Aleppo: Baron Hotel

was established in 1911 outside the city. Now it's in the modern city centre, in the Baron street. No one has moved it. A masterful and hospitable lady shows me around. The guest list include: President Hafez Assad (died in 2000), King Feisal I of Iraq (died in 1933), Lawrence of Arabia (died in 1935), president M K Atatürk (died in 1938), King Gustaf Adolf VI of Sweden (died in 1973), Charles Lindbergh (died in 1974), president Theodore Roosevelt (died in 1919), author Agatha Christie (died in 1976), cosmonaut Juri Gagarin (died in 1968). I have seen 4 rooms; they are big, the suites bigger, with marble, bidet, lowered bath-tub. And I drank an expensive beer in the bar. But I'm still alive. Lawrence's framed hotel bill is hanging on the saloon wall. Does it mean that it wasn't paid, or that it wasn't refunded by his employer? (2003)