I always find that going through my vacation pictures, straightening them, resizing them, putting them on Flickr, captioning them, fixing the wacky order Flickr chooses to put them in, and then blogging about them is kind of something I'm not really all that interested in doing. So it takes me forever to get around to it. Yesterday I finally started working on my Jordan pictures, but I am nowhere near done. So, I'm just going to post about one adventure at a time. Which is fine, because this way I'll have something to blog about for a few days, and you won't have to keep looking at pictures of presents that aren't for you.
We arrived in Amman on a Tuesday night and cabbed it to our hotel. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt, at the blessed government rate. I really liked this hotel by the way, and highly recommend it if you're ever in Amman and happen to be rich. Or if you can get the government rate.
Our view was thus:
We went downstairs to the lounge, which was cozy, and we sat by the fire, and had a glass of Jordanian wine and ate some Jordanian mezze. It was so nice, and our waiter was so nice, and if I remember correctly, the cabbie that drove us there was so nice. I felt comfortable and unguarded and normal. Which is an unusual feeling when you're used to the feeling of living in Saudi Arabia. We lingered and chatted and watched the people and enjoyed ourselves and our food and then we went to bed early because we were due to meet our driver early in the morning.
And in the morning, our view was thus:
Our driver, who I'll call AW, was recommended to us by one of Bear's coworkers, who hired him when he came to Jordan a couple years ago. He is affiliated with the US embassy there, and so a lot of Americans know him and recommend him. He's in his 50s, he has a whole bunch of kids, and he has a lot of advice about what one should see and do while in Jordan. I always like it when we get drivers who are a bit older - they've obviously been driving around for a long time and they aren't dead yet, so they must be good drivers, right?
The first thing AW wanted us to see was the Roman Theater. It was built sometime between 138 and 161 AD by the emperor Antonius Pius.
As we were walking around in the theater, these two Jordanian girls chatted with us and took pictures with me. They (and the guard) were so extraordinarily friendly, and were so happy that we were there visiting their country. I think they do get a lot of tourism, so I'm not really sure why they were so happy to see us, but they were and it was nice. It's kind of unusual, as an American, to be liked by people whose country you're touring.
Anyway, next to the theater, there was a little museum. We popped in and took a few pictures:
After the theater and museum, we went to the nearby Citadel, but that's a story for another day.
Two years ago: asking for a belly rub
Three years ago: i must be about to die
Chapter One
We arrived in Amman on a Tuesday night and cabbed it to our hotel. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt, at the blessed government rate. I really liked this hotel by the way, and highly recommend it if you're ever in Amman and happen to be rich. Or if you can get the government rate.
Our view was thus:
We went downstairs to the lounge, which was cozy, and we sat by the fire, and had a glass of Jordanian wine and ate some Jordanian mezze. It was so nice, and our waiter was so nice, and if I remember correctly, the cabbie that drove us there was so nice. I felt comfortable and unguarded and normal. Which is an unusual feeling when you're used to the feeling of living in Saudi Arabia. We lingered and chatted and watched the people and enjoyed ourselves and our food and then we went to bed early because we were due to meet our driver early in the morning.
And in the morning, our view was thus:
Our driver, who I'll call AW, was recommended to us by one of Bear's coworkers, who hired him when he came to Jordan a couple years ago. He is affiliated with the US embassy there, and so a lot of Americans know him and recommend him. He's in his 50s, he has a whole bunch of kids, and he has a lot of advice about what one should see and do while in Jordan. I always like it when we get drivers who are a bit older - they've obviously been driving around for a long time and they aren't dead yet, so they must be good drivers, right?
The first thing AW wanted us to see was the Roman Theater. It was built sometime between 138 and 161 AD by the emperor Antonius Pius.
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| a view of the theater from one of the entrance doorways |
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| these niches were in a wall facing the rows of seating. some of them have drains in front of them. the guard didn't know what they were for. |
As we were walking around in the theater, these two Jordanian girls chatted with us and took pictures with me. They (and the guard) were so extraordinarily friendly, and were so happy that we were there visiting their country. I think they do get a lot of tourism, so I'm not really sure why they were so happy to see us, but they were and it was nice. It's kind of unusual, as an American, to be liked by people whose country you're touring.
Anyway, next to the theater, there was a little museum. We popped in and took a few pictures:
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| mosaics from various places and times |
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| Palestinian clothes |
Two years ago: asking for a belly rub
Three years ago: i must be about to die
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