like "Goin' back" or "Past Present Future" might be just 1960s covers for some, but there is no doubt that Faithfull approaches them with intelligence of seasoned actress who rejoices in opportunity to act these songs like brilliant roles. And yes, she is so convincing in them that you might start to believe she sings about herself. These two songs, coming right next to each other are such killers that you can just bow down in awe for the sheer emotional impact they produce. I had loved and followed Faithfull practically my whole adult life so it is with great affection that I listen this album and realise I still love her as much as before, if not even more. 

Gene Shoemaker

It has been three months since I embarked on my current ship and trough all this time I have not watched a single movie from my huge collection (amassed during vacation for eventual watching later) because I was either too exhausted with working every day or simply was too occupied with my books that I passionately read each night before falling into sleep. Now I just had crossed Atlantic and arrived in Caribbean area. 

One single movie that appealed to me - so I stole some time from my sleep - was "National Geographic" documentary about Asteroids. Even now I can't tell the difference between Asteroids and Comets but what fascinated me was the main protagonist of this documentary, American geologist Gene Shoemaker who was filmed while explaining his theories about our our planet still bearing visible traces of ancient impacts from Asteroids - they can be seen in deserts and all over the world, where people earlier assumed they must be volcanoes and in fact he explains, they are scars from out of space. He also explains Moon is full of these scars and his research was proved in 1993 when a comet (baring his name) hit directly into Jupiter and explosions was seen from telescopes around the world. 

What particularly impressed me (besides the interesting story itself) was personality of Shoemaker - when this documentary was filmed he was already an elderly gentleman but he had a contagious energy, enthusiasm and spirit of a young man - his eyes twinkling with excitement, he was explaining everything with lots of humour, spark and such charm that I absolutely loved him - some people were born with this gift to be immensely likable (it takes lots of effort to keep this spirit high, in spite of everything life throws at us). Not that Shoemaker had it easy - all his life he dreamt about being the first geologist who will step on the Moon, just to find out his health problems disqualify him forever from this, so he continued with teaching and training others who would live his dream. I would have probably just die from disappointment but Shoemaker bravely continued his research, together with his wife from some small telescope and travelling around the world in search of stones with visible traces of shocked quartz, the material resulting from Asteroid impacts. He actually found a lot of these, even in the most unexpected places like a town in Germany (visibly rising from something looking like volcano crater) where central church was built from such stone. Out of curiosity I checked the Internet to find out is he still alive and to my biggest sorrow found out that this wonderful man has perished in a car accident during one of his scientific travels somewhere in Australia (Americans drive on different side of the road) - he was greatly loved by his colleagues and not only there are several Asteroids named after him but his ashes were sent to the Moon (which I find deeply moving, as in life he couldn't travel there) with inscription from Shakespeare that brings tears to my eyes. What a wonderful, wonderful man.

"The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner

This book has been recommended by a friendly passenger on my ship and trusting this recommendation I have dived into it, just to find it extremely funny, witty and humorous - I actually started another book already, so right now I am reading two at the same time. It is a sort of travelogue, where the main protagonist (author himself) travels around the world in a search to find out what exactly happiness is - as Institute for Happiness (based in Rotterdam, imagine that - what a blasé country, where people enjoy hobbies as something actually worth pursuing as profession!) claims, there are certain places in the world happier than others, so Weiner roams the planet in order to find out what exactly it is that makes people happy.

His story starts, naturally in Netherland and this notorious Institute for research of Happiness. Everything is permitted here, drugs, prostitution, so could it be that all this tolerance means happiness? Weiner is not so sure and he correctly concludes that there is a very thin line between tolerance and indifference, which is sometimes I noticed myself when I lived in Netherland myself. Nobody would blink an eye if you walk around naked, but nobody would blink an eye if you drop dead from heart attack as well. Talk about tolerance! The very next chapter brings him to Switzerland, another happy country but here everything is prohibited and locals are obsessed with rigorous laws, rules and strict prohibitions. No flushing toilets after 10 p.m. and no laughing out too loud in the evenings of neighbors might leave notes at your door. And no dusting carpets on Sundays. Is this happiness, than? Yes, for the locals. And so his journeys lead him to different parts of the planet, always funny, always immensely likable and with a sharp wit and eye for a ridiculousness of anything that might be fake - so far I am enjoying it very much, although I can clearly see that between the lines, somewhere wrapped up in a humorous cellophane this little books actually has some serious questions like for example, what happiness actually is and does it necessary depends on outside things (money, place, people?) or is it something we need to find in ourselves. Myself, I am aware that is not the particular place - the moment of realization "this is a perfectly beautiful, happy moment" usually comes out of the blue and it has nothing to do with material, last time it happened was when I was standing outside of the house on a sunny day and playing with my dog. The good thing is that older I get, the more I understand that material is actually of no importance at all, its the small moments. Another interesting observation in this book: the wealthier we get, the more we distance ourselves from other people. In author words: "So the greatest source of happiness is other people—and what does money do? It isolates us from other people. It enables us to build walls, literal and figurative, around ourselves. We move from a teeming college dorm to an apartment to a house and, if we’re really wealthy, to an estate. We think we’re moving up, but really we’re walling off ourselves."

"Who was Adam?" by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross

Now, this is something really interesting - I found this book on my very first day on the ship as I checked the libraries - and its absolutely right "up my alley" as it combines history, archaeology, science and religion so these are some serious subjects that I always love to read about. Where science and religion differ about the matter of creation, beginning of life on earth and such - one perspective excluding the other - this book actually explains that nothing is black-and-white and in fact two stories don't have to necessary cancel each other, they actually might told the same story.

So far I was always more prone to stand by scientific explanation of evolution, meteorites bringing bacteria and life forms to our planet and slow circle of catastrophes, explosions of life and apocalypses again and again for millions of years - after all, we have fossils, archaeology, dna and many other ways of explaining the distant past, I simply didn't buy into Biblical version. Here, however we have two authors who are both scientists and religious so its kind of interesting twist, because guys are obviously technically well informed about their fields (one is chemist, the other astronomer) but they still respect the older tradition and claim that Biblical account might simply confirm scientistic version in different words. I am reading it right now with greatest interest (and its a refreshing to finally escape out of "Game of Thrones" universe) and the book covers all the points that always interested me - origin of man, religion, Neanderthals, dna, distant history, it is all here. Compared to George R.R.Martin this is now a pure pleasure and although it is a non-fiction, even science, I am sailing trough it with greatest ease. 

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I read it completely last night. It started with a bang, covering all the facts that I was previously familiar with, including mysterious one that scientists have discovered that humanity's female lineage track back to an earlier date than the male lineage - this doesn't mean that Eve was older than Adam but that long ago, some time in a history, some kind of catastrophe had almost erased men's dna and only small group of men have survived, while women's dna date to much older times. This actually reflects Biblical story of the Flood that almost destroyed the humanity. Another interesting point is our own genetic similarity to other living organisms on the planet, which authors point as Creator's use of already existing materials (not from the dust, but from available substances). Where people stand apart from other animals is our similarity to God, in a sense of having particular divine spirit, in other words a consciousness that allow us to have perception about morality, purpose, destiny, hope, questions about life and death, in short our reflection of his image. All is well up to this point, but where the book fails to convince me is the second part where basically all the older forms of humanoids are dismissed as not really connected to humans - I still believe that we evolved one way or the other from previous, much older relatives, while this book claims no, Creator had given us this special gift of brain and consciousness while previous branches of family have nothing to do with us, they were just half-animals. So dear, sweet Neanderthal was just another caveman with no connections to us - well, sorry Mr.Rana and Mr.Ross but this is where I disagree because I believe that there was an evolution, it was gradual, it took millions of years and there was no magic wand giving us the precious spark of intelligence (and why to us and not to chimpanzees?) and we are very probably combination of various genes, in fact we are probably children of both Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal who never completely disappeared but was assimilated into society of this new, stronger and more brutal visitor from the South. 

It is very interesting to read - from the point of view of religious scientists - and it seems the whole ranch of this publishing company is focused on similar books, it is called RTB (Reasons to Believe) that tries to balance the connection between these two messages. I am always open to new suggestions and willing to accept different informations, after all, the more one knows the bigger perspective one gets. So from this book I took what I found interesting and left the rest. Still not convinced in a story about one omnipotent Creator and I am standing by the belief that we are result of random stardust life forms that have arrived from out of space and evolved trough millions of years. This also means that similar life forms can be found elsewhere, perhaps in different shapes (in other words, gigantic cockroaches/ants might be ruling life forms on another planets).

"A Dance with Dragons" by George R.R.Martin

How interesting, it seems that critics had slammed Martin's previous novel "A Feast for Crows" (the fourth part of saga "A Song of Ice and Fire") and praised this, fifth part as "return to form" where personally I enjoyed previous novel much more than this one. In previous novel the focus were different characters and certain parts of kingdom, while here we have another perspective and the rest of characters - well, I had said this before and will say it again, I don't care a fig for Daenerys Targaryen and her chapters, it bothered me in TV serial and still bothers me here as it feels like completely another novel, with people far removed from the main story so to have her back again did not really improve my attention. 

I am perfectly aware that diving into five books of saga might have been a overtly enthusiastic task and as I read one after the other, this last (so far) part felt more like a chore than as pleasure. In fact, I did read it only in order to finish what I had already started and since George R.R.Martin continued to introduce layers of the story on top of each other, even more characters in each chapter, my attention kind of wandered away and often I would find myself skipping the pages just to get on with the story - I probably skipped far more than I should have because at certain point honestly I couldn't recall who are those people (even worse, why should I remember them) and repeated mentions of historical past that happened centuries before current story always knocked me off to sleep. There are certain variations with TV serial and actually the differences are so big that I don't understand why it was done so, for example Sansa was not wed and abused by sadistic Ramsay Bolton (it was a completely another character) so how will TV producers get out if it interesting guess. The priestess Melisandre suddenly does not appear so frightening anymore, Tyrion spends most of this novel drunk and than meets dwarf lady who might become his love interest in the future, the "King-Beyond-the-Wall" Mance Rayder has actually not been killed as in TV serial but is alive and well in this novel, Jaime Lannister slowly gets disgusted with his sister and gravitates towards Brienne of Tarth and his uncle Kevan Lannister eventually takes over after Queen Cersei gets her well-deserved public humiliation and is probably pushed aside with no future involvement in rule. Again it was over a thousand pages and this time, for the first time I actually felt it, plowing trough it with determination more than joy, now when I am truly done with all five novels I feel heroic and definitely need a good break from not just George R.R.Martin but from the whole fantasy genre for a while - my next book have to be something completely different.

"Dalla terra" by Mina (2000)

One of the most intriguing, unexpected and artistically satisfying recordings by Italian über-diva who at the age of 60 shows no signs of either stagnation or curiosity - trough decades, Mina had sung everything from San Remo ballads, Italian folk songs, Jazz, Broadway tunes, Bossa Nova, Tango and Disco to some of the best jewels of Italian pop classics but so far she had not attempted a full-on album of religious music. Here, somewhat belatedly but still masterfully, she corrects this omission and presents the most unusual album in her rich discography, the album that leans heavily on classical music and composers from 17. and 18. century. 

At first it sounds like "Mina does Gregorian Chant" since the opening "Magnificat" soars in Heavenly heights and she is backed by stately Gregorian choir, it is the most, well, magnificent opening you can possible imagine and brings the singer in different sphere, here she is much more than pop artist. Several different arrangers (under the baton of her producer/son Massimiliano Pani) make sure there are various approaches to this ancient material - some surround her with classical sound, strings and Gregorian choirs, other give her late-night, Jazzy combo and it all works surprisingly tight, thanks to tasteful orchestrations and lady's absolute command of still impressive voice. It is definitely unexpected to hear Mina singing music by such classical heavyweights like Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Claudio Monteverdi and Charles Gounod, though purists from either pop or classical camp might wince at the idea but in all honesty it works perfectly - there are no compromises, this is dead serious, contemplative and even meditative music and the best of all, I cherish the idea of ever-changing artist who is still capable of growth and surprises. 

Athens and Acropolis

It is true that often I take all these travels for granted - after all, it is part of my job to wake up each morning in a different place so after a while one doesn't even think abut it. But the good part is that I am truly familiar with most of the tourist destinations everywhere so from time I like to serve as a tour guide to my colleagues. Occasionally I like nothing better than to walk out by myself and write my postcards and diary, but when I realise that my colleagues have no idea about the ports, I take them under my wing. 

For example, Piraeus is a lovely place but you would not know it, judging from a dirty port - it takes a careful walk along the sea side and two churches down, until you discover pretty shopping district with fine restaurants and nice harbour that I showed to my colleagues recently and they all loved it. Piraeus is ancient port that used to led to Athens - nowadays these two cities are in fact merged so its easy to reach centre of Athens with a underground metro, again it is a matter of how familiar one is with the city. Since we had two days off, I took my colleagues to show them Athens and Acropolis and it turned out into a beautiful experience. First we walked across picturesque area Plaka right in the centre of Athens, with hundreds of souvenir shops and restaurants, here is where you browse with ancient Acropolis looming from the hill right above. Than its a short walk up the hill and voilà, you are out of Plaka and walking towards one the most exciting and historically important places on a planet. I admired even the classy buildings along the way, there was one balcony with a Greek amphora as decoration, you could see the wall with books inside, it looked like my dream apartment, books, amphorae and Acropolis. 

No matter how many times I have visited Parthenon I am always excited, awed and thrilled to be there. I have been soaking in the Greek mythology as a child, after all, back than I knew all the names, heroes and legends, it was a fascinating world that fed my dreams and fantasy. How strange that locals eventually turned to different religion and hid all those wonderful stories under the rug, I thought as I walked towards the hill. As it happens, this time my visit (or my homage) turned out to be special because the sunset was falling on the whole town and the light on Acropolis was truly magical. There were less tourists and it was not unbearably hot as usual, in fact there was a gentle wind breezing around the hill and the view on the huge metropolis bellow was as usual, like a dream. One really needs to stand on the top of the hill to grasp the sheer size of Athens, it has more than 4 millions of inhabitants, which is more than my whole Croatia in total. I left my friends to roam and walked around by myself, happy as usual - the place has a special energy and I am always floating around, giddy with excitement that I am standing here and walking around Acropolis (well, I did move quite far from where I started in life), admired the ancient ruins that glowed in the sunset and must admit it did feel absolutely holy and wonderful to be there, I couldn't imagine better way to spend a day in Athens. 

"A Feast for Crows" by George R.R.Martin

Halfway trough the fourth part of "A Song of Ice and Fire" - apparently lots of hard-core fans criticised this book because George R.R.Martin had decided to split the story into two parts and several important characters are left for nr.five. So in this book we have no chapters about Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, and Jon Snow - however they are present as they are constantly mentioned and people talk about them so its not like they are completely ignored, its just that we don't see their own point of view. Which is fine by me as I always found Daenerys Targaryen chapters a bit plodding - she might be important eventually in a distant future but her story really happens far away on another continent and so far there is nothing really connecting her with main plot.

What I found fascinating here is Martin's writing style - once he made decision to spread story towards even more distant lands (Dorne, Braavos and Iron Islands) he introduces even more characters and descriptions of strange new places and more exotic people are truly inspired, it feels almost like another novel now. At times I think that perhaps the whole idea might be simply too enormous, too complicated to connect the dots but Martin seems to have it all planned and it takes a nonchalant phrase by somebody like cunning Petyr Baelish to convince me that everything goes it should be, that things are not happening randomly but certain shadowy characters actually manipulate everything from behind the scenes. In the aftermath of the war, the whole kingdom is burned and torn apart which we see in the chapters about Brienne of Tarth - at first it seems strange that she gets so much space (feels like she is prominent character in this book) specially considering her story really goes nowhere as she basically search for Sansa Stark unsuccessfully most of the time until we realise she is here to show how the kingdom is all torn apart and destroyed, on her journey Brienne encounters only death, danger and poverty. Even though I have seen TV serial and know what will happen later, I read this book with greatest pleasure every night a chapter or two after work - there are some important differences between novel and TV serial, for one in this book we hear about certain character Lady Stoneheart  who is supposedly a very dangerous new leader of Brotherhood Without Banners and she was not even mentioned in TV serial, also we encounter Lord Randyll Tarly (father of fat Samwell, the cowardly and clumsy son he had sent to The Wall) not to mention other characters from distant lands like brothers who compete for crown of Iron Islands (Victarion and Euron Greyjoy), charismatic priest Aeron Damphair and so many new people and perspectives that occasionally I felt dizzy from sheer wealth of author's fantasy. Just great, it is very exciting once you start digging into it. 

My roommate saw me reading last night and he commented that he can't possibly read anything, he never reads in his entire life. It puts him to sleep, he says. Than again, he can't imagine finishing the day without getting drunk in a bar. To each his own, I guess. 

"A Storm of Swords" by George R. R. Martin

Just finished second part of George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy saga and loved it so much that without any pause I decided to continue with a third part, which truth to be told looked a bit frightening because even my copy is paperback it has more than thousand pages so I was aware that this will be a task that would probably take enormous amount of time to finish and I could easily read two books in the time needed for this only one. But guess what, even though I am fully aware of massive volume in my hands, I swallowed the first 100 pages in one sitting! The unexpected Flu slowed me down somewhat but right now I am enjoying it so much that I have no doubt that I will finish this book in no time - and after all, its not about number of books one reads but how much one enjoys them. 

Yesterday I was in Dubrovnik (Kings Landing in TV serial) and bought myself a nice wall map of the whole Westeros and the rest of magical kingdoms - still need to put it on my wall, but it is thrilling to see it all clearly. As I expected, story jumps from one place to another, from one character to another and often I wish Martin just sticks to one character and his adventures, but he is the author and we just have to follow. Of course I know perfectly well what will happen, except that novel is far richer in characters and details so it really feels like a completely different experience. And while in TV serial I was basically bored with parts that dealt with Daenerys Targaryen here I have no problem with her at all, its all very well written and I can easily imagine all the places, clothes and faces author suggests. I think Martin had hugely re-invented the whole fantasy genre and it is thanks to him that it created huge success not only for his, but many other fantasy novels that used to be kind of cult favourites so far. Every few years new publishing phenomenon comes along - usually completely unexpected trend - be it Dan Brown conspiracy theories, Tudor dynasty historical romances and now this explosion of fantasy, it is interesting to see how some people are trailblazers and than the whole industry follows with countless similar titles until the market is saturated, until we all become tired of it and than somebody else comes along with something new that will become the next big thing. The sheer Gargantuan volume of this novel promise that I might need a break from Westeros after a while, we will see. In some countries it was actually published in two volumes.

Buco i Srđan

It was a completely casual listening trough old pop festival albums - usually completely unassuming and without expectations activity, where I am mostly familiar with performers - that brought me to acoustic duo Buco i Srđan who turned out to be my new discovery. How they ever slipped trough the cracks and fell under my radar, I have no idea but finally I seem to have catch up with them. They were Croatian version of Simon & Garfunkel and if you mix everything you always knew about people like Hrvoje Hegedušić and Ibrica Jusić but add extra ingredients of two harmonious voices with far more musicality (sorry Hrvoje and Ibrica) and gentle, troubadour sensitivity that in hands of these two guys feels natural and appealing, you get this music duo whose music was quite captivating.

Veče je nas prijatelj (1974)

First LP album by now legendary acoustic duo is still a thing of beauty. 

Composer Đelo Jusić stands behind this so naturally it has that particular magic of Dubrovnik renaissance troubadour magic, the album actually opens with bells ringing from a church tower and you can clearly imagine guys sitting on some steps and gently crooning & strumming their guitars. Jusić might have arranged and wrapped everything in a cellophane as a producer but guys both wrote most of the material and it is a enchanting collection of acoustic, late-night romantic ballads, very poetic and I dare to say, timeless. Just listen to "Život je lijep" if you want to hear true local evergreen and now-classic. There is a gentle nod to Edgar Allan Poe and legendary local beauty Cvijeta Zuzorić with occasional upbeat song between haunting ballads, however it is when two guys join their voices and you hear that soft, particular, lovely dialect  from Dubrovnik (pronounced in words žar, dar) that true stardust comes along and your heart melts. Absolutely beautiful. 

Zagreb '73

The way these pop festivals go, 1973 was actually not a bad year at all. 

Sure, mammoth orchestras were still plodding behind performers and strings were swirling to the skies, but same things were happening everywhere else at the time, from San Remo to Eurovision so I guess it was unavoidable. You can just imagine conductors twirling the batons and backing choruses clapping hands in unison, big and very lacquered hair, however the victory is between the lines in a small steps: old dinosaurs are slowly being replaced with fresh, new artists and the impression is that old festival actually promotes some different, promising names instead repeating same old names again and again. Where in 1950s and 1960s this festival constantly had same list of performers, now we actually have some young voices who would later mark the decade.

Ex-rocker Dalibor Brun leaves Rock music for good and strikes biggest hit of his career with excellent, soulful ballad by husband & wife tandem Hrvoje Hegedušić and Maja Perfiljeva whose songs brought huge hits to many artists at the time. "Otkad si tuđa žena" was kind of "When a man loves a woman" ballad and its still played on the radio. For a moment it seemed that Brun might became interesting artist. Instead of him, the next big thing would became  young, fresh-voiced singer from Sarajevo named Zdravko Čolić who was here making his first steps on serious, bigger music scene and although this particular song was not very memorable, he sings like a dream and very soon he will explode like a supernova, his truly great moment is just around the corner so its interesting to hear him in this moment, everything is ready, he just needs the right song. Usually I don't care for Miro Ungar at all and his quasi-intellectual intro here is irritating, but it soon it turns into passable Tom Jones imitation and refrain is surprisingly danceable and even energetic in "She's a lady" kind of song. Judging by this LP, ladies were not particularly inspired this year: even last year winner Josipa Lisac had a forgettable little ditty (but than again, her team was busy creating her now-classic debut album and the first Croatian rock-opera simultaneously, so its a wonder they ad anything for her at all). However, the prettiest surprise was a acoustic duo from Dubrovnik called Buco i Srđan whom I vaguely remembered just by name and always thought it must be something wimpy where in fact they were actually darn excellent. On this festival they had now-classic song "Dobro jutro Margareta" that we all remember today from a cover by completely another singer and it came as surprise to find out this was original and very, very beautiful indeed. I liked the sound of these guys so much that I did some more research about them later.

The Magic Kingdom: Malta

Since I wake every morning in a different place, no wonder that with years I slowly lost enthusiasm for sightseeing - Europe is still my all-time-favourite place in the world but even here it all comes down to three main things: post office, supermarket and Wi Fi. I have walked up and down trough Lisbon, Gibraltar, Barcelona, Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Genova, Livorno, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Venezia, Dubrovnik, Athens and Istanbul so many times (and this is just the Mediterranean) that nowadays its hard to find something interesting that would thrill me again like the first time when I saw these places a good decade ago. However, there is always something that inspires me and reminds me of a beauty of travelling - this time it was prettiest little forgotten corner of Mediterranean, Malta. 

Malta stands roughly halfway between Europe and Africa. It is not just a island but a true archipelago with only three of the largest islands inhabited (18 much smaller islands are still completely empty) and millions ago this was land connecting us with Africa. It also means that this was the place where all sorts of different  cultures, languages, races and traditions were mixed, not to mention wars fought for this particular spot. There are two official languages spoken here: English and Maltese, which is some combination of various influences (Italian, French, Arabic and Semitic) and local people are the sweetest, friendliest and happiest people I have ever met in all the years that I travelled around the world. I noticed long time ago that when long-faced and serious people enter my shops they are usually from Northern Europe and if they come in a large, smiling and chatty group, speaking the language I don't recognise, they are usually Maltese. 

Being where it is, at this strange geographical point neither here or there, Malta was probably first populated by people coming from Sicily, which can still be seen with naked eye on a clear day from here. We know next to nothing about first, original islanders except that they left impressive temples behind them, lots of underground cemeteries and all sorts of figurines of people sleeping. And they disappeared suddenly. So this temple-building people were the oldest known Maltese people but somehow they ended forgotten by history and would stay forgotten if not for a chance accident some 100 years ago when some builders fell trough a hole in a basement and discovered impressive labyrinth of underground temples, true prehistoric secret world. And a lots of figurines of people sleeping which even today nobody can explain. Sleep? Death? Cult of death? Another interesting curiosity are absolutely mind-boggling wheel tracks in a stone roads that nobody can explain logically. I mean, we are talking about stone age so what kind of transport left marks in stone roads? Everything else that came after was less impressive - Bronze age people came later with their weapons, Romans, Carthaginians, Byzantine Empire, Sicilians, Muslims, Knights of Malta, it was all well documented and true, there are some interesting stories about them but these first mysterious Maltese, I tell you, this was Atlantis. 

I have visited capitol of Malta on many occasions before but this time I had a mission: to finally go to the local National Museum of Archaeology and see with my own eyes the famous The Sleeping Lady, the figurine from thousands of years ago. Valetta is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I have ever seen in my life, magnificent medieval town built by Knights of Malta right after the horrific Siege of Malta in 1565 when Ottoman Empire tried unsuccessfully to invade the island (and locals won the heroic victory over ten times more powerful army) - thanks to historic documents we actually know the exact date when first stone of the future new town was placed, it was on 28 March 1566. It feels and looks completely fantastic, like some fairy tale about knights and dragons, actually it looks like much bigger Dubrovnik, in a way. Valetta is also very crowded with tourists not only because of the beauty of the place but also because it has warm climate and it feels dreamy and heavenly there. Palaces, churches and museums all over the place. I can only imagine what it looks like in the evenings, it must be out of this world. Well, this time I was absolutely determined to see The Sleeping Lady and went to the museum immediately, even though the heat was truly killing me - true African heat - it turned out to be really pretty palace and exposition about prehistoric Malta was actually very interesting, these first people have left quite a few figurines of chubby, sleeping people behind but this one is the only one that survived several thousands of years. And there she was, the mysterious Sleeping Lady of Malta in her own room, under one dramatic light just like Nefertiti (but much, much older) - I almost squeaked with delight for finally finding her and was happy as piglet. She is adorable figurine (not bigger than palm of the hand) of chubby lady sleeping on her side and since she was found in the underground temple that also served as cemetery, I think she probably represented death. But since my impressions were excitement, happiness and joy, I got nothing negative here, the vibes I felt were love, peacefulness and comfort. Being a secret pagan, I have my own vague ideas about reincarnation and possibility of re-visits to the places we knew from before so this all makes perfect sense to me. I had the same feeling in Jerusalem, the whole experience left me thrilled, excited and happy like I had just visited some place from a dream.