I love Israel..The End

To sum up the vacation here are a few more things we did.

The Jewish sabbath day is on Saturday so Friday night the Western Wall is always packed with people praying and singing and dancing in preparation for Shabat. I put my own prayer in the wall as well.

Saturday we went to church at the BYU Jerusalem Center. It was so amazing to sit in fast and testimony meeting and overlook the Old City. It was a perfect setting to hear people bear their testimonies of the Savior. Afterward we walked along the ramparts (tops of the Old City walls) and overlooked the city. It was so neat to have a bird's eye view. Then we spent some time in the Garden Tomb. It was so peaceful in comparison to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the throngs of pilgrims there. The garden has been well maintained and there is a very reverent feeling even though so much is going on outside the gates.

We went to Bethlehem one morning and to the Church of the Nativity. We spent the afternoon on the Temple Mount (Al Harim Al Sharif) and walked around the Dome of the Rock. It was incredible!

And last but not least we had a falafel! Tasty town we have arrived!
It was such a fabulous trip! I wish I could have spent more time there. I guess I will just have to go back!

Funny People Part 2!

As promised here are some more interesting people we encountered in Israel.
The first 3 photos are people who were on our Nazareth tour.
Exhibit A:
He looks like Sykes, the one armed man, from The Fugitive with Harrison Ford.
Exhibit B: The man on the right was a KIA (Know It All). He was extremely annoying and answered every question the tour guide asked, even if he didn't really know the answer.
Exhibit C:

This woman walked around hunched over and talked to herself, the trees and the fish in the Jordan River.

A 2 for 1 - This picture shows two people that were on our Dead Sea tour.

Our tour guide who carried her umbrella everywhere we went and the woman in the straw hat who had an inch of makeup on her face.

And to end this segment of Funny People we have.....

The Grandma-mullet!

Red, Dead, Med and other bodies of water

To continue with the tales of our Jerusalem adventure, Sarah and I were fortunate enough to visit many bodies of water. A previous post showed us trying to part the Red Sea. From there we moved onto the Dead Sea. It was such a strange feeling to literally float right on top of the water. You can only stay in it for about 15 minutes because it is so concentrated with salt! We spent a few hours there at a spa and covered ourselves with mud and then rinsed off in thermal baths. It was great! One of our last days in Israel we spent in Jaffa and Tel Aviv. Jaffa is this beautiful old city on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a gorgeous day to spend strolling through the flea market in Jaffa and then walking along the beach to Tel Aviv. The next body of water was the Sea of Galilee. Sarah and I did a day tour that took us to Nazareth, Capernaum and Galilee. The cities lie north of Jerusalem and the terrain is quite different - very green and lush. After a meal of fish from the Sea of Galilee our tour ended at the Jordan River where they have group baptisms and even sell holy water! Finally our last "body of water" that we visited was Hezekiah's Tunnel in the City of David. Our guide, Aaron was so knowledgeable and very interesting. When we actually got to the tunnel we had this conversation:

A (to me): I think your pants are going to get wet in the tunnel.

M: I'll just roll them up.

A: The water will be too deep. Just take them off. That's what I do.

M: laugh because I think he is joking

A: Strips down to his boxers. It's ok it will be dark in there.

M (realizing he is serious): I will not take my pants off! (Aaron in his boxers wading through the water in Hezekiah's Tunnel! - crazy guy)

Funny people!

Travelling is one of my favorite activities and so is people watching. Put the two together and you come across some of the funniest people. Here are some examples:


Mannequin at the Tel Aviv airport. Some sort of a greeter I guess?


Arab man with his donkey Peter aka "Jesus taxi"


Pilgrim separated from her group at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I'm not sure what was going on here.


The Jerusa-mullet

There are more to come.....

Priceless....

2 hour drive with a Bedouin taxi driver - $35 JD

Map of Petra (visitor center man: "Don't tell the others. This is my last map in English" wink wink) - $0 JD

Ticket entrance to Petra - $20 JD

Cross off another Wonder of the World from my list!- Priceless

Two days of our vacation were spent in Petra, Jordan. Amazing! It is so hard to describe how incredible this place is. These huge temples and burial tombs are carved out of the red rock walls in the middle of nowhere. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the person who discovered this gem. To get there you have to walk through a narrow canyon about a mile long and then it opens up to reveal the Treasury.


The first night we were there we did "Petra by Night". They line the walkways and fill the Treasury with 1,500 candles. It was so cool to walk through the canyon and into the Treasury in the dark with just the light of the candles and the moon. Then they served herbal tea and played traditional Bedouin music. It was so great and definitely one of the highlights of the trip.



The next morning we got up early and went to Petra to hike around and explore. The day was so fantastic including riding camels, breathtaking views, standing in awe at the Monastery, having fun taking pictures in the caves (which were inhabited until 1980 - one of the local guides showed us the cave he was born in!)
"Shalom in the Home!"

"Cingular in Petra - More bars in more places""Do I look like an American tourist or what?"

Jordan was such an interesting country. Very Arab, obviously. But it was my first time seeing women totally veiled in person. In this picture you can see the wife completely covered and her husband in shorts and a shirt with the sleeves cut off.

After two fun filled days in Petra we headed back to Israel. We crossed the border to Eilat, a city on the Red Sea, hung out on the beach and even tried to part the seas. We randomly stumbled upon a concert at the Hilton and partied with the Israeli's in style. The singer sounded like Sting, if Sting were to sing in Hebrew! Then it was a long bus ride back to Jerusalem, followed by a few winks of sleep before another big day in the Holy Land!

The Old City

I think one of my favorite things about this vacation was to just wander through the Old City and mingle with people. Give me an open air market in a foreign country and I am a happy camper!


Our first full day in Jerusalem we walked the Via Dolorosa through the city supposedly following the last steps Christ took before his crucifixion and burial. It starts on the Mount of Olives/ Garden of Gethsemane with an incredible view and then takes you through the Kidron Valley into Jerusalem, the Pools of Bethesda, an incredible view of the Dome of the Rock from inside a madrasa (which some local guy showed us and then asked if either of us wanted to marry him,) and finally ending up at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which has been covered with gold and ornate mosaics, etc. It was so interesting to see the pilgrims that were there falling and weeping over sites where Christ may have been crucified and buried. (a stark contrast to the Garden Tomb which we visited later in our trip.)


After walking around the Old City we met up with Kyler and went out to eat in the New City. We had laf laf (traditional Israeli dish.) It was tasty! And then walked around Ben Yehuda which is the hip place for young people to hang out at.

It was such a fun day and full of new information and so many questions about the culture and religions and politics. Poor Kyler got bombarded each evening with all our inquiries!