Shakespeare in the Middle East

I have had the pleasure of twice being invited to a certain restaurant in the city, both times for brunch.

It's a chain restaurant that, believe it or not, began in UAE.  

Restaurants are normally not the place I would choose to pull out my camera, but I was pretty stunned when I first walked in.  

It's called Shakespeare & Co., and there are over 32 locations, and EACH ONE has a different color scheme, different furniture and decorations, and different atmosphere.

Although, after scanning through pictures of all of the others, I think we have the prettiest one.

Wow, huh?  Considering the dust and cement-gray I see every day, this was quite an feast for the eyes.

I liked the lights inside the picture frames.

All the attention to detail.

My Lebanese breakfast choice.

Chairs of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

Framed photographs in the light alcove above.

And along the ceiling.

Dinnerware on sconces.

And, oh, Karis liked her chocolate crepe, too.

Kylie and Karis checking out the upstairs.

And Kylie took this picture because she like the painting on the stairs.

I hope people frequent this place often, so it gets enough business to stick around.

Both of my trips here were for birthday parties.  The second time, the celebrated individual was an 18-year old girl.

Kylie painted this canvas for her.  Pretty cool, huh?

After the amazing breakfast, all the teenagers went to the birthday girl's house to paint some more.

She had chosen the same palette of colors for everyone that would match her dorm room next year (I never thought that far ahead!).  She wanted all the girls to paint a canvas that she could take with her to remember them by.

Here's Kylie working on hers.

And the finished product.




Karis and the birthday girl (among others) have a soft spot for Converse, so Karis painted this.

Here are all of the finished creations.

I thought they did a fabulous job!




Thank you, Father, for providing my girls with friends here and for allowing a dreamy restaurant (with an English menu) to be available to us in this dry and weary land.

You are good...even down to the little things!