Today was our day of relaxation before three days on the road. We had breakfast with fellow teachers in the King's Academy dining hall and then didn't leave campus until 11:30. After a few bureaucratic details related to finances in Madaba, we headed to Amman. I think that I may be the hungriest of the teachers, I do get teased about my hunger, and generally the food makes me pretty happy...today's lunch of stuffed eggplants, chicken, and breaded meat balls in a yogurt sauce satisfied me! I also had vegetable soup, blueberry ice cream and baklava...
Although the day was one of relaxation we still visited a couple of museums. The first was The Royal Automobile Museum where about a hundred cars from the late King Hussein's personal collection are displayed. The museum was thought provoking both in terms of the development of cars in such a short amount of time,
and in the relationship of King Hussein and his son King Abdullah II with cars and motorcycles. 
In a very real way, the cars and motorcycles displayed were the prized steeds of two kings. Kings, emperors, pharaohs, princes and knights have always had their noble steeds. 
Even Achilles at the end of the Bronze Age had immortal horses given to him by his father. Achilles' horses cry after the death of Patrocles... "Warm tears flowed from their eyes onto the ground, as they cried, longing for their driver. Their thick manes, covered in dirt, trailed down below their harnesses on both sides of the yoke. Looking at those horses, as they mourned, Zeus, the son of Cronos pitied them. Shaking his head, Zeus spoke “Poor horses! Why did we give you to king Peleus, a mortal man, for you are immortal, ageless? Was it so you’d experience sorrow among unhappy men? For the truth is this—of all the things which breathe or move on earth, nothing is more miserable than man." (Book 17, Johnston translation) 
It is a treasure to be able to visit the motorized steeds of a very successful and necessary monarchy. Achilles was given his immortal steeds from his father and at a critical moment in The Iliad the horses talk to Achilles. A lot of the cars displayed were given as gifts between the generations. I wonder, if the late King Hussein's motorized steeds could talk then what would they tell King Abdullah?
Our next visit was to The Children's Museum. The experience was a window into a bright future for the children of Jordan. Learning through play on top of a modern museum on a hill overlooking the booming city of Amman. 
We concluded the evening with a cup of coffee Jordanian style, alongside of the road and under pine trees. We shared the moment alongside of the road with various groups of locals who also were drinking tea or coffee under the pines.
On the way back to my room at the King's Academy I found and captured (for a brief moment) a frog. So the day began with photographs of a bird and thoughts about migration, and the day concluded with a greenish yellow frog--perhaps it is about transformation and thinking about a cooler, and wetter climate!
