Al Khawali Restaurant

The restaurant where Omar and Noor took me for dinner was originally a house built during the Mamluk age in 1368, and is located on Medhat Pasha road, known in the Bible as the street called Straight. You just can't get this kind of atmosphere in Houston. :o) After dinner we went to a coffee shop called InHouse, which is similar to a Starbuck's. Then we dropped off Noor and went to a nice bar at the Sheraton. There was a TV; people were watching wrestling. OK, maybe this atmosphere is available in Houston! There wasn't much else to do, everything was closed today.

"The street called Straight is straighter than a corkscrew, but not as straight as a rainbow. St. Luke is careful not to commit himself; he does not say it is the street which is straight, but "the street which is called Straight." It is the only facetious remark in the Bible, I believe."

Mark Twain
The Innocents Abroad , 1869