We arrive to to a high wire fence with a massive sign that this is a hard hat area. Almost 2 hours drive out of Baghdad our purpose was to see te archeological site of Ctesiphon, capitol city of the Parthians between 200BC and 600 AD. All we are seeing is recontruction work when we planned to see the best preserved and largest arch from antiquity. The solitary worker on site waves us away but suggest we may be able to drive around the side and get some sort of view. Eventually our driver did find a vantage point but about 1 km away and I was using my zoom lens to get some sort of a shot.
A police car pulls up and the two officers emerge. We start to back off expecting a rebuke but these guys latch onto the 2 young women in our group, especially our guide, Paris. She has blonde hair and a pretty face reminiscent of the actress Cameron Diaz and, especially when unveiled the local guys go for her like a moth to a flame. She of course knows it and plays it to perfection. In the blink of an eye we have free run of the place. We ascend the partially reconstructed building and take pictures. For the price of a kiss from Paris our bus is allowed to take us right to the arch. Paris and her accomplice Kathryn get driven there in the police car. Pictures taken, we leave the police and their phones filled with selfies with the girls to their own devices. Mission accomplished!
