Made inSyria?

I managed to drag Freda out into the cold tonight, to visit the Syrian Market which I reported on the other day.

Thankfully, the giant speakers have been done away with, so we didn't get hearing damage as we went in this time. I took my fancy telescopic camera tripod (a gift from my very kind brother) so that I might be able to get some decent pictures in the poor light. Here they are:

This first one was taken in the far left hand corner from the entrance. (We'd past several stalls before we got here, but they were either too crowded to get a decent look at the goods, or another one of them was a lady's underwear stall with some quite naughty stuff on display!) Made in Syria? I don't think so, unless there's a town in China bearing that name! Lots of the kitchen utensils and fancy goods on display here had Chinese labels on, it was quite disappointing really.

Nearby were some very fancy lady's gowns:

 Carrying on further around the tent, we came across another stall selling sexy lingerie, which I couldn't have photographed because it was chock a block with Egyptian women. I did snap a couple of the outlandish bedspreads, though:

Soon enough, we came upon the lady's nightgowns, to me they look the same as the ones I snapped last April. I shouldn't be surprised if these weren't also of Chinese manufacture. What do you think?

The applique work which we came across next was very nice. Although why the Syrians would produce pharaonic art in applique is a bit of a mystery to me, maybe the Chinese had a hand in it again?

I would say that there were more stalls selling the following beaded stuff than anything else. Some of it is exquisite (and costly) while some looks pretty garish with all the glittery stuff to spoil it. There are wall hangings and table runners, table cloths and cushion covers; all sorts in fact. Many of them were obviously Quranic Texts, but I cannot read Arabic, so cannot help you there!

When we came out of there, we both needed the loo, I think it must be the cold here! So we made our way around to the Winter Palace, where the facilities are always acceptable. Not wanting to be seen as freeloaders, we thought we would treat ourselves to a drink in the Royal Bar while we were there. For about an hour, we had the place to ourselves, four bar staff and a pianist. The service was excellent, we even had a welcome visit from the '1886' manager. (No, he's not an OLD man from the past, he's the manager of the famous '1886' restaurant!)

I love it here in The Royal Bar, look at this picture and see if you can imagine Carter and Caernarvon leaning against there, or tucked away in a corner, "If you can finance just one more seasons digging, my Lord, I'm positive I can come up with a royal tomb which will make all your waiting worthwhile."