Memorial Day will be the first weekend in a while when I don't have a congressional delegation and so we actually have a 3 day weekend (good news!) The bad news is that Jordan's independence day is the same day as our Memorial Day and so hotels here are either expensive or booked in-country.We looked into flying somewhere for the weekend maybe Aleppo or Cairo but plane tickets were really expensive. I met the president of Jordan's airline last week and he said worldwide plane tickets are expensive because of fuel prices - so I can't blame Jordan (or its high taxes) for the high ticket prices.
We turned next to our fall-back - let's go to Israel and watch movies (although yet another movie theatre opened this month in Amman - bring the number of movie theatres up to 6 - all with multiple screens). We saw Iron Man this week which I recommend. Anyway back to Tel Aviv planning - our favorite hotel (because it is inexpensive and near beach) is booked! And I don't think it is even a holiday in Israel (and certainly no Jordanians are going there). The next hotel recommended by a friend who used to work in Tel Aviv was also booked.
Thankfully, we think we have made reservations. Art films here we come! (We have seen Indiana Jones posters here so we don't have to travel to see that one.)
Jordanian movie theatre trivia - movies cost $7 in all of theatres except the new one where they cost $8.50. At the two newest theatres you can also pay another $5 extra to sit in the VIP section which really means sitting in the back rows. Like in Europe (or at a play) your ticket has a seat number on it. The new theatres all have stadium seating and they sell the same movie snacks as in the States although I have never seen anyone buy the snacks mostly because their are so few customers at any given movie. Only when we went to the Jordanian movie Captain Abu Raed was the theatre even half-full. Usually there are less than 10 people. $7 is a lot of money in Jordan and you can buy the DVD for $1.50 at innumerable shops.
1 comment:
I also got to see Iron Man this weekend...fun movie. Loved the pictures of the surrounding countryside and find it somewhat scary that you said the hills had already turned brown since rainfall was pretty much over till September.
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