T.S. Eliot

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot

At Durres ... Albania

At the north shore of Durresi .... A small old house compose a beautiful artistic setting.

Ghassan Abu Laban ... A Master of Colours

Palmyra تدمر ... Syria

Sculptures at Palmyra .... are not matched. The intricate fascinating work of this sculpture surpasses the details of David by Michelangelo.

At Durrësi- Shqipëria

Durrës is the second-largest city of Albania. It is the most ancient and one of the most economically important cities of Albania. It is located on the central Albanian coast, about 33 km (21 mi) west of the capital Tirana. It is situated at one of the narrower points of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari (300 km/186 mi away) and Brindisi (200 km/124 mi away). It has a population of around 114,000 (as of 2003[update] estimate). The city of Durrës is home to Albania's newest public university, the Aleksander Moisiu University.

The picture is taken by a very good friend. Nice trick.

Agatha Christie at ... Room 203 Baron Hotel in Allepo

Allepo ... 10:30 pm on the 19th Dec 2008.

The receptionist gave me the keys to room 203. As I climbed the stairs, my heart was beating with excitement, thrill and fear. I entered the room, and what a feeling. A very different life experience. Why not, for this is Agatha Christie's room ... where she stayed at the Baron Hotel in Allepo and wrote "Murder on the Orient Express" back in 1934.

Room 203: the Agatha Christie room.

You could imagine the English lady seated on the Thonet chair at the dark dressing-table with its bevelled mirrors, its fine marquetry, and its gold-handled drawers. These are the original furnishings from the 1920s.

The 2nd floor of the Hotel Baron is a journey through the history of the 20th century: Lawrence of Arabia slept in Room 202; from the balcony in Room 215, King Faisal declared Syria's independence. The Presidential Suite was occupied in turn by Sweden's King Gustaf Adolf, Egypt's Jamal Abdel Nasser, Syria's former President Hafiz Al Assad, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (the founder of the United Arab Emirates), and the American billionaire David Rockefeller.

In the main dining room on the ground floor, the Hotel Baron once held lavish banquets in their honour. Today, the guests have their breakfast here, surrounded by wood-panelled walls, massive double doors, crooked lampshades, and ceramic tiles of green, beige and brown. It's the details that make the Baron so unique: the chunky, grass-green telephone system at the reception; T.E. Lawrence's, Lawrence of Arabia's, bill framed and displayed in the lounge.
In 1909, amongst the gardens on the outskirts of Aleppo, the Mazloumian family built the first floor of the current building; the second floor followed in 1911, and the third in 1940. In recent years, this top storey has been thoroughly renovated and modernised.

Agatha Christie trilled a cheery "Good morning!" every day as she descended the broad staircase on her way to the terrace; there, she sipped tea while writing "Murder on the Orient Express".

It was an exceptional unforgettable night in Room 203 at the Baron Hotel in Allepo.

Carlos Latuff and Stephen Walt .. The Israel lobby

"Right now, this has become a subject that you can barely talk about without people immediately trying to silence you, immediately trying to discredit you in various ways, such that no American politicians will touch this, which is quite remarkable when you consider how much Americans argue about every other controversial political issue. To me, this is a national security priority for us, and we ought to be having an open debate on it, not one where only one side is being heard from."

(Stephen Walt, professor of international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, on a University of California, Berkeley, TV show called Conversations With History last fall, speaking about the chilling effect of the Israel lobby).

Read 'Ferment Over 'The Israel Lobby'' by Philip Weiss'

Cartoon by Carlos Latuff (Brasil).

Uganda .... A beautiful African country

Different types of clouds formation .... fascinating ... particularly the lower transperant layer of clouds.

Different fruits ... natural .... no chemicals .. no fertilisers ... Fascinating colours, types and set up.

Kampala down town fruits market.