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Weather: A little cooler and higher elevations (Mount Carmel)- low 60’s, time to bust out the Patagonia Jacket.

Today was going to be a long bus day as we would be traveling West through Megiddo (one of King Solomon’s cities), up to Haifa on the coast, and then down the coast to Caesarea Maritima, and then further down to Tel Aviv. About 3+ hours travel in all, not including stops along the way.

We decided to sit more strategically near the front of the bus. I left our room a little early, grabbed some hard boiled eggs to go and headed over to the bus to snag our seats. I picked the 2nd row on the left side. Perfect! We were right behind Joanne and right in front of Michele (our two new friends). It was a lot more fun to sit up close to chat with the girls, and it was better for Amy (motion-wise).

Our first stop was Haifa which was built on the slopes of Mount Carmel with a history of settlements spanning 3,000 years. It is the 3rd largest City in Israel, behind Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. We visited a Sunday service at Zion House of Prayer – a church of Russian Messianic Jews. After the service, they fed us a church lunch out on their back patio. It was so sweet and you could tell it was their best effort. It was a beef stew with rice and other side dishes. I was just happy it wasn’t going to be another shawarma to go.

From there we went to Mount Carmel which has a spectacular view over the North of Israel, and it was near the spot where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal and called down fire from heaven. Our guide, Elin, was doing a whole teaching on it as we stood their at the top of the mountain, looking over the plain of Megiddo and reading the passages in 1 Kings 18:19-46. Again, it was so hard to connect with what she was saying and follow her with the reading. We mostly just looked around, remembering the story for ourselves, and then posed for fun pictures on the top of the mountain.

I was also thinking about the story in the book of Kings, where Elisha travelled to Carmel straight after cursing a group of young boys because they had mocked him and the ascension of Elijah by jeering, “Go on up, bald man!” After this, bears came out of the forest and mauled 42 of the boys. Yikes! I always used to giggle reading that story, but then would sober up when the bear came out.

The drive up and down through Mount Carmel was beautiful and had so much lush greenery, it was really such a beautiful time of year to be visiting this area. I had so much appreciation for how green everything was and was glad we were closer to the front of the bus as we could see more being closer to the front window. I also had a straight line vision to Elin. I stared at her a lot as we drove around trying to figure her out.

From Mount Carmel, we drove to Caesarea Maritima. It was later in the afternoon when we arrived, around 3:45pm. Our tour guide was all feeling stressed here as another group was giving a concert that night, so really she was trying to get us into this 10-minute movie to explain the significance of the site to us and then we would only have about 15-20 minutes to walk around the ruins.  After the long bus ride, to not have long at this site because of another concert seemed disappointing. But what could we do? We made the best of it and saw as much as we could.

Caesarea Maritima was built by Herod the Great as a magnificent harbor to befit his kingdom. It was a 40-acre harbor that could fit 300 ships. Herod the Great also constructed a theater with a seating capacity of 3,500.  According to Josephus, this is where the death of Herod Agrippa occurred, as recounted in Acts 12.  The theater was covered with a skin covering (vellum), and visitors probably brought cushions with them to soften the stone seats.

Josephus called this a “most magnificent palace” that Herod the Great built on a promontory jutting out into the waters of Caesarea.  The pool in the center was nearly Olympic in size, and was filled with fresh water.  A statue once stood in the center.  Paul may have also been imprisoned on the grounds of this palace (Acts 23:35).

The city of Caesarea was one of the most important cities in Israel during the time of Christ and during the first few centuries of the early church:
A.  Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, lived here (Acts 10:1).
B.  Philip the evangelist made his home here (Acts 8:40).
C.  Herod Agrippa I was smitten by an angel of the Lord here (Acts 12:21–23).
D. The apostle Paul visited Caesarea on many occasions.

On our way out, the guards started ushering us quickly and Elin was all in a hurry to the bus. Amy had to go to the bathroom and let Elin know. Elin responded, ‘Well, you should have gone to the bathroom earlier. I said you can go see the ruins or go to the bathroom.’ I was thinking, what? That should never be a choice after an 3+ hour drive and limited time. And this is another reason I am just not drinking a lot of water. Who wants to choose between using the bathroom or seeing the site you traveled thousands of miles to see?

Well, Amy went anyway as it was chaos with all of the other tour buses coming in for the concert and our group trying to find our bus in the sea of buses. I’m glad she just went! It wasn’t the end of the world and she wasn’t the last person back on the bus anyway, as it wasn’t easy to find our bus in at the chaos.

After that, we headed toward Tel Aviv, our final stop for the night and our last hotel of the tour. Along the way we stopped at a hotel off of the highway. This is where Amy’s jacket was supposed to be (the one she left behind in Jerusalem). First Elin gets off of the bus and goes inside and comes back with a grey windbreaker. We are like, ‘Um, no, that isn’t her black Patagonia jacket.’ So Amy gets off the bus and goes in with her, after about 10 minutes, they both come out with Amy’s jacket. I guess it was behind the counter in a paper bag and the person on duty didn’t know where it was so there was a lot of ‘looking around’ before they found it. Regardless, Amy was THRILLED to be reunited with her jacket just.

About 30 minutes later, we arrived in the bustling Mediterranean City of Tel Aviv. Our tour bus driver Bashara was a ‘boss’ with the bus. I could not believe the areas he had maneuvered in and out of on our tour.  Including this night when he, I kid you not, parallel parked our bus on a tiny street with cars coming in both directions. We all clapped and then piled out of the bus after that amazing feat.

The hotel lobby looked much nicer than the other hotels we had stayed at to date. We were hopeful for a nice comfortable room with flushable toilets. We received our key soon enough and took the elevator up to our room. We were thrilled with these new accommodations in a much more modern hotel. It was fitting that they saved the best for last.

After we got settled we went down for dinner to the buffet in the restaurant. They had decent offerings, and again it was nice to have a new selection of food and not have to think about planning meals. I wouldn’t say anything we had eaten to date was spectacular, but there was always a nice variety, it was seasoned well, and it always kept us going.

After dinner, the owner of the hotel Yakov Damkani, would be speaking to our group downstairs. Apparently, he is kind of a big deal in Israel and has had movies made about his life because it is so remarkable. He was an interesting man and it was nice to have the opportunity to hear from him. But really, by then, I was so tired. The kind of tired that you can’t keep still or you will fall asleep. I finally had to get up and walk around the back. I didn’t want to be rude and just leave, but it had been a long day. Finally, he wrapped it up and we were released for bed.

I took the deluxe shower first. It felt amazing to take a long hot shower and flush the toilet including toilet paper. I felt like a queen. I still managed to get water all over the bathroom floor – it had a weird door that was hard to shut. Or that is what I claimed. Of course, when Amy took her shower, she had no such problems.

We both quickly got ready for bed and fell asleep easily in our new accommodations. It was bitter sweet to think that tomorrow was our last full day, we were getting more and more attached to our new friends on the tour. Just when you feel like you are getting to know them, you feel like it is almost time to say goodbye.

Weather: Galilee region is cooler, high 60’s, puffy clouds – very spring like.

Despite all of the trauma of bathroom with the toilet paper situation and the felt starkness of this new location we had the best night of sleep of our trip so far. The beds were comfortable, and the room was more quiet than our last place because the door was more solid and we weren’t hearing doors slam in the morning like the last place as soon as the first person was up and out. This place and the last one reminded me of what Rick Steve’s recommends – find a very basic place, that is clean, you can sleep well, but where you wouldn’t want to hang out all day, because you should be motivated to get up and out for the day. We were definitely motivated!

As the trip progresses, I am less and less the early bird at the breakfast and now just showing up in time to see what I can grab ‘to go.’ Resting in the morning is more of a priority now that I’m not up at 4am and finally feeling like I am in the right time zone. I think ‘grounding our feet’ in the grass the night before really helped. I head to the dining area and scan the options. I pick out just a few things to-go and head to the bus which is waiting for our group out front.

Our first stop today was Nazareth. On the bus drive there from Galilee, we traveled through beautiful hills and scenery. Again, we were half-paying attention and half-awake. We hear the tour guide say something like, ‘…passing through Cana…’ Amy and I both perk up and she says to me, ‘I guess we should pay attention.’ We both laugh. Cana is the location of Jesus’ first recorded miracle where he changed water into high quality wine at a wedding. Being a wine lover myself, I love to think about this story. We don’t stop, but drive through. In reality, there are about five nearby areas that could have been the location of the biblical Cana, so it was probably best.

Nazareth

We arrive in Nazareth – which was thrilling on many levels. To think that this was the region where Jesus grew up was a sight to see. Even though it looks nothing like it would have in that time, it is still a thrill to stand in this part of the world and look up at the sky, see the hills, understand the length of time it takes to get here from Galilee, imagining him walking and journeying back and forth. There are all kinds of thoughts flooding your imagination as you go from site to site. Modern day Nazareth is considered the Arab capital of Israel and there is very little Christian faith in Nazareth.

Our guide reminded us about Mark 6:4-5 where Jesus affirmed that a prophet is without honor in his home town, and in view of that reality, He could not perform any miracles in Nazareth except for healing a few sick people. Back in bible times, the people of Nazareth were plagued by unbelief and paid little attention to the claims of Jesus. Our guide said, it is the same to this day in this town with little belief in Jesus or Christianity. I often have quoted this verse in my life in jest and when feeling like my people don’t get me, I’ll say, ‘Well, a prophet is without honor in his home town.’ Not to say that I am a prophet, but more to say, people who you grew up with or that know you best sometimes are the least to believe that you are capable of something great or beyond the box they have put you in. It was the same for Jesus.

Adventures at Lunch

After our time in Nazareth we were now headed to Capernaum, which is a fishing village on the northern shore of Galilee. It was near lunch, so we were all kind of hungry. All of a sudden our tour guide, Elin, gets on the bus mic and blurts out ‘Hey, we are stopping for lunch at a road side place and you have 3 choices, I’m going to call in our order in advance, so I need you to decide right now what you want.’ I’m envisioning a big falafel ‘in and out burger’ style palace, where our bus pulls up and they have our orders ready ‘to go’ at a big bus, to go window. We are all taking turns raising our hands on the selection we want, this all goes very fast. Amy looks startled, she is one that needs to take time with her decisions and weigh the options. This feels abrupt and all out of the blue for her. I say, ‘Hey, you didn’t raise your hand. You may not get lunch. We need to go tell Elin.’ She responds, ‘I know, it is all too fast, I don’t even know what a Shawarma is, nor the other meats she called out.  I need more time to think.’ We can see Elin up at the front of the bus already calling in our ‘to go’ order. We decide we’ll just see what happens when we get there, there has to be some accommodation and margin for error, right?

We pull up to this crazy road side joint with picnic tables outside and several of tour buses lined up. This must definitely be a ‘thing’ in this area and they are used to working with tour groups and getting you in and out of there quickly. We pull up and are told to exit the bus and we are ushered over to the picnic tables and told on the way to pick a drink out of the fridge. Soon enough a lady comes out with a big tray of pre-wrapped pita Shawarmas, and we all raise our hands when our ‘meat’ type is called out. Amazingly, there are plenty selections and Amy gets exactly what she wants and now has had plenty of time to decide.  I appreciate how things always work out for her. We sit there at the picnic tables passing the few bottles of sauce up and down the table to juice up our pita lunches. They are a little dry without it, so the sauces are in high demand.

We are all required to pay for our lunches, so we head up to the cashier and now there are new options including espresso! Yes, please. I mostly don’t get coffee in the morning now because what is offered isn’t great and because I don’t really have time to sit there and enjoy it before we need to leave. I also decide to take a package of shortbread/chocolate cookies to go, on the shelf filed with impulse buy selection items. I can’t read the package, but the picture looks right. I think these will be the perfect treat to accompany my coffee and as an after-dry-pita-sandwhich chaser. Just like I thought, it was all very good and hit the spot.

Capernaum

Just as quickly as we arrived at the road side stop, we are loaded back up on the bus to head to Capernaum. This town was cited in all four gospels where it was reported to have been near the hometown of the apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John, as well as the tax collector of Matthew. Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and healed a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit, He healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, it is also the place where Jesus healed the servant of a Roman centurion who had asked for his help. Capernaum is the location of the healing of a paralytic lowered through the roof to reach Jesus, and where Jesus healed 10 men from leprosy. This town was the site of many miracles as Jesus selected this town as the center of his public ministry in Galilee after he left the small mountainous town of Nazareth. The Bible says Jesus ultimately cursed Capernaum with these words at Matthew 11:23 ‘”And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today.”

We spent some time looking at the archeological sites there – which were fascinating – the ruins of Peter’s house, ruins of a Roman period town, the Synagogue, and olive press from Roman times, among other things. Elin also had us sit down alongside the Synagogue ruins and gave us some more history. Again, I listened to her for about 5 minutes and then found myself distracted. I wish I connected more with her teaching style, but I really didn’t. I got up and started taking photos which was also a nice way to spend the time there.

Mount of Beatitudes

Next we headed to the Mount of Beatitudes which is a hill in northern Israel where Jesus is believed to have delivered the Sermon on the Mount. As you walk around the site, there are tiled plaques around that have different parts of the Beatitudes written. At first I didn’t see this and as we were walking towards the center Amy is saying different parts of it, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ I respond, ‘Yes, good.’ Then she keeps going and repeating phrases that are part of the Beatitudes, I am so impressed thinking she memorized the whole thing. Turns out when we are walking back down I see the plaques and say, ‘Cool, look at this plaques that show the Beatitudes.’ She said, ‘Yes, that is what I was reading on the way up,’ and she winks. LOL. I had no idea. There is a church at the center of the mountain that we checked out, but I preferred to be on the outside and enjoy the outdoors like it might have been in Bible times.

Jordan River

On to the Jordan River where people who wanted to, would have the opportunity for baptism in the River. Again, this is a well-orchestrated tourism hot spot where they run groups through the area in an efficient manner to have the opportunity to get dunked in the Jordan River. Many from our tour group wanted this opportunity – even though they were already baptized, they wanted an opportunity to recommit their lives to Jesus. Amy and I decided the water looked cold and we didn’t want to get our hair wet, besides we have already been baptized. Hey, just being real here! Ha, ha.

The pastor who baptized them asked before the went under if they would give a public testimony about their life in Christ and salvation. It was touching to hear their stories and I felt a heart of love for each one I heard testify. They all had to wear this thin white gown over their swimsuits, to keep everything modest and consistent. The thing is though, as soon as that gown got wet, everything underneath the gown was easily transparent and you could see everything, and I do mean everything. Unfortunately, the Canadian group near us didn’t get that message and didn’t wear anything under their white gowns. It was really awkward for them and for us. We just all politely averted our eyes and hoped they made it back to the dressing rooms quickly.

Dinner in Tiberius 

Another group from our church with several good friends were also touring Israel around the same time. They left a few days later and would return a few days after us. This night was the one night when our trips would intersect, so we made plans to meet them for dinner. Our big tour bus pulled up in front of their hotel and dropped us off a little after 5pm. We told our group goodbye and said we would Uber back to our hotel. It was only about a 15-minute drive away. We hadn’t been in contact with our friends all day as their bus’ wi-fi wasn’t working so we had no idea when they would return. We figured it wouldn’t be too long though and sure enough it wasn’t! They pulled up in their big tour bus in 20 minutes. It was such a fun reunion in the lobby and always thrilling when you see friends you know from home on the other side of the world.

Dinner was amazing and we shared a great bottle of Israeli wine and I had lamb. Probably the best seasoned and tasting lamb I have ever had. And it was the best to share experiences with our friends that we have had so far and hear what they had done. Terry and Shelly ended up surprising us and picking up the bill. There were about 9 of us, so that was super generous and a fun surprise and this dinner definitely was better than the buffet option back at the hotel.

Locked Out!

After some shuffle we get in a nice cab – I think it was a BMW, but the driver spoke no English and me saying the name of our hotel was not helping. I am sure I wasn’t saying it right. It took the hostess coming out of the restaurant and telling him and then we were on our way. Whenever we were in a cab in Israel, I always put our trip in Waze to make sure we were headed the right way. I don’t know what I would have done if we weren’t, but anyway it made me feel better.

He drops us off and we think we are at our hotel, maybe outside the gate. It is in a lakeside location and set off from the road, so it isn’t so easy to tell. We start walking and think, no wait, this is like a power plant, our hotel is a little further up the road. We run into two guys who are hunched over a stove and grilling something off the side of the road. Amy asks, ‘Are you guys staying at the hotel.’ I’m thinking obviously no, and please don’t engage these homeless looking guys when we are on a dark road and not in front of our hotel. They respond, ‘No, we are camping over there’ And they point off into the bushes. Hmmm. I just keep walking.

Less than 100 yards away we land in front of hotel and the big iron gates are locked. We can’t get on the grounds! It’s only like 8pm, so we are thinking. ‘What is up?’ We try pressing the buzzer. No answer. The gate is too tall to climb but then we think maybe Amy can fit through the slats of the iron gates, she is pretty thin. Part of me wants her to, and part of me doesn’t as I don’t want to sit outside for any amount of time on this dark road. She can’t fit through. Hmmm. I ended up texting our friend Joanne from the trip and tell her we are locked out. She responds right away and tells us she will make sure someone opens it for us.

As she is already in bed in her PJs, she asks Ray, another guy from the trip to go to the front desk and go get us. He does this for us and within minutes he is at the gate an it is opening. Yay. We are no longer locked out. By now we are thankful that we have exchanged numbers with a few folks on the trip and we are enjoying getting to know many of them. We ended up talking to Ray in the lobby hour for a good 45 minutes and hanging out. The crowds of the Shabbat Friday were now gone, so really our group felt like we had the place all to ourselves.

We didn’t let ourselves hang out too long though, tomorrow was another travel day and we needed to get packed up (again). We felt like we just did this! But I was happy to be leaving the ‘don’t flush the toilet paper’ in the toilet place, so I packed up quickly. Tomorrow we would be headed through the mountains and towards our final destination in Tel Aviv.

Weather: A beautiful morning, clear skies, puffy clouds mid-70’s in Jerusalem, a little cooler as we headed north to Galilee

The 6am wake-up this morning felt rough as we were both sleeping soundly when the alarm went off. We were now at the halfway point of the trip and except for our rest day on Thursday, we never felt like we had a minute to spare in the mornings. We always calculated the alarm time the night before to the last second that would allow us both time to shuffle around each other and get out of the door. Our usual pattern was me up and out first in order to make a portion of the breakfast time, and to also secure any whole pieces of fruit for Amy that were available in case she didn’t make it down before we had to go. She definitely prefers more rest than breakfast. I saw waffles on the menu a few times, so I preferred less rest and more breakfast. Ha, ha.

Soon enough we were on our way to the bus. I had envisioned us walking outside of the Guest House and boarding the bus. It was not to be as this was the morning of the marathon and all of the streets were blocked off. As such, we had to huff it with our backpacks and ‘waters’ through a good portion of Old Jerusalem. Upon reflection, it was actually a really nice way to leave the City. I would have hated to miss the atmosphere of the early crisp air and more quiet morning that walking afforded. Additionally, we would be on a bus ride for several hours on this day as we journeyed north through the Syrian African Rift Valley, so getting a walk in was good.

Our tour guide was talking through most of the trip and she was very knowledgable, but we would often tune her out and look at each other and say, ‘What is she saying?’ Then we would respond with ‘I have no idea.’ And we would both laugh. Regardless, we did get some education in passing from the Judean wilderness up into Galilee. There was also wi-fi on the bus, so that was another distraction competing for our guide’s attention as many of us would be on our phones and iPads getting caught up with posts or for me, blogging. I know it is ideal to totally unplug on trips, but you get caught in the tension of wanting to be fully present and at the same time share and connect with those back home through what you are able to post and share. We had such limited downtime, that a bus ride seemed like the right time for these activities.

About an hour into the ride Amy jumps up to look at her backpack and then sits down and puts her hand to her head. I’m thinking maybe she is feeling ill, and say, ‘Are you okay?’ She says, ‘No, I think my new Patagonia jacket fell from the outside of my backpack as we walked out of Jerusalem. I had fastened it to an outside clip and it must not have been tight enough.’ Oh no! I knew this was her new favorite jacket and while we hadn’t needed jackets yet, we knew we would this weekend as Galilee and the mountains we would be visiting would be colder. Ugh. We both sighed. I said I didn’t see it fastened to her backpack in any of the photos I took as we exited to Jerusalem with the group, maybe, just maybe it fell out while we were still waiting in the lobby of the guest house. I give her my phone to call the guest house, and we wait for them to go look as she patiently waits on hold. Bingo! It is there. Now the next challenge would be getting it to us on the trip, Amy asks if they can Fed Ex it, they say no, they don’t do that type of thing, As it turns out, Amy ended up working it out with our guide, who arranged for another tour group traveling up north after us, to drop it off at a hotel we could stop at when we were headed back down south via the coast in a few days. It sounded risky, but our guide was confident it would all work out and really we had no other options. We spent the next 15- minutes discussing options for her to wear on the boat ride we would be taking at sunset if it were cold. Between us, we had enough warm wear to cover it, so we weren’t too worried and she was super relieved that they had the jacket.

At one point we should have been listening better because our guide did tell us that we would be traveling through Jordan territory on our way to Galilee, and that there would be a checkpoint and armed guards would enter our bus. Somehow Amy and I missed all of that in the jacket drama we were trying to solve, so it was quite the experience when we stopped at the border and watched three armed guards walk through our bus. Understandably, there is so much security and precaution they take at every checkpoint. And, as odd as it is to see so many semi-automatic rifles on guards everywhere, you feel like they are ultimately looking out for everyone’s safety.

After the checkpoint, our guide announced that we would be stopping for the driver to get more waters. He had this ‘gig’ our whole trip that you could buy a bottle of cold water from him for 4 shekels or for 25 shekels, have unlimited water for the day.  4 shekels was about $1.15 US and 25 shekels was about $7.25 in US dollars. The math on shekels to dollars is 1 shekel = .29 cents US, so the conversion was never easy to do in your head and when you got presented with a bill for 200 for 2 people you had a heart attack until you realized it was really only about $58.00.

At the rest stop we were encouraged to go to the bathroom and buy snacks. I was eyeing all of the fun snacks and just then Amy said, ‘I wonder what you would buy if I weren’t standing here.’ We both laughed and Amy there or not, I felt freedom to try whatever I felt like that appealed to me as my snack. She picked out some nuts and I found a bag of what ‘looked like’ Doritos, but I couldn’t be sure as the writing was all in Hebrew. My curiosity got the best of me and I purchased the bag and also did an impulse buy of what turned out to be Israeli ‘Bazooka’ bubble gum. I was happy with my purchase of two comforts from home. Bazooka always reminds me of my dad when I was growing up. Whenever I visited him at his barber shop, I could have a piece of Bazooka gum, I found that to be an extreme treat that I always looked forward to on those trips to his barber shop.

We continued our journey north and were blown away at how beautiful and lush the scenery continued to get as we headed towards Galilee. Our guide let us know that they had recent rains that had made everything very green and we were also seeing spring flowers beginning to bloom, it felt like the perfect time to travel through this region. It wasn’t too long before we got our first views of the Sea of Galilee out of the right side of the bus (of course we were on the left). Thankfully though, our guide had us on a road that zigzagged so both sides of the bus were able to see views of this Sea. My whole life, I have heard about this Sea of Galilee from the Bible, what a treat to actually see it with my own eyes and imagine all of the stories that happened there. It was thrilling.

We next stopped in Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee for a late lunch, Glad I had that Doritos bag to tie me over until now. The setting was in a cool cave like ambiance and prior to arriving our guide told us we would have 3 options to order – grilled fish with the head in tact, fried fish, or lamb. The fish in this region is special – they called it Peter’s fish as it gets its popularity from the scriptures. It is the story of when Jesus told Peter to take the first fish he caught and pull out a four-drachma coin to pay the temple tax. It is believed that it was this type of fish that had the coin in it as it is a very common fish to the Sea of Galilee. It is Tilapia. As soon as we sat down the servers came over and served up hummus and pita bread and told us the same three choices. This was a model of efficiency, the way they were able to seat all of us at once and serve us our food so quickly. I ordered the lamb and Amy ordered the fish. We both loved our dishes, and tried each other’s – that was often a trick throughout the trip so that we could taste both dishes. We decided the reason I liked my lamb so much is that it tasted just like a delicious hamburger. It was ground up like hamburger, rolled a bit like a meatball and seasoned to perfection.

After our lunch we headed over to a museum near the port where we would be taking our sail on the Sea of Galilee. The most fascinating thing we saw at the museum was a recently discovered 2,000 year old boat. We watched a video of its discovery and how they were able to pull it from the water without it disintegrating. A sign near the boat reads: To whom did this boat belong? To Jesus and his disciples? To the fighters of the Migdal battle? To a fisherman from the Sea of Galilee? It was interesting to ponder each option as you looked at the boat.

After the museum we headed down to the docks for our boat ride. What a thrilling experience to sail on the Sea of Galilee. So many thoughts entered my mind as we moved along the sea. So many bible stories came to mind. I had many moments of such peace and awe to have this opportunity. Amy and I kept looking at each other speechless and in amazement as if to say, ‘Pinch us, we must be dreaming!’ This was one of my favorite experiences of the trip to be on the Sea of Galilee and get a sense of the size and to understand when you are standing on one shore you can see easily over to the shore on the other side. So when you read bible stories, where it says, ‘And Jesus said, let’s go over to the other side,’ I have a visual that will never leave my mind.

We all boarded the bus after our time on the boat and were headed for our next accommodations, I was hopeful as we saw the building in view and along the north shore of the Sea. It looked like more of a hotel that had more sound proof doors, and hopefully plenty of hot water for showers. While not the most modern building, it also wasn’t ancient and I tried not to read into seeing signs that said ‘hostel’ here and there thinking ‘please don’t let this be a youth hostel.’ When I had researched the place in advance, they had marketed themselves online as a Guest House on the bank of the Sea of Galilee. It was said to have been built around a beautiful inner courtyard surrounded with palm trees, lawns and magical views of the sea and mountains. As I am on a tour and not making the selection on accommodations, I just have to trust the description, let expectations go, and hope for the best.

They efficiently get us our room keys and we head to our room. The first thing I notice is an extraordinary amount of boisterous children traveling with their families on the grounds. I mean, everywhere you looked the place was flooded with families running about. Amy and I kept thinking, ‘Where are we? This is so odd? It feels like a big campground with all of these families, only we aren’t camping.’ I just prayed the rooms were sound proof as Amy and I were sandwiched between the rooms of two families.

We enter our room and it was clean maybe even too clean with the smell of Clorox or some other strong cleaner. It was ultra basic and with a funky arrangement that would take some getting used to. I now found myself missing our other room that I was already used to at the other guest house in Jerusalem. I was looking for the pros of this place as I tried to get settled and stopped dead in my tracks when I hear Amy announce from the bathroom, ‘Um it says here, we can’t put toilet paper in the toilet, we have to put it in the trash beside the toilet.’ I seriously wanted to faint when I heard that as I imagined my near future of us both depositing our used toilet paper into the open little trash just beside the toilet? Is this even legal? Even in an outhouse you can put your toilet paper in the bowl. Where are we?!?

After we got unpacked we headed down to dinner in the main dining room that seats 180 people. I am here to say every seat was filled and it was a complete mad house, the line up for the food, the activity inside the dining room. Turns out, this was Friday night and Shabbat dinner. Shabbat is considered a day of peace and holiness in the Jewish faith, and begins their sabbath where they rest from all work. Apparently, the place we were staying must have been a hot spot for local Jewish families to gather for their Shabbat dinner. Again we kept thinking, ‘Where am I?’ as we stood in line for the buffet. I observe one teenage girl do a full on sneeze over all of the plates, I see kids coughing and sneezing on the buffet food. It was such chaos I lost my appetite and literally just picked an orange out and ate that for dinner, as did Amy. We had bars in our room and figured we could eat those later if we got really hungry. We sat down at the table with our friends from the tour and enjoyed visiting them and eating our oranges.

After dinner a few of us walked down to the Sea to check out the views at night. It was so very peaceful. Amy and I also wanted to ground our feet in the soil to get us more into the right time zone. We have heard and read if you put your bare feet on soil or sand for 15 minutes when you are in a new time zone, it helps your body adjust to that part of the world somehow and helps you sleep better, we were willing to try any and every trick. So we walked around the grass for 15 minutes or so and a few others from our group joined us in getting grounded. I also was hoping my lack of having dinner would prevent my body from any #2 activity on the toilet it might be thinking about. The TP situation was enough for me to go on a food strike until I had access to a proper bathroom.

We both showered this night and the showers were better than the last place a little bigger and plenty of hot water! A definite plus. We had another early morning the next day, so there was no dilly-dallying at night. Tomorrow we would be headed to Nazareth (where Jesus grew up), Capernaum, the Mount of Beatitudes, and the Jordan River. Lots to look forward to!

Weather: Mid-70’s and a little hazy with temps feeling much hotter as the day progressed. Winds picked up in the late afternoon.

Well so much for sleeping in! Doesn’t it always figure, when you know you can sleep in, somehow your body still wants to wake up early. Oh the joys of getting older.  I was wide awake at 6am, which is an improvement from 4am. I did feel like this was the first night where I started to feel more on the right time zone.

With our free time, we decided to explore the Temple Mount this morning after breakfast. Also, I wanted to catch up on blogging at the cute coffee shop attached to the Guest House (as there has been such little time for that on this trip). We also wanted to get massages on this day at a local spa. So we had a good rough plan for the day.

Others in a our group visited the Temple Mount site EARLY the day before with our guide, you had to be up and ready to go by 6:15am for that, so we had passed on that early tour. We thought it wouldn’t be too much to explore it on our own, without the guide, and the Guest House concierge said it was completely safe. Israel controls all 11 entrances to the site (complete with metal detectors, but the Arab Muslim organization ‘Waqf’ controls all activities on the compound).

The site is so controversial because it is considered a ‘holy’ site by three main faiths – Judaism, Muslim, and Christianity. For Christians and the Jews it is the site of where all of the Temples were built including the first one by King Solomon. Many Jews will not walk on the Mount itself, to avoid unintentionally entering the area where the Holy of Holies stood, since according to Rabbinical law, some aspect of the divine presence is still present at the site. For Muslims, the Mount is widely considered the third holiest site in Islam. Revered as the Noble Sanctuary, the location of Muhammad’s journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven.

One reason our group went early the morning before is to avoid the lines and you have to get through the gate by 10:30am in the morning as it is closed several hours mid-day. We showed up at 9:30am to a long line that extended almost to the entrance to the nearest Old Jerusalem City Wall gate. Amy was hesitant, ‘This line is so long, do we really want to wait in the sun?’ I said, ‘Let’s just get in line to see how fast it moves, it may not take that long.’ In my mind I was thinking, we’ve waited 2 hours for rides at Disneyland for something that lasts a few minutes, this opportunity to see the Temple Mount would stay with us for a lifetime, it was worth a bit of a wait.

We weren’t in line for more than 2 minutes when we heard the sounds of a large celebration coming up our way with musicians, and families, singing and clapping. At the front of each procession were 13-year-old boys – some dressed in all kinds of robes or fancy attire. We thought, this must be a Bar Mitzvah celebration procession. It touched your heart to see this ancient tradition on display before your eyes. The families that accompanied each boy, were so enthusiastically dancing and clapping, it was a sight to see. We saw about 3-4 of these processions and the time passed quickly. Before you knew it, we were at the front of the line to go through security to enter the Temple Mount. The line had only take us about 15-20 minutes.

Once we entered one of the gates the Muslim guards decided I wasn’t dressed modestly enough because I had a short-sleeved shirt on (my elbows and forearms were showing). Amy had a 3-quarter length sleeved shirt on so she was okay. I was thinking ‘Really? All of that long blonde flowing hair on her and I’m the one that gets picked out to have to add more clothes because I might draw too much attention to my arms?’ So they give me this hideous turquoise hoodie top to put on and wear around the site. If a woman’s pants were too tight, you had to wear a turquoise skirt they gave you. Luckily, I passed that test and my pants weren’t too tight. It was so hot on this day; the extra clothing was definitely not comfortable.

We started walking around the site and were drawn to these cool walls and arches, I told Amy to go get in front of them and I would snap some pictures with my good camera. I take some really good pictures of her and then she says ‘Now, you go. Let me get some pictures of you.’ So we switch positions and as soon as I get up on the wall with the arches behind me, a guard says ‘Hey Lady, get down.’ We both look at each other and start laughing as it is a running joke between us that she always can get away with things that I can’t get away with. She was able to sit up there for numerous poses, but the minute I got on the wall, I got the ‘Hey Lady’ treatment. LOL.

It was just as well, we took pictures on other spots of the Temple Mount and any pics of me just looked hideous because of my new turquoise wardrobe. Possibly the least flattering thing I have ever put on my body. I was happy to just keep snapping pics of Amy,  she looked like she just fell out of a travel magazine and the sites behind her were jaw dropping.

In addition to being the location of the original Solomon’s Temple, Jewish tradition identifies it with Mount Moriah where God led Abraham when the binding of Isaac took place for sacrifice. We tried to walk around and take this all in within the context of our own beliefs and faith which felt like such a contrast to what now dominates the Temple Mount, including the Dome of the Rock – a Muslim shrine built thirteen hundred years ago – and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. You could feel the reality that you were standing on one of the most hotly contested pieces of real estate on earth. This is a profoundly sacred area to Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

After a while we decided to leave. Amy says, ‘Hey, Jessica Reese from work says we HAVE to try hummus in the Muslim Quarter.’ I started laughing, ‘Oh really? Jessica said that? Okay, let’s do it.’ We look at our map and find which of the 11 gates we need to exit that leads us out into the Muslim Quarter of Old Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem is divided into four different quarters that divide the city culturally, religiously, and historically – The Christian Quarter, The Jewish Quarter, The Muslim Quarter, The Armenian Quarter.

We exited from the Temple Mount and just like that we were dropped into another world of the Muslim Quarter. No experience on the whole trip felt like this one where I felt engulfed in an ancient middle-eastern village. It as totally amazing and even unsettling at times to walk through something that is so foreign to your normal world. I appreciate how it stretched me as I walked through the streets. Most women were covered up, which makes you feel immodest even in long pants and a short-sleeved shirt. Fortunately, they are used to Westerners, so you don’t get too many stares.

There was one moment when we walked through the marketplace that this old Muslim lady was sitting on a chair against the wall dividing big bags of herbs, she looked up with a BIG toothless grin when she saw Amy coming and shouted, ‘You pretty!! You so pretty!!!’ We kept walking and giggling and it made my heart feel good to know extreme cultural barriers can be broken with an act of a genuine expression of kindness and affirmation. In that moment, she was an older woman affirming a younger daughter of the Western World. Other Arabs looking at the scene were frowning and rolling their eyes at this woman. Amy and I thought maybe ‘she’ is the one they keep an ‘eye’ on in town, the wild card. Whoever she was, we loved her.

There were lots of little hole-in-the-wall places along the way, but none that we felt confident enough to stop and try the hummus. Neither of us were willing to risk sickness mid-trip. We finally walked by a shop where we saw the trusted ‘Trip Advisor’ high rating sign. We walked into an empty place with a nice ambiance. We were there first customers of the day (it was 11am) and they were falling all over themselves to accommodate us. ‘Windows open or shut? Fan off or on? Music on or off?’ We were a little overwhelmed and just kept saying, ‘Whatever you think, we are good.’

We ordered the Mediterranean Platter with hummus, pita and side dishes to try. When it came out, it looked nothing like we imagined as we didn’t recognize the look of most of the dishes. The old grandpa, who was also the cook, came over to explain how he made EACH of the dishes. He broke down each one for us with the ingredients, and how he approached the creation. It took away the mystery of what we were looking at and it was just what we needed to hear to bring out the adventurous eating in us. We loved how earnest he was and after he walked away we enthusiastically enjoyed each dish.  It interesting how just knowing the ingredients and how something is prepared takes the foreign feeling out of it, and makes it feel much more like home.

After our adventurous lunch we decided to head back to the guest house. The walk was quite crowded and there was a big group of folks walking up the Via Delarosa with a big cross.  The Via Dolorosa is a street within the Old City of Jerusalem, believed to be the path that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion. It is unlikely this is the actually path, yet still it is considered by some as a Christian pilgrimage to do this walk. It hit me in this moment in now observing this pilgrimage, we had come full circle – starting the day with the Bar Mitzvah celebrations, then to see the Muslim worship on top of the Temple Mount, followed now by this display of Christian passion – that all three religions are so passionate about the expression of their faiths, it is no wonder this is an area of such worldwide focus, attention, and tension.

Once we got back to the guest house it was about 1pm and I had been wanting to try the cute coffee shop attached to the guest house, and it also seemed like a great opportunity to get caught up on my blog. There has been such LITTLE time to blog on this trip, it felt like a luxury to have a few hours to myself to sip cappuccinos, eat a fresh made cookie, and of course, blog. Amy joined me in the coffee shop and did some reading and quiet time. She also reminded me to we needed to make our massage appointments. As this was our ‘rest’ day, we were hoping for a little pampering in the afternoon. We found a nice hotel called the David Citadel, just outside of old Jerusalem and near the outdoor mall. They could take us at 3pm and 4pm. Sold!

It wasn’t long before it was time to head over for our massages, we walked to the hotel and into the spa. It was complete with fluffy robes and spa shoes for us to wear during our time there. There was only one Deep Tissue available, so Amy took that one at 4pm. I went for the Swedish at 3pm. We were both extremely happy with our treatments. I had a girl that had grown up in New York, was Israeli, and now living in Israel the past 4 years. Amy had a German girl and said it was the best massage she thinks she ever had.

The spa was really nice and clean, the only ‘odd’ part was the quiet room where you lay down before or after your treatment to rest. It is separated by thin sheer curtains to give you privacy as you lay there in your robe. Unfortunately, it is co-ed, and privacy sheer curtains don’t offer sound proofing. We could hear a young couple sharing a bed at the end and giggling and smooching – like the sound your mouth makes when you offering a kiss on someone’s cheek or something, it was so awkward because you knew it wasn’t a cheek. Headphones were key in this room!

We headed back to the guest house by 6pm for dinner and to get packed. Our suitcases had to be packed and outside our door by 9pm as they would be loaded on the bus for us tonight. Tomorrow we would be leaving for the Galilee region. As we packed, we were amazed at how we were so used to our little room by now, we were almost sad to leave it as we had gotten into a routine. Plus, you didn’t know what was ahead, and I was hoping for no downgrades from this room.

There was a group of ‘Russian’ boys on our trip, we referred to as ‘The Russians’ – in fact, everyone on the tour referred to them that way. Different people on the trip had nicknames that we all laughed about. Amy and I were referred to as ‘The California Girls.’ Anyway, this place had no elevator, and it was a few flights of stairs down with the suitcases. I told Amy, ‘Hey, I made a deal with the Russian boys at dinner, I asked them take our bags down when we were ready.’ She was happy to hear that plan as neither of us wanted to be in our PJs taking our bags down. When we were done showering and packing, I knocked on the Russian Boys room door in my PJs and said, ‘Our bags are ready.’ They snapped to it! They were so sweet and helpful.

We had to be up and ready by 7am the next morning. Such a regimented trip! By now we are feeling like we are in the military with the schedule. But there is so much to see each day and they were trying to get us out of Jerusalem early. The Jerusalem marathon was the next day, so many of the streets would be closed off and there would be a lot more traffic than usual (and there is a LOT of traffic on a normal day). While the schedule felt a bit much at times, I appreciated I had NOTHING to worry about in navigation in getting us from place to place, my only job was to show up on time when asked – that I could do.

Weather: After all of the wind of the day before, a beautiful crystal clear blue sky kind of day in the mid-70’s.

Still waking up between 3am-4am each day and not falling back asleep. Wondering when my body will get on this time zone. I think the excitement of the day ahead keeps me wide awake as soon as I start to stir – I can’t wait for morning.

Today we were first headed over to Calvary, or Golgotha according to the Gospels, a site immediately outside Jerusalem’s walls where Jesus was crucified. Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels translate the term to mean “place of [the] skull” (Latin rendered Calvariæ Locus), from which the English word Calvary is derived.

We had a great tour guide that walked us over to a view of ‘skull hill’ and gave us eyes to seek what looked like the face of a skull on the side of a mountain. He also explained why historians feel that Jesus was crucified in this general area. He kept repeating 5 key facts – 1. Near Jerusalem 2. Outside its walls 3. By the place of the skull 4. Near a Garden 5. In a new tomb.

“So they took Jesus and he went out [of the City]…to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him….. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.” (John 19: 16-18, 40-41).

From the view of the place of a skull we walked towards the Garden Tomb. As there are many places for reflection on this site, they move through many tour groups with appointments, with each having its own area for reflection and worship. As we walked, there was a group of Christians doing worship and singing Hallelujah, it was so moving to hear voices lifted up to this worship song as you walked along the garden path towards the tomb, both Amy and I began to weep. You couldn’t help but feel like you were in a funeral procession and the emotion of what occurred here gripped our hearts. Of the whole trip to date, this walk towards the tomb hit my heart in a way I will never forget.

After the tour guide explained why this tomb was had a good probability of being the place where Jesus was actually buried or in a tomb very similar to this one, we got to go inside.  It was fascinating to see the inside of what a tomb looked like in that day and to consider this might be be the place where Jesus was actually laid to rest.

On this day we also had time for lunch on our own. I wanted to finally try a ‘bagel’ in Jerusalem as I was hoping this is home of the bagel. I ordered what read like a bagel with salmon and cheese, pretty similar to what you might get at a brunch back home, right? Actually, no. What was brought to me, looked like a smashed sesame seed bread bagel panini. LOL. Oh well! Amy also ordered what she thought was a salad that came out looking like pasta sauce with no pasta. We both kind of just laughed and ate – we only had 30 minutes on our own to eat, so we just made do and appreciated the meal we were able to have on our own.

By now we are both exhausted, we have had 3 full days of touring and our tour guide is VERY no-nonsense. You have to fall in line on time for everything throughout very packed days and you don’t dare question it. It is so odd to be in the position again of asking, ‘Um, can I go to the bathroom?’ I have been cutting myself off from a lot of water, just so I don’t even need to ask. She happened to mention on this day that she was a men’s prison guard in Norway for 10 years. My eyes opened wide and it explained a lot about her strict ‘style.’

After the Garden Tomb we headed over to Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem which aims to bring the past to life and prevent future atrocities through greater understanding. This musuem is amazing and also emotionally draining. To understand with more depth what happened in the Holocaust and to know it actually didn’t happen that long ago is very disturbing. Our tour guide led us through certain points of interest in the museum. We were there about 2 hours. It is impossible to see it all in such a short visit, but I don’t even think you could handle more than 2 hours in one visit. It ends with a beautiful memorial to to the 1.5 million children that were killed during this time. The museum exits out onto a beautiful vista that shows greenery, life, and the reestablishment of towns and vitality of modern day Jews in Israel.

Overall, this was a sobering and reflective day in many respects, but also rich in ways that grabbed your heart and made you want to love others better. We were very tired at the end of this day and had an early dinner. We were relieved that Thursday (the next day) was a free day and we wouldn’t be on any schedule all day. We were looking forward to sleeping in and taking things more at our own pace, and also having some time to reflect on all we had seen so far.

Weather: Low 70’s and really windy as you’ll see by my hair

By now Amy and I are in full ‘convent’ mode. We have gotten accustomed to our very basic accommodations and twin nun beds. It’s amazing how quickly you can adjust when you need to get comfortable and into a routine. Now all of this feels totally normal – sort of – ha, ha. Simple life is also refreshing as it opens your eyes more to appreciation of the little things. The Tower of David Museum is right across from where we are staying and they must have live performances in the evening. Each night we can open the window and hear beautiful orchestra music which is really nice.

Our first tour stop on this day is going to be the Mount of Olives. It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes. The Mount has been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years and holds approximately 150,000 graves.

Several key events in the life of Jesus, as related in the Gospels, took place on the Mount of Olives, and in the book of Acts it is described as the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven. Much of the top of the hill is occupied and now a neighborhood with a majority-Arab population. It is so surreal to stand there and take in the view and the history.

From the Mount of Olives we walked down to the Garden of Gethsemane, the site of Jesus’ arrest and betrayal, and it was also the place where he prayed the night before he was arrested and then later crucified. Actual Olive Trees in the garden didn’t exist at the time of Jesus but are said to be from the same root system. The garden is fenced in now and maintained locally. It is most interesting to see this place in the context of the surrounding with the Mount of Olives above on the hill behind you and Jerusalem in front of you before your eyes.

After the Garden we had time for a lunch on our own. We were dropped by the outdoor mall and Amy and I found a place that had been recommended at the front desk called Kaffit. We really liked our lunch there and I enjoyed a cappucino and a macchiato – both delicious and looked and tasted very  Italian. My salad was topped with a bed of sweet potato fries. Yum. It was nice to see some of the local culture coming in for lunch as well. Of special interest to me was an Orthodox Jew with the ringlets on the sideburns but not dressed in the traditional black clothing. He had Levis and a plaid shortsleeve shirt on. Maybe he was a modern Orthodox Jew?

After lunch we came back for short naps and then we had a lecture/tour of the museum at the Guest House were we are staying. As it is considered an historic site, the museum was fascinating. My favorite part was the guide showing us a huge model built in the 1800’s of ancient Jerusalem. It was nice to have a visual as so much has changed from then until now. It was also helpful to see sites we had visited so far within that context. To see how small the City of David actually is within the context of all of Jerusalem, was super helpful. The guide kept telling us when we were there, but it didn’t really connect for me until I saw this model.

We eat all of our breakfasts and dinners at the Guest House in the dining area. The food has been plentiful and delicious and it nice not to have to think about where to go. Breakfast here is at 7:30am and dinner is at 6pm, every night.

After dinner, the Director of Shoresh Tours offered a short stroll  through old Jerusalem that led to a rooftop panorama of the Old City.  From there we could see the Western Wall at night lit up and so very beautiful. Below us we could see a Rabbi copying the Torah, and different men would come up and take a turn to touch the pen. The guide said it is considered an honor to touch the pen and take part of this ceremony to copy the Torah.

Continue reading “Tue Mar 6, 2018 – Mount of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane”

Weather: Mid-70’s, clear skies

Well, I didn’t make it through the night without feeling a little rumble in my tummy. It’s that oh-no moment where you realize something you ate is ready to make a speedy exit out of the back of the building. What is happening? This never really happens for me when I travel or ever. It must be new Middle Eastern elements my body needs to meet and get used to. I crawl back into bed and pray that is the end of it. No one wants to start the first day on the group bus with an intestinal issue.

I wake up feeling okay and pick really safe gentle things for breakfast in an effort to ‘test the waters.’ It worked, and really I never had an issue again with whatever that was.

Our first tour stop of the day was the City of David. It is speculated to compose the original urban core of ancient Jerusalem. The remains of the site include several water tunnels, one of which was built by King Hezekiah and still carries water, several pools including the Pool of Siloam (where Jesus sent ‘a man blind from birth’ after he put mud on his eyes, to wash in order to complete his healing).

Our guide told us this area is one of the most intensively excavated sites in the Holy Land. Walking around the grounds it seemed surreal and almost make-believe. Having grown up around so much artificial recreation of real destinations, when I was walking through the tunnels I kept thinking, this feels like the line for the Indiana Temple of Doom ride at Disneyland. There were also several groups of elementary age Israeli children on tours there. They were definitely loud and boisterous as they went through. Typical for that age. Our guide said, it used to bother her until she realized her joy for this generation of kids with so much confidence and without the sorrow carried by previous generations.

We also walked to the top of the Southern Steps which is a flight of stairs leading to the main entrances of the Temple Mount (Location of the First Temple built by King Solomon) Some suggest that the fifteen long steps may have been one of the locations where pilgrims sang the fifteen Psalms of Ascent (120-34) as they went up to worship.

On this day we also stood on top of a platform that is understood to be the first of three locations of Mount Zion. At first, Mount Zion was the name given to the Jebusite city on the lower part of ancient Jerusalem’s Eastern Hill, also know as the City of David. According to the Book of Samuel, Mount Zion was the site of the Jebusite fortress called ‘stronghold of Zion’ that was conquered by King David, then renamed and partially rebuilt by him as the ‘City of David,’ while he built his palace.

We finished the day at the Western Wall as the sun was setting. Amazing to see this site in person. It is a relatively small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall, known also in its entirety as the ‘Western Wall.’ The wall was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple begun by Herod the Great, which resulted in the encasement of the natural, steep hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount.

The Western Wall is considered holy due to its connection to the Temple Mount. The Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray. The prayer areas are separated into two sides, men and women. It has also been called the ‘Wailing Wall,’ referring to the practice of Jews weeping at the site over the destruction of the Temples.

Weather: Mid-70’s

I say first ‘full’ day because we didn’t get ready and out of the room until 2:30p.m. It was great to have the cushion to be able to sleep as long as we needed rest and get settled before the rest of the group arrived.

When my eyes opened around 10:30am that morning to the sounds of doors slamming repeatedly, all I could think was ‘I need to get down to reception and go switch our room.’ Amy is still sleeping, so I quietly leave the room and can see several of the rooms down our hallway with doors ajar. I decide to do my own little investigations on ‘upgrade’ possibilities. I sneakily peak into the rooms that have been vacated and are ready for cleaning. One room, at the very end of the hallway seems like our quietest option. All of the rooms are spartan, so it’s not like a luxury upgrade. At this point, I’ll just take quiet.

I explain my plight to the gentleman at reception. I tell him we’d like to move to another room down at the end of the hall. He tells me, ‘Sadly, that is not possible because we are booked full.’ I say, ‘Hmm, I know a group of 24 are checking in tonight. Is it possible we could shift into one of those rooms? Our room has problems, the sink doesn’t drain and we had no hot water for showers last night. I think someone needs to work on the room.’ He says, ‘Okay, let me see what I can do. How soon can you move?’ I respond with, ‘immediately’ as I envision me running back upstairs to the room and pulling Amy out of her bed with the same intensity as if the building were on fire, if this is a go. He says, ‘I will come to your room when I have an answer.’

I go back upstairs and try to get back in the room, and now the key won’t go into the lock. I find the maid on the floor cleaning the rooms. She tries to help but now thinks the lock is broken. Again I think, ‘Where am I?’ She goes down to try and solve the problem and I start banging on the door to see if Amy can open it from the inside. She gets to the door all disheveled, and opens the door. I had woken her up, but it was time to get up anyway. We didn’t want to sleep too late to try to get on the schedule.

I tell her I’m in the middle of a negotiation to get us a new room. Just then the man at the front desk knocks on the front door. Are you able to move now so the maids can get in to clean your room before the guests arrive?  I can give you the room at the end of the hall.  We look at each then back at him and nod enthusiastically in agreement.

The room he gave us was even more quiet as it didn’t face the inner courtyard where tour groups gather in the morning. We walked in and where thrilled, it was a little bigger and we wouldn’t have to do the awkward dance around each other. It also had this ultimate ledge running across the back of the room. Plenty of storage for our ‘things.’ We also envisioned a desk as our little makeshift vanity station. We were now giddy with our new accommodation. It is amazing how just a few shifts in your situation (a little more room, a working sink, hot water, a working lock, a ledge for storage) can give you a whole new perspective and appreciation for what you DO have that you didn’t have before.

We ‘yelped’ a place for lunch and got instructions on how to walk there. This was a Sunday and we were walking through the Jewish quarter. It was immediately evident how family oriented they are. So many families with so many little ones walking along and enjoying the afternoon sunshine. I could have people watched all afternoon. It was so sweet to watch multi-generations interacting, little kids walking along arm in arm, laughing and playing with parents walking behind them or near by. It felt absolutely safe to walk around within this quarter.

We made it to the lunch place around 4pm. It took a while for someone to show up to help us, but when he did show up, he served up beautiful plates of food. The food was truly delicious. However, our stomachs both felt a little off later, and we wondered if it was this place that caused the havoc, as we had a very late lunch and noticed it seemed the food had been sitting out for several hours.

We then found out there was a beautiful outdoor mall just outside of the Jaffe Gate. We got a little giddy at the thought of an outdoor mall – still seeking some comforts of home, I suppose. It indeed felt very familiar to stroll through there and experience some of the familiar sites and sounds of home in a new context. Fun coffee shops galore, restaurants, and stores you’d see at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. I even saw a coffee/bagel shop and got completely giddy in the realization that we are probably in the world’s bagel capital! Must try bagel for breakfast, stat!

After strolling around and doing some fun spontaneous shopping, we headed back to our room.  A girl needs Dead Sea hand lotion when in Jerusalem right? After resting for a bit, we grabbed our jackets and headed back to the mall for coffee and tea and dinner. We needed to stay up until 10:15pm, the time of our orientation. The rest of the group was landing at Tel Aviv airport at 8:30pm so it would take some time to get there.

Walking back over to the mall, we were again struck by all of the families out everywhere. They seemed to all be enjoying each other’s company so much and the children all seem so well-behaved in restaurants.

We picked a place to have a coffee and tea and our enthusiastic waitress talked me into a dessert to enjoy with them. At first I was no, I’m good, knowing dinner was next. But she insisted, ‘But you have come to the best dessert house in ALL of Israel. It is famous. Last month we had BIG donuts. But we don’t have the donuts anymore. Regardless, come look at our case of desserts.’ So I get up to go look, I hated to quench her enthusiasm. I picked out a tiramisu that was soon brough over with a side of whipped cream. It indeed was so good, we shared it and I ended up ordering a second cappucino. When in Israel… And let me say, they do have the coffee thing down.

We went to a second place for dinner, this place had a cool vibe inside and I thought it was funny that the ceiling matched Amy’s top. Again this place had several Jewish families eating out together. The food was okay, probably because I was stuffed on tiramisu and cappuccinos.

We then walked back to the guest house for our orientation. The travelers had arrived. Our new guide gave us the itinerary for the next day and told us to be downstairs and ready for breakfast by 7:30am. She also gave us our welcome pack – a backpack, baseball cap, map of Jerusalem, and study guidebook.

After returning to the room, it was now almost 11pm and Amy was going to shower. I got washed up quick and let her have the bathroom. As I laid in my bed I could hear her running the water for a shower, she was probably in there 3 minutes when she lost hot water! And it was a ‘hair wash’ night. Oh no. We realized at that moment, getting to the hot water first was going to be our new survival strategy priority. With a full house, it was obviously taxing their hot water supply.

We both took sleep aids again to get us on the time schedule as we didn’t have time to waste, just a few hours before we needed to get up and put in a full day. Tomorrow we would be visiting the City of David, Jerusalem Archeological Park, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, the Pool of Siloam, and the Western Wall.

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.

 

That 3-hour power hour of sleep the night before turned into about 1-hour as we both were probably subconsciously worried about over-sleeping. Also, I kept itching my legs all night and thinking I HOPE I didn’t get new mosquito bites last night…I hope.

We were out of the door and on the street by 4:20am. It was dark and no one else was around and you just hoped the people that were supposed to call for the taxi actually called and someone would be showing up soon. Just when I started thinking maybe we should go inside with all of these bags while one of us stays out here as a look-out…our driver pulled up.

The driver was in a class all by himself. He sped down the empty streets while texting throughout the 15-minute drive to the airport. Every time I thought I was going to speak up and say something, he would stop texting. Dana kept clutching my leg as if to say…he is driving too fast, and I was in agreement but also could see we were close to the airport and didn’t want to rock the boat. I Just wanted out of the taxi.

We made it safely and began the process to get our luggage checked. The weighing of the luggage made you cringe much like I assumed the weighing of my person would once I got home. They weighed Dana’s checked bag first and it was just at the limit, regardless they slapped the embarrassing ‘back breaking’ heavy tag on hers. Although my checked bag was within the limit, my carry-on was over weight.  So it was a mad scramble to get things distributed between us so that we could board with the carry-on articles we planning on bringing with us.

After we checked in, we had a good cushion of time so enjoyed a few cappuccinos and a pain au chocolate in their airport café. It was one of the nicer airport cafe’s I can remember. It was so good, in fact, we went for two rounds of the cappuccino.

Our connecting flight was going to be leaving on time. It was an inter-Europe flight from Florence to Paris on a 737. We had to ride one of those tarmac buses to the actual plane and it seemed like EVERYONE around us with coughing with the plague. It’s one of those moments where you think – there is nothing I can do – I’m getting slimed right and left in this enclosed environment and I haven’t slept all night – Lord, protect me! It’s one of those times where you just close your eyes until it’s over telling yourself – this is not happening.

After we boarded the plane and took off on the 1.5 hour flight to Paris, here comes the flight attendant down the aisle, with not peanuts, but a whole cart full of piping hot pain au chocolates? Like what? Is this a flight in heaven or what? Sadly, I had already had my fill at the airport café and so I passed on these. Still, I think about that even now and wonder how we can get that option going back home one of these days? Oh how my Monday morning business flights would be so much more exciting to look forward to at the thought of a little pain au chocolate to greet me.

When we arrived in Paris, we had to go through the customs check-point again. Fortunately we had enough time, so it wasn’t as stressful as it was coming through here the last time on our inbound flight when our connection was much tighter. Still, it was hot and the lines were long. But they seemed a lot more efficient in working us through. At the same time, I see more room for efficiency. Once I got up there, the customs agent was completely intrigued by my FitBit, asking me all kinds of questions. ‘How do I like it, how many steps have I had today, how much did I pay, is it helping me with fitness?’ It was so odd. I was so happy to be done with the FitBit conversation when he finally stamped my passport.

Our flight out of Paris was about an hour delayed. It gave us time to go to the Paris Starbucks and pick up a few things. That line was excruciating slow and used up our 1-hour layover cushion. It was a combo of slow workers and customers that didn’t know what they wanted and were ordering for people present and not present in line. With one lady behind the counter and one barista, it was too much. We were thrilled to finally get through that line in be back in the waiting area for our plane. Once they called us for boarding, Dana was randomly selected for extra screening before we boarded- shoes off, pat down, bags searched – heightened security precautions in full force.

We boarded the plane and got settled into our ‘Extra Comfort’ seats on the top deck. While we were waiting to take off, the flight attendants were all in a tizzy trying to get a family accommodated and kept accusing of us being in the wrong seats. We had to show our tickets no less than three times. They would be so sure that we were in the wrong seats when they came up to us and then be baffled each time they saw our tickets. By the time the third one came around I feel like everyone around us wanted to chime in, ‘Hey, they are in the right seats, leave them alone!’

We finally took off and were on our way home on the 13-hour flight. The neck pillows we had so gleefully left home when we found out we were upgraded to business class on the way to Italy, were at the top of mind as we couldn’t get comfortable. Even with the ‘extra comfort’ we felt restless. The perks of the seats were a little more space between each row, the ability to stretch out our legs a little, and not have anyone lean back into your seat. The seats were designed like little buckets that rotated when you wanted to recline.

The movie selection wasn’t great, so I went back to my old favorite Beauty and the Beast (am I a kid or what?) and started to watch that again. I had lived it! Now, I wanted to see how it felt to watch it afresh. In all honestly, when that dining room scene came on, tears fell down my cheeks to understand again that I had been outrageously blessed with that evening at the Four Seasons in Florence. The tears I held back on that night finally found their exit on the plane.

A few meal rounds later and after uncomfortable shifting every which way in our seats trying to sleep and get comfortable, we were finally home. There is nothing like the feeling of hearing from the pilot that you are on the final approach and then finally landing. And my legs were still itching. I was so ready for another shower and my bed. Oh how I’d missed my bed!

Dana and I had both signed up for the Global Entry Pass prior to leaving so we breezed through customs. The longest wait we had was for our luggage. We stood there for a good 20-30 minutes and watched what felt like over 500 pieces of luggage come around in hopes of being reunited with those bags we last saw in Florence. And just when you are wondering if you bags made it, they peak out around the corner and you are all smiles as you are now free to exit the airport and head home.

Dana was taking the Fly-Away to the valley where her son was going to pick her up and I had an angel of a friend picking me up at the airport and taking me home. (Anyone who agrees to pick you up at LAX has immediate angel status as the traffic headed into, out of, and inside the airport is always a hot mess). Dana and I said our goodbyes right outside of the international terminal, looking at each other, smiling and saying, ‘Wow, it’s over. It’s really over.’

Just like that, the dream of our 50th birthday celebration in Italy was now a memory. I was confident that our renewed bonds would continue as we held onto threads of our trip by finding ways to bring the Italian lifestyle home and into our everyday lives. We had already been texting regularly with the honeymoon couple we met at the farm, Tony and Maddie, and they had named our text thread #teampsycho. It was obvious that all of us had walked away from the trip equally enthralled, obsessed, and spellbound by Italy and our experiences on the farm with Isabella, Carlo, and the rest of the family.

So now, the only question left is….how soon can we go back?