Beirut and the confronting of Florence

Must be the winter but have been present through my absence on my blog!
It’s dark now when we head to work....but the cold hasn’t happened too much.
Days of rain and floods.... so who did clog the manholes and drains with Rubbish?... it was kind of nice to have the Ministry announce another day off a few weeks ago.
Since the I have been to Beirut
French beauty
Bulletholes
Diverse cultures
Divided by ethnicity and religion
There is a sickness in Beirut- a mental health state manifested in different ways
The young artists who painted and showed this
Say that it goes away if you leave Beirut for 18 months
People disappeared in th troubles
Other countries saw the rattled Beirut as a place where none would notice if they dumped their toxins in the sea.... and they did
But it is beautiful.... and people live lives as in any other city
It springs from antiquity
So we roamed Byblos where it was possible to imagine Phonecians in boats, sailing into the harbor... the Egyptians and their papyrus
And the invasions for a strategic place
We wandered through the Arab quarter
Carefully
With reluctance, we completed the stay with calvados and margaritas in our 1920s style hotel..... so French.
Back we came, to the parameters of paradise
The confronting thoughts
The feeling of freedom
Just feeling and being..... so good .
Thank you Beirut