in a BEIRUT state of mind....

WOWOWOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what a beautiful country!!! i love it! I would totally live there if it were a more stable environment and there were less military presence... (it's everywhere, it's scary...they walk around with their big guns around their necks...)

so we left thursday night, arrived at 1 am in Beirut, checked in the worst possible hotel you could find (never ever go to Grand Hotel Versailles in Hamra!) from the outside looked like a gaudy italian wannabe renaissance palace, and inside the room, smelled like someone had died and rotted for 3 weeks in it... good thing we only booked 1 night there!

The next morning, we were waiting for our driver who was 1 hour late(yes yes we had a driver for 2 days, he was great! brought us to everything we wanted to see, scenic tours and all....best way to travel when you only have 48 hours somewhere and you don't want to waste your time...)
About 20 taxis a minute passed by, honking, trying to get us to go with them...

Finally he arrived and we set off to our 1st stop, BarBar for some manouche (yummmmmmmm fresh out the oven)...we then proceeded to Harissa, to see the giant statue of Mary...what a view from up top!
Then we headed for Jeita grottoes, which are magnificient!!! it was great until we went into the 2nd grotto, and there was 1 hour lineup with people pushing and shoving...(I'm now learning that i am very american, and my notion of personal space will only be respected in Canada and USA...) and until the kid behind us puked all over, and Fadi's white pants were splatter...no comments (as i said them all already)...

Then we left to Byblos, wow what a beautiful area! I absolutely love it there! walked the ruins, the souk and the old town, got fooled price-wise on souvenirs (ya, i know, typical) ....

On our way back, we went to visit some nuns related to Fadi who run an orphanage....Very nice and generous women...They all thought i was Iraqi, and started talking to me in soureth...mmmm nope, don't understand!!! So they started talking arabic, thinking i was lebanese...nopeeeeee....wrong again!

By then it was late and we were famished, so the hotel manager (we changed hotels for the 2 other nights, thank goodness! We were in Verdun) sent us off to his favourite local restaurant called Istambouli...food was crazyyyyy & ambience reminded me of Pizzeria Napoletana, for the lack of effort in the decor and the noise.... beats Andalos any day!

The next morning we started off early, and what a day we had...first stop was the rock in the sea then our driver took the scenic route (which means the super long one) to go to Baalbeck...well it's a nerve wrecking drive through the mountains, in an old car with screeching tires, at least he knew what he was doing (or so i kept telling myself)...the views are just breath taking, there was snow on the cap of the mountains, the air was pure and chilly(finally some oxygen) and we could hear nothing but silence...(when you live in Dubai with construction 24/7, its a luxury to" hear" silence)....We then passed Zahle and entered what seemed like war zone (well it was a few years ago)....our driver telling us its Hezbollah town...well i keep thinking to myself greatttt is there no other way to get there, i don't want to get kidnapped on my birthday! It was dirty, dusty, makeshift tents as homes, pictures of Hezbollah leaders everywhere, saw a few donkeys instead of cars, and when there were cars, lets just say you can barely call them cars... Not my comfort zone....but yet again travelling takes you out of that zone anyways...right?

we finally got to Baalbeck and the ruins... after seeing Pompeii a zillion times, i am still amazed by how they built these temples, arenas.... without the big trucks and technologies we have these days...i overheard a tour guide saying how one of the stones weighed over 10 tons... how did they bring it up there????????

after a few hours of sightseeing old rocks, we headed back to Beirut for some downtown walking... I love this city, the old, the new....The people are beautiful, but then again, Lebanon is the Middle eastern country with the most plastic surgeries...They have style, and the shopping there is greattttt (to bad we didn't have time to shop though...next time) So we walked on the corniche and the old downtown, where kids played on Place de l'etoile with their nannies while the parents smoked shisha on the terraces.... Saw alot of army guys , tanks, guns, sand bags...felt surreal, like in a movie. I'm not sure i like that part... Then headed back to Verdun, nice neighbourhood, to walk around until it was time for Fadi's friend to pick us up to go celebrate my 30th birthday...

He was 45 minutes late...why should i be surprised, as they have a reputation??? (no names will be named :)
we headed back to the mountains where we attended Easter mass (in french), the nuns singing was quite nice.

We then headed over to "Chocolate" a new club (did they chose that club because it was Easter?)
where mercedes and bmw is the lowest acceptable car in the parking lot, where boomboom music pierces your ears, where maids clean up the bathroom after each use (cleanest club toilet i have ever seen!) and where women barely have any original body parts left...

It was 3 am, and we had a 7 am wakeup call to leave...already... i was sad to go, because i felt rushed through the weekend to see eveything, but i know i'll be back! Lebanon is my new Italy....