doha daily 10/1/06

My Summer Vacation,” by Tristan B Grandsire

France: Normandy, Brittany, Omaha Beach, Le Mont-Saint-Michel, Saint-Malo, Chateau Mont-Marin, Oysters in Cancale (Tristan ate frites, of course), Deauville, Trouville, Nice, The Galion Plage, LOTS of motorcycles/scooters everywhere you look, canyoning outside of Auron (This was Thierry, Sydney and I), golf at Valcros, Cap Benat, going by boat to Port Cros and Ile du Levant, jumping into the sea from off the side of the boat for the first time.

…Yet most important, seeing friends and family.

USA: The Magic House, St. Louis Zoo, The Butterfly House, a Cardinals game in the new Busch Stadium, visiting Mobile, Alabama and the new wharf for 3 days, Tristan’s wharf swing, downtown Fairhope, visiting Great-Grandparents for Tristan’s first time in Louisville, the trip to Los Angeles for 5 days, running along the strand in Playa del Rey, the afternoon at the Santa Monica pier, golf at Algonquin, Fox Run and Green Briar, Steak n Shake, IMO’s, TNG’s, Ted Drewes, Target, Schnucks and Trader Joe’s, and real-time American sports on the weekends!

…Yet most important, seeing friends and family.

WHAT A SUMMER!!!!! And now, we’re back home with Thierry : ). Just at the start of Ramadan – an experience I look forward to “experiencing” and writing about for oh, say, the next 3 weeks? Actually, the biggest thing for ME will be the closing of the coffee shops during the day – For those of you who ask me what I do all day and I reply, “Oh, I occasionally have coffee with my ex-pat friends!” WELL…NOT FOR THE NEXT MONTH MISSY! Thierry and I went for a motorcycle ride mid-day Friday which was actually quite pleasant in the mid-90’s and little humidity. We had to stop at a supermarket in Al Khor for a bottle of water and hid from the public to drink. Tristan and I visited the brand new Carrefour supermarket just down the street – THAT is going to be a very convenient thing for us, as all other supermarkets make us battle the traffic to get to them. Traffic is HORRIBLE again for us, as most people have been given abbreviated Ramadan hours, beginning their day at 10:00am. And what I thought was going to be completed and finished road works by the time we returned, is very far from reality. More and more stories are emerging on how the city is not NEARLY ready for these games – it is probably that way in every “Olympic city,” though, right? Although, here, amidst the desert white flatland with cranes towering over all major skyscrapers, as well as what feels like MORE traffic diversions than in July, it seems a tad more obvious.

Tristan and I returned to Doha at night so we were unable to see….THIS! Check it out! We are at the 6-mos mark today and the trees are already over the wall!
See you!