Bride in Baalbeck

We had friends over from abroad, and since Baalbeck is on the standard itinerary, we visited the temples. You tend to get a bit blasé about it, a bit like people who pass the Eiffel tower in Paris on their commute to work twice daily, and forget you’re walking around in one of the biggest temple complexes of the Roman Empire. 

It was a bit of an overkill, I had just spent the weekend in the Beqaa, but back over the mountain we drove.

 I am tracking my trips these days.

 I downloaded this fantastic free app , Polarsteps  (The app is Dutch and so am I, hence my joy over the ‘free’ part), last year, which traces your movement without you having to be connected. I left it on for a whole year (September to June) last year, and it gave a funny picture of where I hang out a lot. (This app is not recommended if you in politics, or a high ranking member of Hezbollah.)

I started it again this September, and wonder where my journeys will take me this year. I am kind of interested into hiking the forest way up north this year, and would also want to hike the Qaddisha Valley a bit more extensively. I got my eyes set on some caving and rock climbing this year as well, and oh well, I’ve got lots of things in mind. My goal is to create in even more intricate spider web on Polarsteps.

Anyway, so I was in Baalbeck, for the umpteenth time, but it was obviously ‘wedding day’. I saw at least four brides, in tow with a slew of photographers, romping around the ruins, looking for historic poses.  White is clearly on its way out, as I saw a blue bride and an aqua green as well.

But I kind of liked this particular lady; veiled and dressed up like a princess, a little bit like the pink bride I saw last spring in Beirut.  I guess I have a penchant for ‘big dresses’. This may stem from my eternal frustration of not having had a bridal dress myself. I got married in my lunch break, in jeans and motor cycle boots, and I don’t even have a picture of the event! Rather unplanned, as much of my life has been so far. We had to drag a witness from the street because one of the two witnesses we provide did not have ‘the right religion’.

I used to regret that, until an acquaintance of ours spent over 200,000$ on his wedding (which isn’t even that much, if I see some of these wedding pictures in society magazines), and by the time he got divorced, he still had to pay off about half of that amount.  I think my wedding cost 150,000 pounds in all (that is, and was, about a $100)

Anyway, here’s the bride in Baalbeck. May her life be a healthy and happy one.