Tornado Alley (PROG)

[janice shell]

Wasn’t Beirut often referred to as “the Paris of the Middle East” up until not too long ago?

That was until the very early 1980s. But it'd been considerably cleaned up by the second decade of this century. Go spend some time there; take one of Dave's walking tours. People seem to like them:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g294005-d13509094-PRIVATE_Beirut_Historical_Walking_Half_Day_Tour-Beirut.html

And then in 2020, there was a huge explosion, caused by improperly stored ammonium. The explosion was apparently the third worst ever, after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nothing to do with terrorism. Beirut and Lebanon seem to have a lot of bad luck.

But hey, you can go to some nice wine tastings...