Movenpick Resort Beirut

... a destination or price. Yep, proudly Canadian, sir. Of course I am from Toronto. After ten minutes driving through blocks of highrises stained black from who knows what, we arrived at the bus station. Along the way the driver pointed out that a mosque was next to a church and both can coexist. People in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Malta, and others were also quick to point this fact out. I guess in the US we just take for granted that a synagogue, Catholic ...

... or two walking through the souk. <br> On my last day I took a minibus up to Baalbeck to see the Roman ruins there. During the 2-hour drive over Mt Lebanon we passed a massive new bridge project financed by USAID, which had a large billboard that read: "A Gift to Lebanon from the American People". Also, there were USAID booths at the ABC mall, strangely. Baalbeck was exquisite, as was the Palmyra Hotel and the surrounding village. <br> And that's Lebanon. And I'm exhausted, my ...

... guy Sarah and I dubbed 'cute danish guy' because neither of us new his name!) because they were both heading off the next day and aparently the Danes celebrate on the 24th anyway so it was all lovely. We had a great day, brewed up some eggnog in the morning (the perfect batch after a not quite so good attempt the previous night) which unfortunately had a short life, falling out of the fridge after we had had a mere half glass each (sob!), lazed in a cafe over lunch, had danish ...

... that the Palestinians govern the whole area - this mean that they provide their own city services such as garbage pickup. That is probably a bad example as you see garbage everywhere along the streets. To tell you the truth, it was sad seeing the conditions they were living in. I mean it definitely wasn't the slums but it wasn't a very nice area. The streets were dirty, the walls of the buildings needed a few new coats of paint and old run down cars were parked everywhere. I ...

... 50% of the populat&#305;on &#305;n L ebanon speaks French as well, I couldn't bel&#305;eve I wasn't &#305;n Europe. We enjoyed a fancy meal at an outdoor cafe.. the serv&#305;ce was superb, border&#305;ng on exorb&#305;tant. In the m&#305;ddle of conversat&#305;on, the wa&#305;ter actually walked over and put the cap on my water bottle. ?? Amus&#305;ng. That n&#305;ght we took on the c&#305;ty &#305;n style. Me, P&#305;erre, N&#305;kolas, Magg&#305;e ...

... a warzone. I either want to see people fleeing in terror, or perfect peace. One minute you're in the Middle East and buying bread in a tiny market, and the next minute hipsters are dancing to french rap at the bar, and couples are making out in the corner. I seriously had a hard time reconciling the two. I found myself alternately feeling like I was back in Morocco, and back in Spain. At first I was basically too prejudiced to even ...

... bars and restaurants with many tables and chairs laid out along the causeway. Yet, for all its elegance, there was barely another soul in sight and it all felt a bit surreal knowing that these streets should be bustling with Beirut's rich and fashionable. A little beyond the chic downtown streets we came to a huge set of tents that made up one of the Hizbullah protest camps. Around it lay uninviting barbed wire fencing along with Lebanese flags and obligatory ...

... paint to save money, we didn't buy gallons of colors. Instead, we bought several gallons of white, one of black, and a bunch of colorants to add to the white, so to his credit, it did take some time to get the right shade of brown :) After some weird combination of light brown, black, and word stain, he produced a really awesome shiny dark brown cross. To the right of the cross we painted a pink fish that was supposed to be red. We just could not make red, no matter how much ...

... is one of several sectors of the city that attract the Lebanese jet set as well as a large number of foreign visitors and expatriates from Europe and the greater Middle East. Numerous high-end boutiques, cafes, and restaurants occupy a cluster of new and newly restored buildings that straddle the infamous green line that once divided the Muslims and Christian sections of Beirut during the civil war. The prices in the area and the obvious wealth displayed by the people who ...

... it would have been messy. There was also a stone staircase, possibly with only twenty or 25 steps, but it was about a metre wide, and some of the steps were worn. I managed to climb the first part of the staircase, despite there being no banister, and a drop on either side. But at the top, I just had to sit right in the centre of the step, trying to catch my breath. To get back down, I had to take each step one at a time, sitting on each. Think there were a few people wondering what ...