Of a Once -in -a -Life -Time Experience, and other things.

The unforgettable experience of attending the World Expo in Hanover in the year 2000

Naseem was wondering about the giant Black Iris in King Hussain Park.

He inspired me to share some of the photos we took in Hanover during the World Expo, where this giant Iris was part of the Jordanian exhibition .

Most Arab and third world countries had their exhibitions inside a compound or a building. Very few of them had their own separate entities, side to side with the biggest names in design, like Sweden, Denmark Italy and the United States.

Jordan's exhibition was not only unique for that reason, but drew a lot of attention because of its setting. It was made of a huge underground rectangle .If seeing people standing by a wall and watching things underneath was not enough to grasp your attention ,then the smell of frying falafel was sure to get you there. On the sides of the rectangle, and underneath the floor where people were walking were a few shops that sold traditional crafts and artisanas from Jordan. Among them was a shop that sold Falafel sandwiches. Those were a big success.

You could also see people all around the expo carrying the small green bags, with some Arabic calligraphy printed on them, which kept the precious memorabilia they bought from "Jordan".

There is not much I can add, but if you like the pictures go see for yourself, check out the real thing which was reassembled in Al Hussain Park.

Each corner is supposed to represent one city,this of course is Aqaba.

This is downtown Amman, where stone and modern materials are used together.

This is the view of the whole exhibition, with the giant Black Iris.

This represents the Siq in Petra .

These cement cubes represent the Sahaba Shrines, I don't really know how come ,but that's what I read in a brochure, there's a tiny hole on top of each one, and you can hear some sounds when you put your ear there.

In that same trip,we were staying in Dusseldorf, which is a lovely lovely city by the way, and I decided to take the train and go see the renowned cathedral in Koln. I was told that the train stops right in front of the Cathedral,and that both cities are extremly close to each other. Now no one told me that I had to leave the train at the second station,so I left it at the first (Damn Germans!! it's as if the world revolves around them.. speak some English ,for God's sake!..Just kidding of course..I love Germans and admire them so much) and so I ended up doing the bridge walk to get to the cathedral.Well, crossing the Rhein on a bridge is not exactly Crossing Abdoon Bridge in a wedding gown, but hey, I found that pretty exciting .

A nice building in The Altstadt -Dusseldorf.

Koln Cathedral.

At that period of time,Koln were holding an Exhibition with the theme of Families of the World. All along the streets (and the bridge!) they had posters of families from all countries..I looked all around to find the picture of a Jordanian family, when I found the syrian family picture I thought maybe they chose one from bilad el sham but at last I found one and was so proud.

Back to the main issue..If you haven't been to the King Hussain Park yet, do.If you need more convincing, visit Naseem's blog.