Dead Sea

My last day in Israel. Deb and I headed out to the Dead Sea. The scenery was amazing, giant rolling cliffs of stone. Its kind of wild driving through the desert to get to the Sea. And then all the dry rock will be punctuated by spots of greenery. The coolest we passed were several Palm tree forests. Evidently they harvest something from the palms but we don’t know what. But it sure looked cool. Deb had a fit when I tried to take a picture of the check point to the West bank. When I had gotten back yesterday and told her my adventures, she said I had pretty much done everything they are advising American tourists not to do! And taking pictures of security sites is another one. Poor Deb, I’m sure she thought I was going to get her fired. Especially with my navigating! They have only recently gotten permission to go to the Dead Sea by the direct route and if we got off the highway at all and got caught she would immediately be fired and deported, so she was on pins and needles worrying that I was going to inadvertently navigate us into Jericho.
(photo: Palm forest)
We passed camels, goats, donkeys; we even passed a herd of Camels! We stopped at Masada but it was to hot to take the cable car to the top so we only did the bottom part and then we went to the Dead Sea. Very cool. Everyone has said you are very buoyant because of the high salt content but I didn’t take it very seriously. I mean I am pretty buoyant as it is. But it is really different. (photo: Shade & Showers at the Dead Sea) You have a real struggle to get your legs under the water. Lots of folks were covering themselves with black mud but we just floated around in the slightly slimy water. The shore and floor are stone, not mud as I had (photo: Me in the Dead Sea per Gloria's request) envisioned, and all in all it was very cool. On the way back, we stopped at the Elvis diner. There is a dinner here that has the world largest Elvis memorabilia collection. How wild I that. So I have as a souvenir, my Elvis placemat all in Hebrew!

Once we made it home, Deb went to bed for a few hours while I finished my packing and at 3 am she took me to the airport. A trip not without its own excitement. Deb didn’t want to get lost so she went to get directions. In order to get to the airport which is Southwest of us, you have to go North on 20. To get back you have to take a totality different road! Deb just kept saying over and over, who ever heard of a place you can go to but can't come back from. (Imagine being told that you could take I-95 south to the Ft. Lauderdale airport but you had to take 595 and I-75 back) After a bit of wandering (okay we were lost again), we managed to make it. Deb dropped me off and I began the arduous process of going through Israeli airport security. You stand in line with all your bags (checked and non checked). For some reason they pulled me aside. I don’t know if it was because I was suspicious as a woman traveling alone or if it was because my flight was leaving soon but they moved me to the front. First they send all your bags through and x-ray machine then they tag the ones that need further inspection. Then you wait in the next line which is the further inspection. (Nothing by the way is labeled.. Nothing!) They wanted to check my laptop so they ran some swabby wand all (photo: The Dead Sea & the Mountains) over it. I was just glad they weren’t opening my suitcases because they were stuffed so full of souvenirs I thought they might turn into projectile draydels if they were unzipped. Then you take all your bags and check in. Only there was no Alitalia counter. So I asked the security guard. He told me to wait and left. Finally he came back and pointed me along a corridor toward another security guard and me to walk toward shim (I felt I was in a border crossing prisoner exchange) I went down and it ended in a little unmarked backroom was the 4 Alitalia check in counters. So I checked my bags and then went through another security checkpoint where they check your passport etc.. Down a long escalator to another security checkpoint where they x-ray your carryon bag (again) and you go through the metal detector. They once again swabbed Baby but this time also my shoes and bags. Evidently I had no GSR or whatever so I was allowed to go the passport checkout line. From there you go through ANOTHER security checkpoint where you get to your gait and they check your passport yet again. At this point I was exhausted (and feeling very safe) I made it on the plane and feel asleep. When I woke up, I had a horrible feeling that I had gotten on the wrong plane and was not going to Milan but some other place (especially since when I woke up it was already past the time for my connecting flight out of Milan and we were flying over some mountains) I checked with the flight attendant and I had in fact boarded the right flight and were delayed on the tarmac but I had (Photo: The desert drive to the Dead Sea) the slept through the announcement. But he said they would probably hold the Miami flight. I made it through more security in Milan and despite the fact that my Miami flight was not listed on any boards, I am now on the plane for the last 8 hours of flight time. Baring some major excitement like a high jacking or plane crash, this should be the end of my Saga, Mom will pick me up at the airport (all of my luggage WILL have arrived) and I will post this last entry when I get home.

I hope you have enjoyed The Andreas Chronicles – Andrea in the Holy Land. Feel free to make a comment so I know someone was reading them!


(photos: Bathers at the Dead Sea and part of the drive from Tel Aviv to J-town - so you know it's not all desert!)

Friday

I can’t believe I go home tomorrow. It just doesn’t seem possible. We are going to the Dead Sea tomorrow, so today I spent most of the day getting ready to go to the U.S., doing laundry etc… I did spend the morning meeting with Shmulik, the Israeli scholar. Again, great conversation. I got lots of information about Israeli cinema as wells a better direction to go on with my article. I also assured him than everyone has trouble motivating themselves to work on the dissertation, that that way perfectly normal! Much like the student evaluation horror, the dissertation trauma is universal! At the end of the day, our last order in from the brasserie and more Angel.

Palestine

(photo:Church of the Shepherds)

Thursday
My wake up call did not happen and it is nothing short of a miracle that I managed to get up in time for my 8am pickup for today’s adventure. I admit to second thoughts this morning. Nasser couldn’t make it, so his partner took us and as I was getting into a car with two strange men to head to Palestine and no one I know knew where I was going, I did wonder if this was the smartest move I was making. But the opportunity was too great to pass up. The other passenger was a young Irish guy named Allen. Our guide told us all about the areas were passing and the political history. Traffic was a nightmare due to the demonstrations but after we passed the Israeli checkpoint (more machine guns) traffic disappeared. Because of the current political situation in the West bank, tourism, which was the areas major industry, has been destroyed. Many of the shops are closed and there are half built hotels where the construction just stopped. Apparently a lot of the people living in Bethlehem (primarily Christians) had relatives in other countries and have just left until things get batter. It was almost eerie, the deserted nature of the town. There WERE people there (more than we saw in Be’er Sheva on Shabbas!) but so few compared to the bustling area we had left (the two towns are about 5 minutes apart - think Hollywood and Dania or Provo and Springfield,) and one is crammed full of people and the other deserted.

(photo: Olive trees on the side of the read ready to be transplanted)

We went to the church of the Nativity which is supposedly where Christ was born. Like many churches in Jerusalem it is divided among the Roman Catholics, the Greek Orthodox, the Coptic’s and the Armenians. Because these groups can’t agree on how to use the space (or have Mass) the buildings are divided up and there is no crossover. As a tourist you can visit all the areas but the Catholics for example cannot have mass in the main church because that is the Greek Orthodox area. They have Christmas mass in the Catholic area which is side church. In the church of the Holy Sepulcher (also divided) the groups of Christians were fighting amongst themselves so much about who should have the key, that the Caliph at the time gave it to a Muslim family and it has remained with them to this day! So everyone shares but no one is in control. The church of the Nativity is one of the only original churches to remain from the 300 AD era (and not be destroyer and rebuilt by the Crusaders) because when the Marmalukes came from Persia and took over, they saw the depiction of the three kings dressed like their own Kings (being from the East) so they did not destroy the church. It was very beautiful and moving, and you can tell immediatly which section you are in from the décor used in the church. We also got to see a bit of an Armenian orthodox service. It was very cool and different from the Catholic one. We also went to The Church of the Holy Milk. Our guide explained that the during the time of Christ, the basement areas of the buildings were used to store goods because it was cooler. When Herod ordered the killing of the children in an attempt to kill Jesus, Mary was said to have hidden here with members of her family (until they could flee to Egypt) So close to the Nativity is another building where she was hiding. While there, she is said to have been breast feeding and a drop of milk fell to the floor and turned the rock white. There is a Franciscan church there now, and it is said if infertile couples drink milk with the powder from the rock and prays to Mary, they will be able to conceive. The church has hundreds of letters from people all over the world with photos of their babies, who have been healed this way. The Franciscan priest said it works for Catholics, other Christians, Muslims, Jews – all that matters is your faith. And the letters are from people of all denominations as wells nationalities. I thought that was cool.

We also went to the place were the Shepherds heard the tidings of great joy. I think that was my favorite place in Palestine. There is a beautiful little church with lovely gardens and in the cave there is a smaller grotto and memorial. Apparently the shepherds would herd their sheep into the caves at night and light a fire out front to keep the sheep safe. The roof of the cave is still blackened from the shepherd’s fire. It was peaceful and beautiful and I could easily envision the shepherds seeing the heavenly hosts. The guide also took us to a friends shop (as they always do) for Turkish coffee and the opportunity to purchase goods. I was enjoying my coffee and determined not to buy anything else (I had bought a carved manger scene yesterday and that was all I was going to get) when I look up and see….a carving of Joseph Smith. I nearly fell off my chair. I asked the store owner who it was and he said Joseph Smith, for the Mormons. I told him I was Mormon and he got very excited and showed me his carving of Emma, Joseph and the angel Maroni and some other Mormon figures. Of course it makes sense since there is a BYU Jerusalem and all, but all you hear over and over are about Catholics, Greek Orthodox , Coptic’s and Armenians...After awhile you just don’t expect to see stuff from other denominations. So to look and see (and recognize) Joseph Smith ...while drinking coffee… was a trip! The owner said he thought we weren’t supposed to drink coffee and I told him I was going to hell. He laughed and insisted I have another cup (I think to show he hadn’t meant to chide me for breaking my churches law not to help me get there!). I ended up buying the bust of Joseph because I couldn’t resist, even though it was more than I would normally spend.

As we headed back, our guide said that since we were the first customers of his newly formed tour company (4 of them had just finished incorporating the company the day before) he would take us to the Mt. of Olives for a view of Jerusalem and the Garden of Gethsemane, no charge. So we went there and it was breathtaking. Afterwards, Allen the Irish guy and I were talking and I was telling him about Mom's research into our genealogy in Ireland. He asked about our family and I told him we were Crofts and Loftuses and he flipped. Turned out he was a Loftus from County Mayo (where we are from) and it is a very unusual name in Ireland...so we are probably related if you go back far enough!

By the time I made it back to the hotel, I had been gone on my 1 hour tour for 4 hours! Given that half day tours are usually 150.00 and this was 23.00, I felt I had made out like a bandit! At that point I had to check out and was pretty exhausted so I decided to abandon the rest of my Jerusalem plans until my next trip and head back. This time I took a Sherut taxi. Which is basically a taxi van. I’m glad I did for the adventure of it, but next time it is back to the regular bus for me. The van is crammed totally full so its less comfortable than the bus and a few shekels more! I made it home and this time we ordered Chinese and watched Angel.

Jerusalem

(photo:View from Mt. of Olives)
Wednesday
Today was my big trip to J- town (Jerusalem) I decided to brave the bus for the hour or so ride to town. I had not been taking any buses. Deb is not allowed to and had been pretty much sticking to the rules that the embassy staff have to follow just to be on the safe side (i.e. no buses or public transport, no nightclubs, avoid heavy crowded areas etc…) But I was starting to get he hang of it here, and while I still prefer the taxis to the regular bus (okay that may have more to do with convenience than safety) I decide to risk the bus. I managed to maneuver through the gigantic bus station that is more like an indoor mall with some buses and made it on the right bus – only 17 shekel (about 4 dollars) Nice big air conditioned bus. Yes, several off duty soldiers with their ubiquitous machine guns were also on board but I am beginnings feel safer when that happens instead of disconcerted. Nice ride and a great view of the area in between the two cities. I arrive in Jerusalem and ate yummy lunch at an Arab restaurant in the (Photo: Garden of Gethsemene) J-town bus station. I didn’t recognize anything so I told the guy to just give me something he thought was good. At first he was a bit discombobulated by this request (imagine going into McDonalds and saying that) but the he got into it and I got a tasty lunch. And then the adventures began.

(photo: Wailing Wall) Deb had made reservations for me the at the EL Dan hotel. The taxi driver said there were two of them. I had no address, just the name of the hotel. I knew mine was near the old city so I said to take me to that one. After hitting on me for awhile (from now on I am just going to say I am married) he asked if I would like a tour of the city later for 100 shekels (about 25 dollars). I mumbled okay – since I wasn’t quite sure what he was saying (his English wasn’t that great) and I figured I could always cancel after I got to my hotel. He keeps talking and after a bit I realize he is taking me to the Mt. of Olives. I said I wanted to go to the hotel and tells me he is giving me the tour I asked for! He said the hotel was in the other direction and we were almost at the Mt. of Olives. At this point I know I am going to get ripped of big time. But in my usual confrontational manner (said sarcastically- I am the biggest wimp around when it comes to this stuff) I was like fine whatever, take me there and then to the hotel. I had learned my lesson after that and every time he asked if I wanted to see something, I just kept saying no thanks just take me to the hotel. All in all, the taxi drive when I finally go to the hotel was about 75 dollars! But I was so happy just to get out of the taxi and into thee hotel I didn’t care and just gave him the money and chalked it up to experience. Then go to check in and they don’t have a reservation for me! So they call the other Dan hotel and they don’t have a reservation for me either! I try calling Deb but just get the answering machine (she has a shindig at the ambassador’s house and won’t be home till late) so I ask if I can book a room now. Turns out I can and I end up staying there. It was a great location, right across the street from the Jaffa gate to the old city and it would have been fine except when Deb finally was able to get back to me, it turns out she had already paid for my room at yet a third Dan hotel! After paying for two different rooms, I could have stayed at really swanky hotel!
At any rate, I didn’t want to waste any time in town because I only had to days and it was already the afternoon of the first day. I called a guide the hotel had recommended and arranged to meet him in an hour. Nasser took me all around the old city…I t was extremely cool. Jerusalem is very different from Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is really like any big city. A bit more European that American, but very modern. Jerusalem, especially the old city but really most of it, is what I had imaged all of Israel to be like before I came. Old low building made out of giant blocks of stone, twisty streets, and even the many of the new building are built in a similar architecture and style to the old ones so the town looks like a biblical town. The old city was amazing. Having seen the Passion, I think Mel Gibson did a great job recreating how it actually looks. Walled cities are very unusual in that when in the streets/corridors/alley ways, you are simultaneously inside and outside. It is an odd feeling. (Photo:Jerusalem) There ware narrow streets that were lined with vendors selling all kinds of things from clothing, carvings food and souvenirs to luggage - looking very much like what I imagine it did 100 years ago or even 2000 years ago. The items may have changed, but that’s about it. The streets are narrow and somewhat crowded and most of the buildings date back to the era of the crusaders with some going always to Jesus time. The streets are cobblestone, sloped and filled with stairs. Nobody who lives there needs to every join a gym! Nasser took me down the Via De La Rosa and we hit many of the Stations of the Cross. It was weird to be standing in the middle of a bustling market and looking at a marker showing that this is where Jesus dropped the cross (the stations are marked by signs and a pattern in the street stones put there by Helena, the mother of Constantine, in 300 AD when whey converted to Christianity. Most of this dates back to that time period, when Helen came and identified the significant Jesus sites and established churches there. Many where torn down later as various groups fought over the city but the crusader usually rebuilt over the original ruins so the sites remain the same places since 300 AD with various layers of churches and styles. These often includes Muslim stuff because, as I learned from my guide, Jesus (and Mary) are extremely important and Holy figures in Islam so many times the Muslim invaders would just convert the sites to a Muslim holy place. In addition to the stations, I visited Mary’s tomb, Jesus tomb, where he was anointed where the last supper was,(photo:posters calling for Sharon's death)the Wailing Wall (the only part of the old temple left after it was destroyed in 70 A.D.) We also walked though all the quarters of the city (the old city is divided into Arab, Christian, Jewish and Armenian quarters.) We only walked around the Armenian one because you aren’t allowed inside) (photo:Protesters) We often had to take a circuitous route because there were huge crowds staging a demonstration because of the upcoming disengagement from the Gaza strip. 70,000 people came to the Wailing Wall to protest that day. They were arriving in droves (carrying orange or wearing orange streamers, bracelets etc...Orange being the color of pro-settlers) as we were leaving. It was quite a sight. We finished up around 8pm and I can tell you I was exhausted. I had thought I would go back at night with my camera on my own and do some more shooting but it was all I could do to get to my hotel room bed and collapse. But as he was dropping me off, Nasser said he was taking one other person to Bethlehem tomorrow and would I want to go, it was only 23.00. I didn’t think we were allowed go but Nassar said it you weren’t Israeli you could go, so tomorrow morning Palestine!
(photo:Desert that Jesus went into for 40 days)

Nachalat- Binyamin

Tuesday
I had heard of another really cool market near Carmel market that is only open Tuesday and Fridays. I was planning on going Friday but I decided I’d better go today, just in case something happens to prevent my Friday excursion – this being my last week here. I took a cab down and it turns out it is right next to Carmel market…Carmel goes one way down a V and Nachalat-Binyamin goes the other way. (At first I thought the taxi driver had been trying to drop me, yet again, at the wrong place!)
I love this market!!! Love it! I spent every cent I had (it took a valiant effort not to spend my cab money home). It was an arts and craft market with an incredible selection of photographs, jewelry, Judicai, and everything in between, almost all hand made, and often the artist was sitting right there working on stuff. And this is not church Christmas bazaar type stuff. These are really cool art pieces from very inexpensive to fairly pricey, in every style you can imagine. Definitely something for everyone. I got two very cool mezuzahs, lots of jewelry and a few gifs for people. After 3 hours in the market my wallet and my feet were exhausted. Home once again to research, order in food and watch Angel with Deb!

Museum Day

Monday, I decided the time had come to hit a museum. There are several good ones in Tel Aviv and I hadn’t made it to one yet. I really wanted to go to the Museum of the Diaspora on the University of Tel Aviv campus. It is supposed to be very unusual…instead of containing artifacts from the past it recreates the daily living of Jews throughout history. I started out with coffee on the balcony overlooking the Med and then caught a cab and it dropped me off in front of a museum. Now, the cab driver had been a little confused about where I wanted to go. The guide books here are not very useful and never give street addresses but by dint of locating the corresponding number on the tiny map in the guide book and pointing to it, I thought we had been successful. Turns out, he had taken me to the Eratz Israel museum which is apparently a museum of Israel before it was Israel. The guard at this museum said it was only a 15 minute walk to the other one. In Israeli, that translates to about 45 minutes for me. I decided I didn’t want to risk getting lost (or walk in the heat) so I thought I’d just check out the one I was at.

It was very odd. It had an unusual layout. It’s a large piece of property with several “pavilions” on it dealing with different subjects. First off, the ones I was most interested in were closed. Folk tales, anthropology and the parable garden - all closed. The planetarium was in Hebrew so that was out. After passing through the loading zone to get a drink in the cafeteria because the front entrance of it was closed, I was beginning to doubt my decision. The layout of the grounds was actually extremely pretty, but the museum part…hmmm. I started with the pavilion of crafts. This is where the glassblowing, agriculture, basket weaving etc was. A more boring museum exhibit you could not hope to find. Here’s a plow from 1000 years ago. Here’s a plow from 500 years ago, here’s a plow from 400 years ago. Here’s a basket made of reeds. Here’s a basket made of palm leaves. Here’s a basket made from…you get the drift. I figured I’d go through one more exhibit and call it a day. I saw a very cool looking area with interesting architecture and cool lighting but up on closer inspection it turned out to be a restaurant which was closed. Then in the distance, I saw a picture of Einstein, one of my personal heroes, so I decided to brave the scorching heat (I had been sticking places under the shady grape arbors. I passed the coin museum - yuck - about the only thing worse than the coin museum in my mind would be the postal museum. I get to the Einstein sign and it’s for…the postal museum! I decided to go in for a bit even though I have 0 interest in the subject because it might after all be air-conditioned! I go in….and the postal museum was the most interesting place there! The exhibits were done in a much more modern methods, silk screened images, old telephones displayed like modern art pieces, kiosk where you can dial up and watch old newsreel bout the postal service. And the history info was fascinating as well, the history of the postal service in pre-Israel being a history of the shifting national powers trying to gain economic and political control of the region. And it concluded with a special exhibit devoted to the iconic image of Einstein, based on stamps but including all sorts of images. I spent quite a while in there and revised my opinion of the museum. It also had a really great museum store with super nice pieces…most of it out of my price rang abut I did add a little to my draydle collection. After several hours there I headed home to work on my research and recover from the heat. Deb and I have discovered that her favorite restaurant, the Brasserie, delivers so we ordered dinner from the Brasserie (they make a wicked BLT.) and watched Angel.

Jaffa/Yafo

Okay - it's been a bit since I last posted and I don't remember now why I didn't make it to Carmel market last Friday...but something happend and I'm sure it was fun. We did go to the grocery store up in Hertzaliya to get supplies for Sundays party. We headed out for the Dead Sea on Saturday but the rent-a-car stalled twice so we decided rather than head over to the West Bank in a questionable car (where the car rental people will NOT come get you if there is a problem) we would drive around Old Jaffa for a bit til we felt confident in the car. Jaffa is the oldest part of Tel Aviv...not officially part of the city. It is primarily Arab and I had wanted to go there but hadn't made it yet. The main part of Jaffa (or Yafo...all the places here have three or four possible spellings making it somuch fun to navigate) is best seen by car. Not alot of exciting things to get out and do but different enough from Tel Aviv to make it worth seeing. But then we stumbled across the old city. We just lucked into it..Deb had been to Jaffa before and not been impressed but kept hearing that it was really cool. We thought we must have a very different idea of cool until we accidently found the old city. You pay you money and park and walk through it. They have restored the area like the old walled city was and it is filled with art galleries and resteraunts and that's where the famous flea market it is (but we were there on Shabbot so most things were closed) It was Amazing..one of my favorite places I went. Lots of twisty stone alleys and beautiful flowers and art hanging on the street walls everywhere. All kinds of art from old fashioned to modern, sculpture, paintings, everything. And almost all of the stores were artist galleries. It was just like I imagine a perfect city would be, adorable, old fashioned, with art everywhere. If there had been a soundtrack, I would have thought I was in a fantasy world. The heat also kept us firmly anchored to the real world. We could only wander for about 2 hours and then had to get back in the car. I was feeling kind of whimpy because I really liked it and wanted to spend more time there, didn't even make it to the park or resteraunts and then we found out it was over 100 degrees! I felt less guilty then! We drove more around Jaffa (in the air conditioned car) and then headed back for our afternoon rest and party prep. Sunday was mostly party prep...another grocery store run, hardware store run and preparing everything. We had a sunset party (make your own nachos as my Utah friends will be familiar with) About 15 of Debs friends and coworkers came. I really enjoyed meeting them. They are a cool crowd. And they enjoyed the nachos! So all in all a good weekend.

Week 3

Well, this has been a great week. I finally was able to meet with an Israeli scholar over here and he was marvelous. He is a grad student so he is still excited about all of this stuff! He is working on Israeli documentary film and several of his professors wrote the articles I am reading. We spent several hours in a café discussing Israeli cinema. He was able to give me lots of background information that explained a lot of what I had been reading. (What Aliya was….The problems between the Ashkenazi and the Mizrahi Jews etc…) eventually segued into politics and finally into complaining about our students. He was saying practically word for word the same things I do, right down to complaining about student evaluations! And we both said that it was good to know that it wasn’t just us. So the problem with students who don’t want to learn is international...I don’t know if that is more comforting or worrying!

I’ve done some more exploring of the city this week, primarily during my attempts to track down the Israeli movies I need. I’ve been to Opera tower, Dizengoff Center and many many may streets in between. I was able to get about 8 of the films so that’s a good start. Also picked up some Israeli techno music, which is apparently big here. Did some shopping, had a yummy lunch, which was called cheese toast but was really a tasty grilled cheese sandwich at a sidewalk cafe (where I had collapsed in heat exhaustion during my last attempt to find the video store…finally found it and had passed by two times! I can only blame the sunstroke.) Had another yummy lunch which was potatoes and mushrooms in a big bowl of cream and cheese. Double yum.

Last night Deb and I went out to dinner with some of her friends from the Embassy. We had a very nice dinner and an even nicer time with her crew. They are very funny, intelligent, really nice people. Laughed all night. I’m really looking forward to Sunday’s party now.

Today’s plan is to go back to Carmel market and Sheinkein. It’s supposed to be super big on Fridays so I wanted to go back and explore on a Friday, and I need to buy supplies for Friday's party. Tomorrow….the Dead Sea!

Ceasarea

(photo:Ceasarea main building)
Sunday, the first day of the workweek for Israel but still a weekend for Deb and I, we headed up the coast to Caesarea. First we tried to have breakfast at a cool restaurant Deb and her crew have found, but there was absolutely NO parking be found. We drove around for over an hour trying to find a place to park. We debated going back to the hotel and taking a cab to the restaurant but decided to skip breakfast in town and get it in Caesarea. Well Deb's blood sugar was getting so low that it became imperative on the way to stop and get something to eat. We pulled off the highway were there was one of the signs with knife and fork which symbolizes on highways all over the world that food is available at this exit. Instead of being a little shopping center with a McDonalds like the others we had passed, it was the exit for a town. We ended up on the main street in even worse traffic than we had left in Tel Aviv and still no parking! After a frustrated 15 minutes and poor Deb ready to pass out, I said let’s pull into the gas station and get gas and while you do that, I’ll go look for food. A frantic run to a nearby version of a convenience store yielded some nuts and chips and next door was a gyro stand and I made it back to the car as they finished putting in the gas (full serve only in Israel – I'm lovin' it!) After some food, we both began to feel better and could risk talking to each other without it erupting into bloodshed!

We made it the rest of the way to Caesarea without incident. Caesarea is the town that Herod built and named after Cesar. It has been converted into a resort area with Israel’s only golf course, resort hotels and the original excavation site. We first headed down to the aqueducts. This area is known as Caesar’s beach. I had to take a picture of the sign, again, I feel like I am in a Monty Python movie!
(photo:aqueducts) (photo:Cesar Beach sign)







The ancient aqueduct bringing water to Caesarea is here and a beach for swimming and a very mellow, restaurant café complete with couches, tables and barstools. Very Key West! We got drinks and hung out there for a while. If you are going to see anything in this heat you have to do a bit, then rest, do bit more then rest more. Deb got a yummy milkshake – they make great milkshakes here - and I got a lovely lemon mint smoothie. Very refreshing. After we had rested enough, we drove over to the main site of Caesarea. We wouldn’t have enough energy to see the whole thing, so I had to choose between the amphitheater and the main site. I reluctantly decided on the mains site (so hard to choose) We crossed over the ancient mote into the old city. (photo:moat)They have turned it into a park and swimming beach with restaurant, cafes and some art shops among the ancient ruins. They have done a very nice job modernizing it while still maintaining the old feel of it. (photo:cove beach at Ceasarea main building) We shopped and wandered. They sea is so beautiful here it is mesmerizing. We really wished we had brought our swimsuits and were tempted to go in in our clothes!
(photo: Medetaranian crashing on rock outcrop at Cesarea)
Only the thought of the long ride back in sandy, wet clothes stopped us. Deb bought some nice prints, I got a couple of cool dradles made by a local artist and the best find of all, Deb and I each bought an oil lamp from the Byzantine Empire. Israel is one of the only countries left that allows sales of antiquities, through licensed vendors, and they had a museum store there. It is amazing to hold my lamp and realize it was used around 1400 A.D. And they still work! The man there told us how to use them…he said he often has dinner parties by ancient oil lamp. How cool is that! I can’t wait to get mine home and try it out. (and find a place for it that Ama can’t knock it over) After another stop at another café for more cold drinks we finally headed home. I had used all the film I had with me taking pictures and we were pretty dead. We decided to forgo the trip to the grocery store that is mandatory whenever you rent a car and make due with what was in the house. As always I enjoyed the drive. I am beginning to recognize places along the coast. Even driving home is interesting; there is always something to see! (photo: arts and crafts shops at Ceasarea)


(photo: Arched entranceway into Ceasarea)

The Negev

Saturday dawned bright and early but we didn’t. Deb and I went out for dinner Friday night. Thai food. There are some good Thai restaurants around here and I was feeling pretty sick and wanted soup so Thai it was. Dinner was good and since they asked us to switch tables to accommodate a larger party they gave us a free desert. It was fabulous. They said was tapioca and there was tapioca in it but it was not a pudding. It had coconut milk and fresh fruit and something else we couldn’t identify but Deb and I were hard pressed to not lick the bowl! When Saturday rolled around we were pretty dead. We went out to rent the car and after that really, really, really wanted to spend the day in the apartment watching Angel. Deb was exhausted with bronchitis and work and I was at the peak of the cold. We vegged for a while and then looked at each other and said, "We HAVE to leave the apartment.” We decided we would just take the car and explore to the south and if we still felt bad after an hour or two we would come back. After we made it out into the warm sunshine (in the air-conditioned car) we actually felt okay. Since we were driving, it wasn’t too strenuous and we decided to head to the desert and see what we could see.

It was very interesting. We had originally thought we would head to Eilat, which is the south-est spot in the country, but we never made it all the way. We drove down into the Negev enjoying the scenery. Very stark and grand. We stopped in Be’er Sheva. Because it was Shabbat, the town was dead. And I mean dead. I think we saw about 10 people the whole time. It was like a movie where there had been some sort of nuclear disaster! But it actually worked out well because then Deb didn’t have to worry about the crazy drivers and could enjoy the scenery. There is a big university in the town and lots of apartment complexes and some stores. And I saw the first black people since I arrived. (photo: view from car of desert)
A lot of the Ethiopian Jews settled in Be’er Sheva so it has a larger black population. At this point we were getting pretty hungry. We knew our only chance for dinner would be an Arab restaurant (since their Holy day is Friday) and we happened to see a couple cars turning onto our street up ahead. I said, “ Deb, follow the cars. That is the most people we have seen since we have been here. If there is anything open in this town, they must be coming from it!” And sure enough, we found a little shopping center with a few stores open and yeah! A restaurant. We would have taken what we could get at that point but Allah was smiling on us. The place was called (translated) Heaven on the Table and boy was it. It was a fancy Arab restaurant and after we ordered they brought out 14 dishes of appetizers from hummus to various salads, pickles baba gounush, you name it and a yummy giant pita. I got a garlic steak and Deb got goose liver kabobs. I hat hot lemon grass tea and they were so unhappy that we didn’t want desert that they brought us watermelon and baklava for free! We basically thought we had died and gone to heaven. We also thought they would have to drive us back to Tel Aviv because we were so stuffed! We did a little shopping (I was desperate for puffs plus for my aching nose) and got back in the car. Nearby was a modern Bedouin village which we drove through (sort of Israeli projects) and then a gorgeous tiny suburb-like place where obviously the wealthy Israeli’s have their homes. It reminded me of Coral Ridge in Ft. Lauderdale. Shabbat had ended and there were lots of folks out rollerblading, walking the dogs, pushing baby carriages (there are LOTS of babies in Israel.)

We then headed back into the desert. We saw herds of goats with traditionally dressed goatherds, we passed many camels on the roadside; we even passed an Ostrich farm! We realized we were not going to make it all the way to Eilat so I devised a scenic route back. Unfortunately, it took us rather close to the Gaza strip. If Deb gets caught in Gaza, she’s immediately fired and deported from Israel! (That’s assuming we make it back from Gaza) (photo:road cuts through giant rocks in desert) (Photo:one of many camel crossing signs we passed) So there were some tense moments, especially since we were only assuming that the pink strip in the on the map WAS the Gaza strip. It’s not clearly marked and the major Israeli highways go through it, so it’s not entirely clear where it is. As the sun was setting and (remember we are in the desert and there are no street lights) we see up ahead a bunch of soldiers, tanks and machine guns! There was some panicking in the car. Fortunately they were Israeli soldiers. I assured Deb and myself that we would see Israeli soldiers before Palestinian ones so we should have plenty of time to turn around before hitting Gaza. Right? The soldiers were waving us through, but Deb was rather concerned we were being waved through to Palestine so she stopped one of them and tried to ask if we were in Israel without coming straight out and saying it that way. Luckily we clearly appeared like lost American tourists with our car full of water bottles, Kleenex boxes, maps, guide books and country music playing on the tape deck! They said the road ahead was closed and guarded by the Israeli soldiers do to the upcoming military withdrawal from Gaza (let me be clear I had NOT navigated us into Palestine) and asked where we were headed. When we told them Tel Aviv, they looked quite shocked and one started to laugh. We were a long way off and pleasure driving in the car is not really an Israeli concept. He showed us how to get there on the map, basically go into the restricted zone and take the first right turn we could. That road would take us to the highway back to Tel Aviv. With some trepidation, we headed into the military zone and believe me, we took the first right available! After a time, we passed through some more soldiers and machine guns and continued on our way in the safe zone.
More driving through desert taking in the scenery in the waning light. We passed a huge array of giant satellites, which I think is one of the space watching places (think Contact.) Our next little bit of excitement came when we came to the intersection which I was pretty sure was still in Israel but due to the aforesaid nebulousness of the map was not entirely sure. We were okay but it was a bit disconcerting to be at the red light in front the sign that pointed right to Tel Aviv and left to Gaza. We were about 5 minutes away from the entrance. A little freaky. The rest of the trip home was uneventful and we made it back and collapsed, glad that we had made it out of the apartment and still with enough time for one more Angle episode! Tomorrow Caesarea.

Week 2

(photo: night view from Deb's balcony)

Hello all-
Thought I’d better report in on my latest activities or you might stop checking the blog! Things are slower during the week because Deb has to work. Poor thing, summer is her busy season so she leaves at 8 in the morning and doesn’t get home until between 6 and 8 p.m.! So mostly in the evenings we order dinner in and watch Angel episodes. Actually, not a bad way to spend the evening. She has started to feel better so that’s a good thing but then I got hit with a cold. So in between the heat, work and illness, we are not the most energetic bunch around! But I have still managed to have a pretty good time. I spend a lot of time working on my research. I know next to nothing about Israeli cinema or Israeli politics so I have a ton of reading to do…but I am finding it fascinating. I breakup the research with exciting ventures into the city…or relaxing at the pool. Actually, I researched at the pool, which is the best of both worlds. Deb has a gorgeous round pool on the rooftop of her building (28th floor) with piped in mellow jazz music and an amazing view of the city. I’m going to try and take pictures from there later… Very relaxing ...even when little kids are swimming. And it needs to be relaxing to help you recover from the glass elevator ride up the last three stories. I have begun to develop a fear of heights. Well, not actually a fear of heights as much as a fear of plunging thousands of feet to my death. Personally, I feel it is a healthy fear and not one I need to overcome.

I have also been out exploring the city. I desperately needed to get a nail fill so I headed out to Carmel market where I had passed a salon that did fills (not that big over here, you have to hunt for them) Not only did the girl do fills but she did nail art as well so I had cool French tip variation with glitter and gems done. It was interesting arranging it since she only spoke Hebrew and Russian and the other girl in the shop only spoke Hebrew and French and I of course only spoke English…but we managed. Apparently the language of beauty care is universal!

After that I wandered around a bit. Carmel market is right on the edge of Shienken Street, which is supposed to be the hot funky area of town so I decide to stroll that way. The hype is true…It’s sort of a Greenwich village-ish area. Lots of young people, cafes and cool funky stores with more cutting edge fashion. (the fashion over here is basically the same as south Florida) I only meant to go down a little ways and then go back to Carmel market for our dinner but it was so interesting I just kept going a little further. I ended up doing the whole street and came out on Rothschild. Rothschild (named after Baron Rothschild who was a big financial supporter of Israel development years ago) used to be THE place to live..very elegant. It is not quite as upscale as it used to be but it is still very nice. It’s a VERY wide street with two huge rows of trees with benches, walking path and the occasional juice bar in the middle. The buildings tend to be very modern looking (the International or Bauhaus style was very big here in the 30s and the architecture of the city tends to reflect that) with lots of balconies. (Photo: Rothschild)

I kept meaning to get a taxi home but it was so pretty under the trees that I just kept walking. I saw this cute bird catching a worm..it looked just like a regular little brown bird but then the top of his head had a feathery crown like a Kookaburra. I kept walking and low and behold what do I see….a new age bookstore. They are unmistakable. Same as in the states, same bulletin boards with Reiki and Yoga announcements, same tables with kitty cats and, as you get closer, the same smell of incense (they must all buy the same brand wholesale) but everything was in Hebrew! It was so wild because it was exactly like you were in the states, same statues, crystals, even the people inside were dressed the same except that everything was in a foreign language I felt like I was in an Angel episode where I had stepped into one of those alternate universes! I checked to see if there were any yoga classes in English but no luck. At this point it was very very hot and I was slightly lost so after another half hour of wandering I finally hailed a cab and headed home.

Here are a few random photos for your enjoyment. Stay tuned for the next installment: Andrea and Deb in the desert!

View of a strip mall. And the infamous McDrive. .)(photos: sign for a brand of gas station..because of my love of dragons this tickles me everytime I see it. A shot of one of the Nazarene Express buses..just makes me think of a Monty Python sketch.