Desert Castles

Tourist season is upon us. How can you tell? At this remote destination 60 km east of Amman, we were joined by busloads of European vacationers touring the same sites. And these are not Jordan's premier attractions (it took us two years to finally make the one-hour drive). These tour groups must have seen a lot of Jordan before they got here.

Qasr Kharana, built by the Umayyads in the late 7th century. Despite the appearance, it was not a fortress, but most likely a welcoming stopover spot along this barren trade route.

Qasr Kharana's "graffiti room" which features an inscription dated 710

Qasr Amra

Amazingly well-preserved wall paintings inside Qasr Amra, dating to the early 700's

Another proud moment for Duffy

Here is more evidence of Duffy's superior hand-eye coordination and ability to focus. This record-shattering 19510 score on BrickBreaker also illustrates just how engrossing she found the film Changeling, which played on a TV nearby...

Greece is the Word

Duffy triumphs after scaling a very steep set of rock stairs at Holy Trinity monastery in Meteora.

With Dan's parents outside the Temple of ?? near the Acropolis

Dan below the 16th century Anapausas monastery perched atop a sandstone rock pillar at Meteora.

Duffy at Delphi

Dan and Mom at Delphi

Dan at Delphi

We were fascinated by Athens' and Santorini's "free agent" dogs. They are full-size, owner-less, but not wild scary dogs. They don't beg, are mostly docile, and like to hang out near people.

This dog accompanied us for nearly an hour as we strolled through Firas.

Sunset at Oia

Santorini's sunsets are something of a cliché. Every innkeeper, cashier and waiter urges you to go to specific points of the island to view the sunset. Restaurant windows boast of sunsets in addition to their menus. We kept wondering, "what place in the world isn't pretty at sunset?"

Athens is covered in graffiti. Most of it crude scrawls. We found a pretty exception near our hotel in Exarcheia, which is home to Greece's anarchist community. Thanks, Rough Guide!

Things we have done this month

Several friends have commented about the lack of a blog entry and at a minimum Dan has posted pictures of Greece. By way of update - here are some things we have done in the last month:



1. Got approval to leave Jordan which we will do in Mid-June.


2. Cleaned out the closets and donated boxes of clothes, bedding and luggage to a charity that works with Palestinian refugee camps. Two comments - one - moving every 2 years definitely encourages you to pare down - and you have the blatant reminder of what are the things that you haven't worn or used in two years. Second comment - FYI refugee camps here are not the tent cities that you see during food disasters in Africa. Here in Jordan they are neighborhoods with the same stone buildings as everywhere else. Many of the refugees that are here have been in Jordan for decades.


3. Went to brunch at the Four Seasons for a going away party and knew people at several other tables (Amman is a small city and doing economic work I meet the people who own businesses and can thus afford to eat at the very tasty Four Seasons) - best dish tuna carpaccio

4. Ate falafel and hummus and shwarma repeatedly. We eat each of these every week. I had a congressional delegation in town this week - they had already been to several Middle Eastern cities by the time they got to Amman and pretty much groaned when they heard that they would be having Lebanese food for dinner. On the second night we were able to take them to a Thai restaurant which made them very happy.

5. I read Thirteenth Tale by Diane Sitterfeld which I adored. I also ordered the Pride and Prejudice novel featuring zombies that got a piece on NPR. My book group most recently discussed an economic book called Farewell to Alms and we are now reading Brothers and Sisters by Joanna Trollope.