jon is awesome

an email description of an evening in beirut:

First along the seafront promenade – no sand but a nice broad pavement. Weirdly, no restaurants along the coast so we headed inland a bit. Lots of local street food but nothing that we were looking for. Ended up back in the fancy downtown where we had al fresco supper on cobbled streets where the leaves on knarled cedar trees, dappled by subtle illumination, chewed at the sandstone pillars on archways between which were interleaved domes of mosques and spires of churches, such are the perpetual emblems of a once war-torn city.

Or, if you would prefer that description in a more Hemingway-esque style:

“Hi,” I said.

“… Oh”, he replied.

“…,” I paused.

“How about a drink?”

“Hey,” I replied.