Thu 15 Sep 2005
Dan and Addie are here, they arrived yesterday afternoon. We sat on the terrace catching up and making loose plans for their (rather short) trip. Later, we went for a drink and then to Cafe Gemmayzeh for some food and music. Recently, I learned that this cafe used to be called Qahwat al-Azaz and was a coffee shop for men only. Today it is one of the few sort of traditional cafes left in Beirut. It’s a fun place at night, the atmosphere is quite lively, usually a few people get up and dance to the oud player’s music. Addie charmed the grumpy waiter and fell in love with argileh, so we are off to a good start.