• Where's the only US military base on the African continent?
• Where is the only current port available for Ethiopia, the world's most populous landlocked country?
• Where do a couple of thousand French soldier still furnish the military for its tiny former colony?

• Answer: Djibouti.

This strategically located little piece of real estate, in a rough neighborhood, is not exactly a prime tourist destination but I had a couple of free days after exploring Ethiopia and anxiously awaiting my entry into Iraq.

Djibouti is not the type of place where you should wave around your phone to take photos. And, alas, I realized I never got a picture with me in it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not especially exciting or bustling Menelik Square in the center of Djibouti city.

Does the State Department require U.S. Embassies to be big, ugly, lifeless, unimaginative, bland boxes all over the world?