Wow, what a day!

It's 9 pm here, and Tommy, Chris and myself have spent the better part of today wandering around the Old City of Tripoli. If something happened and I had to leave tomorrow, today made this trip worth it! We left our hotel around 2-3 pm and started at the Arch of Marcus Aurelius, one of the oldest spots in Tripoli. There are all kinds of Roman ruins surrounding it. Tommy got some amazing pictures he'll have to upload later. From there we decided to wander through parts of the old city, and we came across an old hotel being restored, and we were allowed to take a sneak peak and learn some of the history of the structure. It's supposed to be completed by Sept., so we have definitely marked our calenders to make sure to go back and check it out! From there we found a little local gift shop, full of postcards and handmaid bead jewelry, I bought a few pieces to bring home to some people.... :) There were also small maps of the Old City and of Tripoli, so we purchased those and took off following the map for landmarks. I bet we didn't even cover half of the Old City, and to see the architecture and small shops scattered everywhere was amazing! I found pearls for around $7-10 AMERICAN dollars, beautiful old-fashioned silver and gold jewelry, and lots of copper and silver platters, vases, decorations galore! We were able to watch a man create a beautiful jewelry head piece, and even saw a metal smith making something fairly large.... it was just really cool to be able to see all this on the streets. Tommy and I had decided a while ago there was a restaurant in the Old City that looked pretty cool from the road, so we had always wanted to go, so tonight, since we were in the area, we decided to check it out. It was well worth it. Beautiful dining room set withing on part of a large Roman style building, that evidently is some kind of museum, but we're not sure because that part was closed. When we originally stopped by the restaurant they were not open, so we decided to take a carriage ride through the city. It lasted about 45 min, and took us through some of the parts of the city, new and old, that were heavily populated with local and foreign shops. It was nice to relax and enjoy the scenery, and everyone smiled and waved as we rode past. All in all today was well worth this trip. The history lover in me is well sated, and the shopper in me found a bunch of small local stores that sell the kind of stuff I want to take home as souveniers for y'all. I know once Tommy gets home he'll have alot more to add, and he'll also have the pictures posted as well. He's at a meeting right now, so I figured I'd sneak in while I got the chance and post my opinion. If I could only share with you how this day was, but you'd have totally had to be here. This will go down as a big day for me to look back upon and remember fondly. Now, I'm exhausted and hot and sticky, so I think I'm going to go relax with a shower and crawl in bed and grab a book. Take care, and I'll be back with more soon hopefully! Oh, we MIGHT/probably will be moving into the apartment on Monday, so the only way you'll be able to reach us is by cell phone UNTIL the phone line is installed and connected, and then DSL is hooked up. We're not exactly sure how that's going to work, but be sure to know we'll keep everyone posted on that plan.