Weather: Arrival in Tel Aviv at 11:10pm local time, weather was around 60-ish degrees.
After leaving LAX on Friday at 3:30pm, we had a 6 hour layover in Paris. The flight to Paris was 10+ hours so we were definitely ready to crash. Paris has an ‘in airport terminal’ hotel where they rent rooms by the hour. It’s the smallest room ever, but also has a shower and a bathroom. The square footage is no bigger than a train sleeping cabin. Regardless, after sitting up for 10+ hours – the ability lay flat was a welcome relief. We were able to sleep 4.5 hours in that little shoe box. When I laid down I had a memory of sleeping in my grandpa’s camper when I was 4. The kind of old school ‘camper’ that attached to a truck, where the bed was located like a shelf over the roof of the truck. It felt cramped like that, I said, ‘I feel like I’m camping.’ Amy laughed and said, ‘Yah, this is camping for us.’ LOL. No sooner did we lay down than the alarm went off (it felt like that at least) and we headed back down the terminal to catch our flight to Tel Aviv.
The flight to Tel Aviv was 4 hours 10 minutes, it felt long. When you are ready to be somewhere and have been up all night, you just want to land!
Finally, we landed at 11:10pm local time. A driver met us and ushered us into a Mercedes Benz Israel Welcome Van. He was and older gentleman but he drove speedily. It was about a 35+ minute drive into Jerusalem, and he whipped around corners and drove quickly over dips in the road. I laughed when I saw a ‘Hawaii Tours’ huge tour van along side us. I thought, ‘Huh, I wonder how that works, or how that van got here?’ He finally slowed down as we approached the Old City and the Jaffa Gate.
It was well past midnight as we slowed down near Jerusalem and it was fascinating to see so many Hasidic Jews walking around with their families, pushing strollers, or 20’somethings rolling bags behind them. We thought maybe there was a University nearby that just let out. From what our driver told us, yes this was true and the Sabbath had ended this evening, so it is typical to see a lot of activity on the streets late at night.
Once inside the Jaffa Gate, we pulled up to our accommodations. It is a historic site built in the 19th Century and is a CMJ Guest House/Bed & Breakfast. It is also built on the site considered to be King Herod’s Palace in the time of Jesus (which would have been where his trial had taken place). It was also the home of the British Embassy in Jerusalem at one time. A night ‘watchman’ opens the gate for us and carries our bags up the 3 flights of stairs. He takes us down the corridor to our room, the first room to the left at the top of the stairs down an echoey hallway. Never a good location as you’ll have all the noises of people coming and going. We both give each other a quick nod and a knowing look of ‘we’ll need to see about switching our location.’
He opens the door, and the room is spartan with two tiny twin beds on each wall. The bathroom is just as basic with no place anywhere for ‘girly’ things that you typically need to store all over your bathroom and room. Let’s face it, girls have lots of potions and lotions going on in the morning and at night. So two girls in one bathroom need a bit more space. But it was not to be.
The room was also chilled, we asked the night watchman, ‘how do we turn on the heat?’ He said, ‘You want the heat on?’ as he stood there in his big puffy jacket. I’m say, ‘Um, yah, we want the heat on.’ So he shows us how and leaves. He was super nice and the room was very clean, so it was just the spartan essence and chill that was putting us in a little bit of discomfort.
We then started the dance around each other in tight quarters as we tried to find a place for our bags and felt hesitant to fully unpack as we both imagine we will be switching rooms the next day and asking for something at the end of the hallway before the rest of the group arrives the next evening. The night watchman had let me know he couldn’t switch us that night, but we’d need to ask in the morning about the change.
By now we are both overly exhausted, I decide I just need to crash, so I go wash my face and brush my teeth and the sink is totally plugged. I close my eyes and think, ‘Ugh, where am I?’ I finish getting ready for bed and give Amy the bathroom. She wanted to shower. I hear the water running and running and then a ‘Ack, the water won’t get hot, the tank must be empty for the night.’ So she also resigns herself to just a face wash and a brushing of the teeth. That’s about all we were both prepared to tough out with only cold water.
We both lay in our twin nun beds exhausted and a little cold. I decide to get a big furry blanket out of the cupboard for extra warmth for myself. In a few minutes the blanket makes me start coughing, again I think, ‘Ugh, where am I? Has a cat been on this blanket?’ Amy says, ‘I’ll take the blanket, my feet are cold.’ So I throw it over to her.
About 30 minutes later we are both still tossing and turning, ‘Can you sleep?’ ‘No, can you? It is so maddening when you are exhausted but can’t sleep. ‘Should we take a Z-quil?’ We finally both decide to get up and take a sleep aid and yes, finally sleep comes.