Tehran in the Daytime
Exhaustion replaced by excitement - a new city, a new day.
There was more pottery than we knew what to do with, bas reliefs to great kings and rulers of millenia past (including some of Biblical note, like Darius, Cyrus, and Xerxes), and strange discoveries; the most unique to me was the glass window dating from 2500 B.C.E. Because it was so difficult to stretch glass, they rolled it and placed it in a frame. Ingenious.
As I found some spare time for the computer, I had yet another in a long line of surreal moments in foreign lands. I glanced out the window to see an Orthodox Jewish family strolling down the street. The boys all wore yarmulkes, the girls simple suits. The father stood out quite dramatically, with his long beard, earlocks, and his large, round fur hat. Of all the things I expected to see in Tehran, this was not one of them! The family was being followed by a camera man, so apparently I was not the only one noticing that this was something out of the ordinary. No one seems to know what the story is, unfortunately, though I did my best to investigate.
After a nap, we had some tea in the lobby and some L.S. time which continued into a traditional dinner nearby. We also got to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday, making yet another in our list of exotic places to mark the passing of another year. Birthday cakes are not a local custom, so we had to improvise.