Thursday, February 24, 2011

Escape from Dhahran


We just spent four amazing days in Cyprus which made usnot want to go back. We really needed a get away from our little boring life in Dhahran. Don’t get us wrong it isn’t a bad life it just isn’t as active and entertaining as we need. Speaking of entertaining we stayed at a very nice family resort in Limissol which had an awesome playground, indoor pool, beach, great drink menu, and tons of crazy cats. Also, renting a car was a great idea because there is so much to see and do all over the island. However, driving on the left hand side of the road can be a bit tricky and Papa Gnome did awesome! Mama Gnome on the other hand was a little on the questionable side. The weather was perfect and the landscape was breathtaking. This time of year is there the low season which was great so we didn’t have to fight any crowds or make reservations. However, there isn’t any real good breakfast place open in the morning because they don’t open and serve fooduntil well after 1000. We did find a bakery that is open 24hrs a day and boy was it amazing! Baby Gnome’s favorite baked good was the hotdog wrapped in pastry, that’s our American girl.

Once we arrived in Cyprus you would have thought we could leave our worries behind, well that wasn’t true because the country we fly in and out of was and is going through civil unrest. We really didn’t think anything was going to happen big in Bahrain so we thought we were safe to make travel plans especially since our original travel plans to Egypt were impacted because of civil unrest. There is a running joke at the Consulate wherever the Gnome Family plans to visit or visits falls apart. It’s our secret powers but is it a secret if I just admitted to it?

One would think that you would never have to fight to get back to Dhahran but that was almost the case. Our RSO here kept us in formed and up to date on all the stuff going on in Bahrain and made us feel at ease with the stuff we were seeing on TV. He said the TV was a lot worse then what was really going on and that it was isolated to one area. He even came and collected us from the airport at 330am in an up armored vehicle. We made it safely home with just enough time to sleep for one and half hours and go to work.