Israel - A Learning Trip...

So Dave and I took a quick trip to Israel before coming home to the states.  But before we left my body decided I needed to experience the ER here in Amsterdam.  I have to say it was not so bad except that the night nurse didn’t know how to insert an IV needle – after 4 tries she finally succeeded in the spot I told her to try!  Anyway, I apparently had a kidney stone attack – and I will say that the pain was worse than childbirth labor.  For one – labor pains don’t continue, you have intervals of relief between them and second you produce a wonderful gift at the end of the pain.  Also, your body naturally produces adrenaline and endorphins to get you through the pain.  Well none of this with kidney stones.  Anyway, after a stint in the ER, some meds and some home remedies I found on the web, I was well enough to go on our trip.

Dave and I had a wonderful experience.  We only had two full days and one half day but we squeezed as much as we could in that time.  Our first full day there we spent entirely in the Old Walled City.  There was so much to see and it was so interesting to see the small streets that, to me, were like a maze that the Israelites walked every day of their lives and still do to this day.  The Old Walled City is also divided into four areas – Christian, Israeli, Armenian and Muslim – which also made it quite interesting.  I won’t list everything we saw that day but it made for a very full day.  Towards the end of the day when we were on our way back to the hotel I did have one bout with pain in my back but, thankfully, the pain meds worked and within a couple hours I was good to go.  And go we did, we met up with our friends, Danny and Suzanna, and had a wonderful dinner in Jerusalem.  While walking back to the hotel we encountered the streets full of vendors, sparklers, lighted trinkets, bands playing and people partying – it was Israel’s Independence Day!  It was a fascinating walk back.

When we were headed back to the hotel from the Old Walled City on our first day we decided to take a cab – when we got in the cab driver was very friendly and asked if we were planning on touring the following day.  This is a usual occurrence – all the cab drivers ask you this when you get in their cab, it’s their business – anyway, Dave said, yes, would like to see Masada and the Dead Sea.  Later that evening I asked Dave if it was safe to hire a cab driver to take us – Dave talked to the hotel personnel and they acted like it is a normal thing to do.  So we hired Fouzi to take us the following day.

Fouzi was up front with us and told us that he was a Palestinian Muslim that was dedicated to his religion and his family.  So off we went into the countryside.  He was very knowledgeable about the Israeli sites and told us that his information was only 99% accurate.  We laughed and said that’s OK.  I have to say I learned much more about the West Bank, Palestinians and Muslims than I ever knew before.  We first headed to Qumran – this was not as impressive as hoped for – it was a little staged and presented for a tourist.  Dave and I recently were able to view the Dead Sea Scrolls at a museum in San Diego and Dave attended several of the lectures that were presented along with the exhibition so it was fun to see where Qumran is located but we did not spend an extended amount of time here.  Our next stop was Masada – now this was impressive!  Unbelievable how this community was built on the top of a mesa – I was lamenting for the Israelite slaves that had to build the structures.  Mind you for my California friends – this mesa is situated next to the Dead Sea which is 1,388 feet below sea level – think Death Valley – the sun beats down, no humidity and the temps get into the 100s.  While we were there I would say the temp was around 80 and we had a tram car to take us up the side of the mesa but just walking around viewing all the structures we were drinking our water, panting and sweating.  And it is huge!  I just could not believe the size of this city.  I was very impressed and really glad we went to see it.  After Masada we traveled back towards Jerusalem to the public beach on the Dead Sea.  Now I will say this was interesting and I understand the health benefits of the Dead Sea minerals but I did not enjoy this beach!  And most of you know I love the beach and water.  As you know the Dead Sea has a high salt content so nothing lives in it and you can float on top of the water without even trying…what you may not know is the bottom is all clay and muck…not enjoyable to walk in and there were holes – yes, I fell numerous times trying to get out!  Dave should have taken a movie; we may have won some money on America’s Funniest Home Videos!  I need not say more.  J  Fouzi also stopped at the Ahava Skin Care outlet and I had fun shopping there for Dead Sea mineral skin care.  On our drive home Fouzi’s five year old daughter called him and he put her on speaker phone so we listened to him talking to her – she was asking her daddy to bring her home a treat!  So cute.

I just realized I forgot to say something - the Dead Sea from a distance is absolutely gorgeous!  The bluest turquoise you can imagine and as the light of the day changed so did the water...from blues and greens to hues of pink from the mountain reflections.  Just beautiful.

The next day our flight did not leave until 5:00 PM so we again hired Fouzi to take us to a couple more places and then to the airport.  He took us to Bethlehem which is located in the Palestinian area.  Fouzi arranged a guide to take us into The Church of the Nativity, the church that is located on the area that Jesus was born.  This was a moving experience.  The church is divided into three sections – Catholic, Greek and Armenian – each of the three conducts mass each morning.  While we were there the Armenian priest and his attendants were having mass.  The mass is conducted down about 8 steps into a very small area where Jesus was born and the manger was located.  There were several tour groups waiting to go down to view the area after the mass was completed but since we had a “private” tour guide who has lived in Bethlehem his entire life, we were able to go down into the area and watch part of the mass.  Very interesting and just to be there was very moving.  We then walked quietly out and viewed the garden area of the church.  After leaving Bethlehem, we had to go through a check point but were not stopped.  We then went to the Garden of Gethsemane – beautiful with thousand year old olive trees – and then up to the top of the Mount of Olives.  What a beautiful view from there.  Fouzi told us he loves to come up there and sometimes bring his family because it is so beautiful.  While up here the view goes forever and you realize just how large the city Jerusalem is now in current times.  We then headed to the airport with one more check point going into the airport – this time we were pulled over and they just looked at our luggage and then let us go on.  As expected, there are many security points you and your luggage go through to leave the country but everything went OK for us.

 

Now I am home and we are packing and getting ready for the trip home.  My friends here have made some plans for outings for me so I will probably be busy and will post more later about my last few weeks of this adventure of living in another country.

Hugs to all!