Jerusalem

Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

"May those who love you be secure.

May there be peace within your walls

and security within your citadels..."

Psalm 122: 2, 6 & 7

I am so bummed because I actually wrote this post early this morning and lost it somehow.  So, I will have to try to sum up two days, which is fine but not the way I had it planned.

our first view of Jerusalem.  Dome of the Rock to the left

So, yesterday, as we drove up to Jerusalem from our hotel on the Dead Sea (which means that we went from drove up from 1,400 ft below sea level 4,300 ft up) it was like a time warp because of the camels and donkeys ridden by Bedouins who were also ascending to Jerusalem, and it was not hard at all to imagine ancient times when the people of Judah would go up to Jerusalem for the feasts of the Jews and sing as they went.  I was told to read the Psalms of Ascent while we drove in and I was struck by Psalm 122 and the eerie echo of the call for peace for this place.  As we drove, to the right there was a Jewish settlement and up ahead walls and a Palestinian camp then in the distance a Christian cross rises over the hill.  How can a city that has known such hope know so little peace?  I suppose because of the endless dreary news reports we hear about this place I was inclined to be overly aware of the disjointed communities that live here...yet after spending two days here, maybe they do coexist more than I have realized.  Regardless, there is a certain tension in the collision of so many ideologies.

Our bus pulled in outside the city on the Mount of Olives which also is at the crest of the Jewish cemetery that surrounds the old city and we were able to take in the panoramic view, which is breathtaking. And we immediately began our tour of Jerusalem.  It is packed in so tightly houses upon houses, churches/mosques/synagogues all in a jumble, and narrow streets at right angles zigzag up into the Old City.  We walked down the Street of Palms, which is quite a steep drop and went first to the church of Gethsemane stopping to see the beautiful olive trees that were hundreds of years old in the garden outside.  We got our first taste of the crowds of pilgrims as we elbowed our way into the church and frankly, I had to sit down and focus on the austerity of the place amidst millions of photo flashes and the hubbub of people from all over the world who all, every one, just wanted a glimpse.  

outside of upper room 

It is a tricky thing, I think, trying to keep your head about you when everyone else in the world, literally, seems to be losing theirs over getting a view of yet another church that commemorates a sacred spot where Jesus may have been.  It is a little crazy because every church is beautiful and every site is sacred, yet, the pushing and impatience gets in the way of the purpose of visiting some of these places and it for sure is distracting from what actually happened at each place.  Oh well.  

Psalm 121:  "May God bless your coming and going."
Caiaphas' House

A view of the Western Wall from above

We also visited Caiaphas' house and saw the dungeon type room where it is believed that Jesus was tortured over night, and while we were there, a pastor (Hagee) came along to do something and there was a big to do.   We also visited the Upper Room area, which is not a church, but a mosque now and then wandered around the Jewish quarter (which Jeff pointed out seems ironic, but it is true, it IS the Jewish quarter) enjoying all the sights and sounds, including a overlook view of the Western Wall (popularly known as the Wailing Wall), which we returned to today.  When we visited there today, there were many Bar Mitzvah's in the men's section and many women, presumably family members, surrounded it standing on chairs to get a glimpse.  It was crazy with boys getting ready to read their Torah portion while candy was being thrown at them and the excitement was high.   I also went to the wall and watched the many women there praying fervently, it was moving to see the emotion with which they prayed.  I prayed, too, for peace for Jerusalem.  

prayers

Holy Small World!

I forgot to mention also that yesterday we ate lunch (some of us) at a place called Holy Bagels...yum!  And wouldn't you believe it, but the man standing next to me in line noticed my iPhone wallpaper was my kids in their Vikings gear, so he asked me if I was from Minnesota.  He is the senior high Pastor at Grace Church...small. world.!!

Today we also went to the church at Bethesda and heard the lovely singing of a group from Germany, and then we saw the via Dolorosa.  We walked along it, with sellers hawking their wares on both sides, which they have done for centuries and got a real taste of the history of these busy streets always full of many different kinds of smells (lots of frankincense and breads) and too many colorful things to count.  And then, off to each side of the road are these little alleys leading up ever higher to who knows where. 

A street off the Via Dolorosa

The exciting part of our day was our trip into Palestinian territory to visit Bethlehem, which felt a little like we were being shoved and pushed along again to quickly view the little star on the ground under a Greek Orthodox church which marks the spot they think was where Jesus was born.  It was not awe inspiring for me at all, and I left feeling a little worn out from the experience.  

the birth of Jesus, in a humble place

There is so very much more...the Western Wall tunnels (amazing system dating back even before Christ of tunnels running the length of the wall), the Jewish Archeological Park, the Jewish Institute for the Rebuilding of the Temple, etc.... Our guide has done an amazing job of allowing us to see so much, we are always bursting with information by the time the day is over and I am pretty sure that I cannot pack one more thought/sight/fact into these eyes or brain, yet there is more to see in Jerusalem and we will attempt again tomorrow to see more.  

Until then.

The Lovely Desert Landscape

It was hazy all day today apparently from dust originating in Saudi Arabia.  The haze didn't stop us, though, it only prevented us from seeing any distance.  

Daniela

a Baobab tree like the one from the Little Prince

Our day started early with a garden tour of the Kibbutz we are staying on, Kibbutz Ein Gedi.  It is beautiful here, and according to our tour guide/part owner of the Kibbutz, the best growing environment, in spite of the fact that we are in the middle of a desert landscape.  Because of the low altitude (lowest on earth, remember 1400 ft below sea level), the air is just right for plants that grow quickly and beautifully with the watering system developed here and then now used all over the world.  Our guide walked us around the Kibbutz and told us all about the committed community that worked together to build the dream of a lifetime and to be a part of their homeland.  She grew up in Beverly Hills, and as she told us, came here to escape a life of excess and provide her children with a more meaningful existence.  It sounds like she and her husband and their EIGHT kids dug in and did all they could to make the Kibbutz prosper.  They had never farmed and yet, today you see the fruit of their labor.  Her husband managed the date tree farm over the fence from the Kibbutz (it is surrounded by a fence to keep away the wild animals, Yikes!) and she was the nurse who was responsible for all the children in the children's houses.  The Kibbutz is covered in beautiful vegetation and she lovingly showed us much of it.  Plants from literally every part of the world bloom and grow lushly here, and it is so picturesque.  But, truly, the most wonderful part of our tour this morning was Daniela herself when she said goodbye to us all.  She thanked us for coming, not for the tourism dollars we were spending here in Israel, but because she loved it here, too, and wanted us to love her homeland.

We all then hopped on our home away from home on wheels and drove a few miles to Ein Gedi, where David spared King Saul's life, but tailored his cloak in I Samuel 24 (a good story!).  We made a quick pass through this place and a few of us jogged a way from the group for a minute because we spied a pretty waterfall.  After only being here for two days, it is obvious why water is such a treasure in the desert.  We feel it's lack in our own throats and on our skin, too, that's why our bus driver's little side business of selling us water bottles is booming!

It is not known, of course, which cave David hid in, but there are many to choose from.

We spent the lion's share of our day at Masada (I highly recommend you read about the history of Masada ...google it) where we got an eyeful of an unbelievable high mountain fortress that is truly indescribable in beauty, but impossible to photograph well because of the haze.  Masada was the busiest tourist spot we've been to since we got here, mostly full of school field trips but also so many others from around the world. The fortress was destroyed in the 4th century AD, but was built in the 1st.  It is a true testament to the resilience of the people who lived there high high atop this desert mountain, it is truly a wonder.  We took a gondola ride up to the top (and it was high and it was a little scary for a few of us) and then everyone but me took the gondola ride down...I decided to hoof it.

The best part of Masada was not only seeing the vast area of structures, but also hearing Gershon tell us passionately the story of the people who ingeniously flourished on this high mountain range, defying all odds, they created 1 million gallon cisterns to hold precious water to sustain them, a system of maintaining and storing food for the community, plus several palaces...all and everything about Masada was meticulously catalogued by Josephus Flavius and verified to the detail in the discovery of Masada in the 1840's up to the complete excavation of the 1960's.  It is remarkable and also beloved of the Israeli people today as a symbol of resilience.

The group sits at Masada while Gershon tells us the amazing story of this place.

Doorway into a home in the wall of Masada

our new friends

Of course, we needed to end the day with another bonding experience!  It wouldn't be right to end it any other way and finally, we got to meet our camel friends and their Bedouin owners.  We were whisked by bus about an hour away to a bedoin tent area reserved for tourists just like us who want to be able to say that they have accomplished their long desired goal of riding a camel.  Well, I can proudly say, I am now a part of that population who can claim that distinction, even if it was only a ride up a small hill and back (and that was enough!), the goal has been met!  No one was spit upon and no one fell off, thank goodness, and the Bedouin guides put up nicely with our silliness.  It was lots of fun.  After our ride, we were taken to a tent and served a dinner similar to all the other meals we have eaten so far, but pretty good, just the same.  Our Bedouin friend, Mohammed, had a good sense of humor and kept telling us that he had three wives and was currently on the lookout for wife #4.  No one from our group jumped at the offer, probably because the coffee wasn't so good.  Not sure.

Rice, lamb, veggies and chickpeas for dinner

Tomorrow we head to Jerusalem where we will stay until it is time to head out.  Off to bed for now.

Bet She'an, Qumran, and Live! from the Dead Sea

Sign of the Byzantine Cross at Bet She'an

We had to get up and at 'em earlier today to hit the road because we had a lot of ground to cover.  I am finally sleeping through the night, at least last night I slept great from midnight until 6 am, so I felt pretty refreshed getting up and pretty psyched that I might be past the jet lag stage.

After our usual breakfast fare we gathered up our luggage and loaded the bus and left the Galilee area.   We really spent most of the day driving and stopped only to visit two sites, and because they are not considered to be sacred locations, we could even wear shorts, which was nice because it was finally a really warm day.

Here is our trusty bus driver, Motti.  He is great, and I am glad today for Dramamine on our curvy descent to the Dead Sea area!

Sidenote:  Have I told you about the food here?  I might have already, but here's a rehash.  No salad bar in all of the United States has anything on the array of salads that are the mainstay of every single hotel buffet we have eaten since we got here.  At both breakfast and dinner are bowls and bowls of bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, different greens, onions, pickled beets, pickled turnips and radishes.  Every. single. meal.  There are also several mixed vegetable salads, hummus, and eggplant.  What about fruit?  There is always a bowl of cut up apples in some kind of syrup and sometimes there are canned peaches, grapefruit and pears.  For breakfast, there is yogurt (Yoplait, but a 3% version) and some breads, while dinner has some hot dishes which always include a fish entree, some kind of meat and surprisingly, there is usually spaghetti and marinara (probably they think everyone in the world likes that).  I have had some of the yummiest salads I have ever eaten, but I do miss fruit.  Today at lunch, I bought three oranges for a dollar and they were heavenly.  So that's the food recap for those who are interested.

Back to our adventure:

Columns at the front of the amphitheater

We made our way south to Bet She'an, which is where King Saul's and his sons' headless bodies were hung from the walls after they had been defeated by the Philistines.  (From I Samuel 31).  I have to say, this was the most dramatic site we have seen in terms of the scale of excavation and volume of what has been discovered.  Excavation began, according to Gershon, at  this site in 1987 and still continues today.  Without being too dramatic, I have to say, it was really thrilling to see what they had uncovered there.  Hundreds of columns, a huge amphitheater, a long promenade with intact mosaic and the stones still in the main street, shops that lined both sides of the promenade and the list goes on.  Apparently, Jesus Christ Superstar was filmed at this location.  I had promised myself yesterday that I would slow down on the photos, but I couldn't help myself here.  The city as it has been excavated is from the Byzantine era, and you can see crosses in the mosaics which identify this period.  We walked around here for quite a while, so much to take in.  The city was destroyed by earthquake in 748 AD.

Beautiful relief from Bet She'an

The cave to my right, just above my elbow, I believe is Cave #4

We packed into the bus again for our longer drive south along the Jordan river in order to get to Qumran.  On the way, we had to pass through Palestinian territory (the West Bank) and while the highway itself is actually governed by Israel, it runs through Palestine.  There were razor wire fences off the east side of the highway but other than that, it looked just like a regular highway.  One thing that did look different though was that shortly we were beginning to see the end of the green lush vegetation.  And, finally, we entered into what I have always imagined Israel to look like as we drove south to En Gedi.  Fields and flowers faded to a dull tan.  The landscape reminds me of the Badlands in South Dakota.  Miles and miles of rocky sand.  Not only were we driving through a new terrain, we also were descending slowly to the lowest point on earth...the Dead Sea.  But first, we arrived at Qumran, where we learned about, but did not see, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and walked around the site looking at the caves and learning about the Essenes who lived there in the first century.

The real high/lowpoint of the day was the Dead Sea.  It was the high point because it was the low point.  My friend, Terri, is the originator of my most often quoted saying and that is, "If it is not a good time, it's a good story!"  Well, we had a great example of that profound truth today.  We all were excited for our Dead Sea float, I mean can you come to Israel and not float in the Dead Sea?  I think not!  I should have picked up on the fact that the couple of group members who had been here before politely bowed out of this experience, that should have been my first clue.  But, blindly we went laughing into the Sea and blindly we returned...with salt in our burning eyes.  The salt in the eyes was only part of the problem, especially for me, who did not bring flip flops and thus had to walk on about 5,000 jagged salt crystals that covered the beach and bottom of the sea.  When you walk on jagged salt crystals, someone is bound to get a jagged cut, which is then "cleansed" by the saline water (9X's the concentration of the ocean), and that smarts!  But, not only was it rocky, burning, salty water, the air temperature couldn't have been much above 60.  After 15 minutes of floating fun (and it was fun), the "life guard" (not sure what he was there for except perhaps to guide people blinded by salt water to a cold shower to clean out the eyes) announced the last shuttle was leaving for the day and we all needed to be on it.  So, cold and wet and eyes burning, oh, and, skin now covered in a thin layer of white salt, we rode up to the mud pits where we smeared dead sea mud and had a few laughs, washed that off and then headed up to the sulfur hot tubs.  All in all, we laughed pretty hard and it was a great bonding experience...and I'll probably check that off my list and go on my merry way.  If I ever return, I will be the one demurely declining the invitation to float.

Dead Sea Survivors

It's been a pretty good day.

No Shorts

No Shorts at Holy Places

 Today we woke up and due to a fortunate change of itinerary, started rather than ended our day on the Sea of Galilee.  Floating on the large lake surrounded by the hills of Galilee it was not hard to calm our minds and reflect on the significance of this place.  I know for me, I was thinking about John 21, when Jesus invited his disciples after his resurrection to "come and eat."

Floating on Galilee

As you float on the Sea of Galilee you can look up and see many churches dedicated to Biblical sites:  the church on the Mt. of the Beatitudes, the spot also where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, where he fed his disciples (as I mentioned above), and so on.  A large portion of the three years of Jesus' ministry was in the locality of Galilee.  And, while it is not so big, it holds quite a bit of history and is pastoral and beautiful.

a communion table at Tabha

The Church at the Mt. of the Beatitudes

We then began our day in earnest all around the Sea of Galilee.  But first, Gershon shared his story of life on the Kibbutz (we are staying on a Kibbutz right now).  The Kibbutz offered community for the Jews returning to Israel and provided the structure around which they rebuilt the land.  Everyone had jobs and everything was communally shared, Gershon talked about what they lost when the Kibbutz system broke down (there are only a few left from the upwards of 200 there were in the early days) in telling a story about a time when Frank Sinatra visited his Kibbutz one day and Gershon was with Mr. Sinatra when he asked to see Ben Gurion (look him up if you don't know him) and they went to find him at his home, he wasn't there, his wife said to go to the dining hall, and he wasn't there, but they were told he was in the kitchen and they found this leader of Israel at the time in the kitchen performing his Kibbutz duty of washing dishes.  The sense of everyone responsible for the whole and everyone sacrificing for the ideals of the country was the grease that made the machine function.  When it was lost, a lot of the hope for the country's future was tested.

What has struck me the most is something that has surprised me, and it is not always the holy sites, but rather the cacophony of people of different cultures and faiths that this small place holds.  Both pilgrims and residents are as varied as any melting pot could ever hold.  The history of this place up to this very day is awesome to consider.  I think I may have seen someone from every part of the globe in our three days here, and just like the colorful food, you can imagine how colorful all the sounds and sights are.  It is humbling to be here far from my little bubble of a world back home and realize what a small dot I inhabit.

Every square inch of this place seems to have historical significance.  I suppose you could spend a lifetime  here looking at every little nook and cranny and not take it all in.  I can't believe how many buildings/ruins we fly by on our tour bus that must be ages old, but aren't even mentioned by a sign or marker.  It is endless.

Capernaum

Speaking of ruins, we went to Capernaum, which is the site where Jesus lived for a time, where he healed  Centurion's servant and Peter's mother-in-law, and we saw the ruins of a synagogue and the ruins as well of Peter's house.  Which was  discovered to be Peter's house by the graffiti on the wall.  The amazing thing was that they had built a visitor's center over the house (obviously not knowing it was there) and later it was discovered.  After they had built the visitor's center...so now you walk and look under the visitor's center to see the house.  We walked around and saw the many carved columns and ruins of small houses that were part of Capernaum from the time of the early church.  It had been destroyed by an earthquake.  The ruins are beautiful, the carvings are full of wheat, barley, pomegranates, grapes, dates, and olives which are symbols of the blessed fruits of the Jews.  Anyway, I only mention all this because the carvings are still very vibrant and one can only imagine how beautiful it must have been in the 1st century.

We then visited Tabha where there is a small church dedicated to Peter's commissioning and it was right on the shores of Galilee so that we could wander along the shore taking it all in.

the fish we ate, so good

The last thing I will share is our lunch in Tiberius.  We drove down late in the afternoon and stopped in this Galilean town to eat together at a small restaurant on the banks of Galilee and were offered St. Peter's fish for our lunch if we chose.  It was delicious, a whole fish (head to tail!) which we had to gingerly eat to avoid the bones...it might have been best if there had been a iPad tutorial or something to teach us all how to attack the fish (we were hungry!).  It was fun to sit and digest our food and digest our day together.  I am enjoying so much all the women in the group, it is a little like we are at camp together and the memories we are making are great.

Tomorrow we will head down to the Dead Sea area and the rumor is that there will be camels.   The adventure continues.  

Caesarea, Mt. Carmel, Nazareth, Cana and Megiddo

I will try to think of a snappier title, but currently my brain has reached max capacity with all the info that was shoved into it today.  We made a whirlwind tour of Israel, and yes, there are many things left to see, but we sure packed in a lot today.

We were awoken at 6:30 am, after my solid two hours of sleep but I did shoot out of bed because Gershon had warned us "strongly" that we needed to be at the breakfast table by 7 and the bus all packed up by 8 am in order to make our full schedule.  I am a rule follower so I followed.  Breakfast was an eating adventure:  fish, yogurt, sweet breads, salads, cereal and milk...no coffee.  There's really not a lot to say about it, this is not a gourmet galavant.

Caesarea Ampitheater

We got on the bus and headed to Caesarea which is further north yet still on the Mediterranean and is the location in Acts 10 where Peter meets Cornelius and introduces him to the gospel.  The amphitheater there is from the first century AD and was built by Herod the Great.  It was interesting walking around all of the area and seeing sculpture, sarcophagi and mosaic from 2,000 years ago...mind blowing.  Herod's palace was built right on the shoreline and included a pool.  It was here that one of the many fascinating facts I have learned from Jeff was confirmed:  we stood in the vomitorium, which is the area that the people flooded out of the amphitheatre with such force.  Hence, we vomit today instead of exit when we get the stomach flu.  Although, we probably do both.

a foot that makes me look even shorter:  Caesarea

At the aqueduct and part of our group on our way to Mt. Carmel

From Caesarea we went up high to Mt. Carmel and read I Kings 18.  This is the area that Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to rain down fire on the altar.  It has a beautiful monastery on the top Mt. Carmel and from this vantage point you overlook Megiddo (Armageddon) and can see clearly to Jordan and Syria.  Israel is only 350ish miles north to south and at its widest point is only 56 miles wide.  So, from Carmel it is a beautiful vantage point over Northern Israel.  It has rained here for the first time in 6 years (not just while we've been here) so the valley of Meggido is so green and lovely.  I have to admit, I envisioned a dry barren land, and perhaps we will encounter that later on, but so far, it is lovely.

A stone sculpture at Mt. Carmel Monastery

We went to Megiddo next and that was really my favorite spot.  The ruins there are amazing.  An archaeologist named Schumacher (Clark may be related!), dug here in the 1930s (?? I'll have to check that) and the Northern Palace of King Solomon was uncovered.  It is really a remarkable place with the highlight being the amazing tunnel that was ingeniously built 3000 years ago without obviously any technology at all leading directly to the only available well.  Since the tunnel is underground, it was protected from being captured by any enemies and therefore protected the city which drew its water.  We went down down down 187 steps and through a long tunnel and to the well, still there with clear water that has been bubbling up since the beginning of time.

We went to lunch at a small roadside cafe and had falafel and salad and it was a riot of color, that's the only way I can describe it.

a colorful salad and my roommate's diet coke

Next, we drove to Nazareth, which was a quick stop only to see a Greek Orthodox church in the old part of the city.  There was a beautiful baby girl being baptized at the church when we entered and the family turned and looked at us not with disdain which is what I would expect from a family who had been interrupted by 33 women walking through, but rather with joy written all over their faces.  They seemed happy to see us as we gaped.  We didn't stay long in the city, but it is built up into a hill and the buildings are all white/creme and crowded closely together in a mishmash that makes little sense to me.

In the old portion of Nazareth on our way to the Greek Orthodox church

The happy baby and family in church

Finally, we went to Cana and saw a church dedicated to the location where in John 2 Jesus turned water into wine.  You can imagine what a popular wedding spot it is and we stumbled upon a group of Ethiopians who were baptizing a child there.  Inside the church dedicated to the location, there is an excavation of another church from the time of Jesus, which had suffered destruction by earthquake (we are on the 2nd largest fault line in the world, apparently).

Our minds were stuffed to the brink of being permanently broken so thankfully, we then headed up to the Sea of Galilee to settle into our Kibbutz Resort for the night, it is beautiful here, overlooking the Sea of Galilee and we will spend the day tomorrow in this vicinity.

I am tired and have a lot to try to download in my brain, I look forward to hopefully a better night's sleep tonight.

What do things look like here

Well, so far, in the few daylight hours that I have been here, which is only about 4, I have seen a small part of Tel Aviv (the few blocks around the hotel) and Jaffa. Jaffa is quite old and overlooks the Mediterranean which today is whipped up into a frenzy and helps me to understand what prompted the sailors to throw Jonah overboard. Which is apropos, because there is Jonah fountain in Jaffa which our tour guide pointed out to us but neglected to tell us where in the world he was talking about and so only a few women even saw the fountain, and, I wasn't one of them. Anyway, in Jaffa Jews, Muslims and Christians coexist and because it was a way station over the centuries it has crumbling buildings which cannot be altered externally, but can be remodeled to suit any one on the interior so it is a juxtaposition, what I saw anyway. The landscape there is browns and tans which set off the Sea in the distance. I didn't get to walk around there at all, so it is hard to describe. Tel Aviv, on the other hand, which butts up right next to Jaffa is 100% Israeli, in the words of Gershon. The buildings are not lovely to look at and it seems like a city built in the 1960's sort of reminiscent to me of the buildings at the University of Wisconsin-Madison...not the pretty ones. There are, of course, palm trees every where. And when we walked down by the sea, and saw the waves crashing up way over the railings, it was beautiful and we could taste the salt of the water in the air. I will post the itinerary on a day to day basis, because it will be easier that way. It is 1 am here, and sadly, I can't sleep, but I am keeping my roommate up by my tapping on the keys. I will try to put photos up but am having trouble, so I'll keep working on it. We have to meet the bus downstairs at 6:45am and then have breakfast so we can hit the road by 8am. I better go..

Welcome Home try number 3

Our tour guide, Gershon, who is a Chilean non-observant Jew greeted by saying "Welcome home,"as we got settled on the bus today after a day and a half of travel. And then he told us his story of how he left Chile against his parents' wishes at the age of thirteen and his school teacher in Israel renamed him Gershon, which means exile. It really hasn't sunk in yet where I am but home sure sounds nice.

 Our plane ride was somewhat uneventful (only one person lost their passport and will be here tomorrow) and I found again what I usually do when traveling: It is less about the stuff you see when you travel and more about the people you meet. I often contemplate not talking at all to the person sitting next to me on the plane (like I did on the MSP to JFK leg of our journey), but the woman sitting next to me was reading the same book as me (!ikr?!), The Source, by Michener, and of course, we had to talk. She was traveling for the first time to Israel with her mom and daughter just "to look around" for 10 days, because it was something her mom wanted to do. She is an speech therapist who just came back a couple of months ago from SouthEast Asia where she worked with kids recovering from cleft palate repair surgery...so interesting. The couple behind me were from Texas but the wife had grown up in Israel and they had a granddaughter at Harvard and a son who spoke a million languages...or something like that.

 When we got to Tel Aviv, Gershon showed us around Jaffa and Tel Aviv and explained the historical significance of each place (Jaffa was a way station on the way to/from Egypt for centuries and Tel Aviv has no historical significance, and they want it that way, apparently as they wanted to create a new city).

Jaffa/Joppa

 The architecture looks in Jaffa to be hundreds of years old and the architecture in Tel Aviv is very industrial and looks sturdy for obvious reasons. The two cities but up right next to each other and the Mediterranean is the back drop to both. I am currently in our hotel two blocks from the Mediterranean.

Tel Aviv out our window, the Mediterranean in the background

 Woah. I had promised myself that when I got to Israel I would try to stay up the first night as late as I could and so when my roommate Julie, told me she was going on a walk, I joined her and we walked a bit around the city in hurricane force wind, down by the Sea and met up with Judy, another woman on the trip and we all went to a little cafe down the street and had a perfect cappuccino and I got to hear their stories of their many trips around the world which is sort of making me feel like my life pales in comparison but is really good because it makes me LISTEN MORE AND TALK LESS, which is my goal in life and so far on this trip has resulted in significantly interesting conversations. Tomorrow will be a big day with lots of cities to visit and more stories to hear. I will post more then, and post pictures, too.

In Tel Aviv

Sunset over the Mediterranean in Tel Aviv