Jerusalem

On my last day, we went to the old city in Jerusalem. THis is the wailing wall, the last remaining wall of the Jewish temple..which has never been rebuilt. They SAY...that it can't be rebuilt until the true messiah comes (meaning....NOT jesus)

The gold dome is the muslim mosque which is right behind the wailing wall. In addition, the church that Jesus was supposedly called to heaven from is in the background.

SO..this is what all the FUSS is about. It is a holy place for three religions. It's the MOST holy place for jews, the 3rd most holy place for Muslims and the 2nd most holy place for Christians.

More cousins

Last night..after our emotional encounter at the hospital, we went to Katya's house to see her family. She is married to Amir and they have three kids (two of which you've seen in previous posts). She also has a 3 month old baby named Inbal. (wierd name)

It was a good distraction.

A Little Sad

The main reason I came on this trip was to see my grandmother, who is quite sick. Although we knew things weren't looking good, today she was hospitalized again...and we were told...rather bluntly...that the situation was even more bleak than we had thought.

I won't get into details...nor depress my esteemed readers any more than they may be already....especially since you're celebrating the birth of you know who! (it's ironic i'm actually in the land of his birth currently!)

SO...i'm just posting some pictures of my grandparents and dedicating this post...(however trivial it may sound) to my grandmother Ida, whom I love very much. I'll leave you with a request though. If you have living grandparents, don't put off a visit until tomorrow or the next day. Life is short so love the ones you got.

EVEN MORE!

I know....it's a lot...but they're breathtaking, right?!

This was the last hour of our hike! Note...in the 2nd picture, you can see some caves in the cliffs. This is actually the general area that the Dead Sea scrolls were found. There are literally thousands of caves like this .... which continue to be explored to this day!

More Pictures

I can only fit 5 pictures per post!

That's the Dead Sea behind me!

A long hard day

Today, I woke up at 6 am to go on a "hike". I use quotations because this was more than just a typical HIKE! It was more of a try-out for Survivor, the reality show. A try-out I DIDN'T plan on attending!

My god!

We drove about 2 hours...through Jerusalem and then downhill to the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on Earth. Then...we got out of the car and the first thing we saw was a memorial for 2 guys that DIED on the very "hike" we were about to go on (1st photo) OK? Yea....they fell off some boulders. Sure...let's DO IT! GREAT IDEA!

We had a group of about 20 people...all Russians who are avid followers of my uncle's hiking "club".

We went about 8 miles. The first hour was hard core steep climbing of huge boulders (2nd photo). I thought I was going to DIE. Little did I know...this was JUST the beginning! Once we climbed about 2500 FT (yes, that's right), we hadn't even completed a quarter of the "hike".

We proceeded to wander through the desert for another 4 hours...taking a couple breaks to eat a light lunch and rest. I say wander...but we were actually following a few paths so as not to get lost and wander for 40 years (like the slaves of Egypt). THEN..once I thought I couldn't go any further, we had to freakin climb down one of the steepest inclines EVER....it was soooo rocky and I fell several times. I was actually almost in tears at one point because my feet hurt and I kept falling and I kept thinking "WHY DID I COME?" (part of my trouble was that I was wearing regular sneakers not hiking boots).

Finally, we arrived to the end and we waited for all the drivers to go pick up the cars and then drive back to pick us up. We stopped to get beers, coffee, sodas, etc and then proceeded on our two hours drive back. During the last hour, I had to pee SOOOOOOO bad but there weren't any stops between Jerusalem and Rehovot. Once we arrived, I RAN to the apartment and found it to be locked (by my mother who had the key and was off doing much more trivial things today). IT WAS TORTURE.

I'm quite aware no one cares how badly i had to urinate....but I just had to paint the proper picture of my day. I'm sure tomorrow, i will really be feeling it...in my toes, feet, legs, butt, back....EVERYWHERE!

Moral of the Story:

1.) If you're going on a real hike, get some hiking boots;
2.) I am not very hard core; and
3.) The Israeli desert is freakin' beautiful!

Enjoy the photos! Gorgeous that they may be, they came at a VERY high price!

A little off subject

This is a GREAT article about Jimmy Carter's stupid new book. Maybe you're interested...maybe you're not...

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BurtPrelutsky/2006/12/22/will_jimmy_carter_please_just_go_away

God, she's Cute!

I guess she's an early lover of yoga maybe? HA!

She was really into the dreidel (for those of you who don't know...it's a Hannukah toy). Tonight is the 8th and final night. Happy Hannuka, my fellow J-O-O's!!

)el-Aviv (part II)

More pictures from last night and today in Tel-Aviv

Tel-Aviv (part I)

Last night, I separated from my parents and took a train to Tel-Aviv to see my cousin, Dina. She is 9 months older than me and we were pretty close when we were kids. That is, as close as two kids can be that live an ocean apart! She got married last February to a guy named Or. To an American, that sounds like a wierd name..more like a grammatical occurence but it's pretty common here.

They are both in the telecom industry. Something about Q&A....technically, I think they are computer programmers.

We went to dinner and walked around the city. They live right in the center of the hippest part of town and just a walk away from the beach. Today, she and I went to Allenby Street, which is a market of souveniers and jewelry and other crap like that. I got some nice gifts for people.

Then we had breakfast with her brother, Michael who is 37. He "occassionally" works as an electrical engineer but mostly travels the world playing bridge. He's regularly featured on ESPN (the Ocho!...hahahaha....sorry, a reference to the movie, Dodgeball). Currently, he's dating the "Slavitsa", which is the family nickname for his Slovakian girlfriend (another bridge champion, OF COURSE!)

After breakfast, Dina and I strolled over to the beach.

LOVE IT!

My relatives have a GREAT sense of humor!

A Picture For Elaine!

Artists' Village

On Wednesday, we visited an artists' colony called Ein Hod on the way back from the north. It was soooo quaint! It is a small village of artists who live and work there in a cooperative effort. They exhibit their art and furthermore, make their own beer. I didn't try it because of the early hour of the day...but I heard it was good!

First of a Few Posts!

This is the view from my grandmother's apartment in Haifa. You can see there is a lot of construction going on. If you look in the center of the photograph, there is a brown building. This was the site of a suicide bombing a few years ago. What's ironic about that event though...was that it was owned by an Arab..not a Jew! I guess terrorists are "sometimes" indiscriminate in the decision of who their victims will be!

History 101

Yesterday, we went to Akko, which is a historic city near Haifa. This is a city right on the Mediterranean with a rich history. It was a leading Phoenician port 3,500 years ago and then it was part of King David’s kingdom. Alexander the Great conquered it in 332 BC and later visited by Julius Caesar. Still later, the Crusaders captured Akko and built an underground city, which we visited.

After the Crusader period, the Ottomans ruled for hundreds of years, which is why there is an Arab presence to this day. In 1947, Akko was the scene of the largest prison break in history when 251 Jewish prisoners escaped from the prison fortress with the help of Jewish underground prisoners (who were imprisoned because they were fighting the British in order to create the state of Israel).

Now that our history lesson is complete, please enjoy these photos of the underground Crusader city and the prison.