My beard is gone. Kaput. Shaved off. Down the drain. Funny looks at the super marche in Christian dominated Jounieh, coupled with the fact that my beard/no-mustache combo made me look conspicuously like a member of Fatah Al Islam, hastened my decision to bic it all off. On Friday, I made a visit to Halou’s coiffure in the old souq and had the head beard tamed a bit. Now I look nice and respectable.

Lebanon is gorgeous. Visited Harissa and the Citadel in Byblos. It is strange to see Arabic writing on Christian monuments, but after all, the Maronite’s are more Christian than any Evangelical in the States.

Power is a bit finnicky - the apartment looses electricity about eight times a day. That means no AC until sometime after dark. Could be worse though - the temperatures aren’t nearly as bad as they were in Israel.

Off to the beach for an Almaza. Keskun for now.

Ok, any attempts at blogging regularly went straight out the window when I landed in Tel Aviv.

I leave for Beirut tomorrow,  via the West Bank’s Allenby/King Hussein Bridge into Amman from East Jerusalem.  I’ve got to run up to Ramat Gan to grab my Jordanian visa and then hope for the best when I land in Beirut.  So far I have been lucky enough to be remain stampless crossing into and out of Israel - but we will see how long that lasts.

A short list of some of the places I have been in the last two weeks:  Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Old City in Jerusalem, the Kotel (Western Wall) on the 9th of Av (for those of you who know, the anniversary of the destruction of the 1st and 2nd temple), Ein Gedi, the Dead Sea, Massada, the Sea of Gallilee, the Golan Heights, Petra in Jordan, Dimona (home to Israel’s not so secret nuclear power plant), and so much more.  I am going to go back and reconstruct my journey next week in Lebanon - so don’t get grump with me yet.

From the Holy Land,

Brady

So, Jonny and I spent all day at the gallery. Prepping our collateral for the Gallery’s fall shows.

Around 12am, I upgraded from Khaos to Unbound. Now I am really feeling good. I have a 14 hour flight ahead of me, so I figure that I don’t really need much sleep between now and the time I board the plane. Plus, last time I flew Lufthansa, I got this sweet pair of eye goggles/googley-eyes that might help me to doze off for 14 hours. I can’t even tell you the last time I slept for 10 hours, let alone 14. Starting to get excited.

Next stop, Nyquil induced sleep.