Today

We ate at Bread Republic in a neighborhood that I cannot even begin to try to spell the name of.

I had a fantastic cappuccino. The first one since the morning I left for here.

We walked around one of the most beautiful (albeit difficult to spell) neighborhoods I have ever seen in my life and I took a million pictures of buildings. I am pretty sure I don't have any friends who will want to see them, they are purely for me.

This house is one of my favorites. A house, behind a stairway, going nowhere. Lovely.

Only slight bullet damage because this is a Christian neighborhood.

Ran on the track, listening to one of my favorite play lists, including this song.

And then we ordered in, drove back out to the neighborhood where that castle run by those people is. Except this time we went through the check point into the neighborhood, deep into the neighborhood. Wow. A very different part of Beirut than I have ever seen in my life. This is the neighborhood that was destroyed by bombing in 2006, the people that oppose this country and these people, particularly hate the people that rule and run this neighborhood and the damage is still fresh and real in every way.

As we drive out we drove past the camp where 35,000 Palestinian refugees are living in one square mile. Unbelievable. Such a contrast to where we were this morning.

It's a beautiful country, with beautiful people. We spent the evening with a wonderful Lebanese family and I wish you all could have been there to experience the warmth love and kindness of this culture. It is more than wonderful and welcoming. Alas, I will just have to share with you the pictures.

Click here to see a couple of the pics from the last few days.