Rotana Suites Damascus

... going to overlap for a bit in Israel, and I'm definitely going to meet up with them in Auckland when I get there around March.

So it's off for a quick hop in Jordan en route to Israel.

-Dave
NB: no photos for Damascus at all. It took a few days to find a charger which doesn't work all that well. Besides, as mentioned I spent most of my energies on shopping and eating and it's not a photogenic city anyways.

Mer gjestmild gjeng enn syrierne skal du lete lenge etter. Det er ikke alt for lett å finne frem i Syria, men med det syriske folkeslaget som hjelpere, gikk alt som en lek fra ankomst til slutt. Det er nemlig slik, at kulturen her landet krever at man skal hjelpe en trengende til det ikke lenger er trengende, noe som for vår del førte til spandering og geleiding til en rekke destinasjoner rundt i dette fengslende landet.

Vi tilbrakte hovedsaklig tiden vår i Damaskus ...

... hair and the other was a picture of a long ago scholar. Two of us ordered fruit cocktails and three of us ordered freshly squeezed lemonade. After refreshing ourselves we went back out into the heat and went into an old palace called the Azem palace. This palace was amazingly beautiful. It had a gigantic courtyard with many fountains and trees. Beautiful architecture adorned the walls and arches and also many doors leading off to ...

... post. See if you can spot her bits. (mike) After the relative peace and quiet of the museum, there came the dreaded Souk walk. This Souk or Market had been rebuilt by the Ottomans in the early 1900's. The original narrow streets have been replaced with wider avenues under a ...

... other men go to the Jordan citizen wickets and we go to the foreigner's wicket (to the left at the very end, wickets 1,2,3) and hand in our forms. The man goes through our passports and asks me about a stamp in my book. I don't know what it is or where it was from. It was a singleton! I couldn't figure it out. He called over another officer and he looked at it and said o.k. We went and paid for the visa (cashier behind us)and then back to get our passports stamped and we ...

... right now. Am I going to get robbed or raped, killed? I even looked to see if I could jump out of the car if need be and not get to hurt. I thought about the Canadian girl Nicole Jacqueline that went missing in Syria two years ago and was never found. Ironically my first name is Nicole and my middle name Jacqueline! Big difference was that I had long light blond hair instead of dark hair. I told myself, "Keep talking to him, tell him how ...

... for the hot olive oil to be poured on the enemy should the castle be breached. All around the inner and outer walls are the slits for the archers to unleash their arrows. It is just the sort of place where your imagination runs wild and you can visualize a 12th century time of repeated attacks and sieges and the castle standing firm. Our guide offered several versions of what happened in the end. The most accepted theory is that the numbers ...

... son aussi improbable que réussie intégration au modèle urbain occidental : au delà de la vieille ville c'est donc place à de larges voies proprement tracées, les grands axes automobiles se croisant sur des places/carrefours massifs ; des banques partout, les boulevards arborant les facades de boutiques bourgeoises (fringues, voyages, produits de luxe) répondant aux petites ruelles ...

... because according to his marriage story you aren't allowed to touch until you are married, so they all came as escorts. We stopped for icecream on the way back to the hotel and it was the best icecream I have ever eaten. It was strawberry and because I didn't want nuts the guys added some chocolate and some lemon to it. It was excellent. Today was a nice relaxing day but am looking forward to tomorrow because I am going to go shopping!!! Bye

... selvfoelgelig ikke. Saa champagne, dvs. orange juice, da jeg stadig ikke kan lide champagne, og tre retters frokostmenu til mig - dejligt. Siden sidst jeg var ude og rejse er jeg blevet medlem af De Berejstes Klub (www.berejst.dk), som er en forening for rejseglade folk. Udover at man har nogle ligesindede at dele sine roeverhistorier med, faar man ogsaa rabater paa forskellige ting. DBK har en venneklub i Istanbul, og jeg havde haabet at kunne laane deres, gratis, vaerelse, men jeg ...