One intersection led in separate directions respectively to Damascus, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Philadelphia (Amman). Dad gave Sam 1 JD to get a bottle of water, after which the vendor showed them lots of cool stuff, including the moving column, bath house, baptismal font, water spout, and lucky leaf growing on the ground in the shadow of the column with the same leaf depicted in the frieze.
Sam was stopped several times by locals wanting pictures with him. You would think they have never seen an American with green hair before!
Sam and Dad decided that in the afternoon they would charge 1 JD for a photo with Sam, or to touch his hair. At the souq, they bought a pair of camel pants for Ashleigh, stuffed camel for Sam, and musical whistle toy for Pete (which he claimed was broken). Lunch was at the Lebanese House, a restaurant on a small hillside just outside of Jerash. The restaurant was so large that it had a playground and elevator inside. The beef, lamb, and chicken kabobs, bread, fries, cheese sticks, and salad were all very tasty.
Nicole drove to the final site of the week - Ajloun Castle. They walked up a very steep hill and then climbed all around the castle.
The walk back down the hill was typical of a Jordanian street - cars whizzed by, inches from the bodies of the pedestrians. At one point near the open intersection at the bottom, with cars approaching from at least 4 directions and no road markings, Pete said to Dad: "I think this is the most dangerous place I have ever been. Not Jordan - just this exact spot." The Jordanians were a very friendly and welcoming people, except when they were behind the wheel. The driving all week had been treacherous and stressful beyond belief. Of course, nothing could equal the sheer terror of Mr. Brad's driving. In fact, Sam was the only volunteer to ride shotgun on the final ride to the airport at 12:30am on Saturday morning.
The final evening in Jordan had been an enjoyable one. Dinner at the house was grilled BBQ chicken and roasted potatoes, followed by homemade ice cream.
After dinner, they played a spirited game of Pictionary on the mirror in the family room with dry erase markers. Brad dropped them at the Queen Alia airport in plenty of time for the 2:50am flight to Frankfurt. They bought a Petra ornament and some candy to use up the last 5 JD note.
Upon arriving in Frankfurt at 6:30am, Pete and Dad decided that they wanted to go downtown during the 6-hour layover. Sam and Mom stayed back at the airport. Pete and Dad picked up some subway passes and took the 20-minute ride to Hauptwache (5 stops on the S8 line). It was a chilly 39 degrees, but they walked all around the downtown Innenstadt and Altstadt area of the city until 9:15am. It was very quiet, and they enjoyed seeing some of the sights, including a nice park (Bockenheimer), the Main river, and statues of Goethe, Gutenberg, and others.
Returning to the airport, they made it quickly through security (despite the Brussels bombings earlier in the week) and met up again with Sam and Mom at the McDonalds by gate Z54. The flight home was nice, and they had a block of 4 seats all together in the center plane section. The taxi ride back home from Dulles airport brought the memorable trip to an end.
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