A local trip! Cruising aboard the Belle of Washington along the inland waterways of
North Carolina's Albemarle region. In the past, the NC Transportation Museum trips have been by train so we are looking forward to branching out with them. This trip will be to celebrate our 33rd anniversay.
Little Bob hits the road
Little Bob hits the road
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
We're home
Sorry it has taken me so long to get to this. I had a lot of catching up to do. Here we go starting with the farewell dinner.
It was held as I said before off site from the hotel at Olive & Fish. The day before we left, a large group of 4 or 5 full buses arrived and it was VIP time. We were leaving the next day as they were heading out for the day. It was a logistical nightmare but we saw their bus signs were The Israel Experience with Governor Mike Huckabee. I think that explains why we left the hotel for our dinner as that group was having a massive buffet that night. That reminds me... I know this because as we were settling our hotel bill for express checkout in the morning, I saw a business center sign. I walked around to a small corner with some telephones, 2 computers and a printer. We were able to print our boarding passes. That was when I looked over the balcony railing and saw the massive buffet being set. We had a short bus ride to Olive & Fish and back so it was not inconvenient. They put us in a small private upstairs room at one long table with U-shaped sides. We were one one of the 2 sides. The room was overly hot which was the only downside. They served appetizers family style. They took orders for main courses of fish, beef, chicken or vegetarian. Dessert was local pastries served family style. There was water, lemonade, white wine, and red wine on the table for self service. They offered beer if anyone wanted it. Clay did and they came back and told him he was entitled to 2 beers. He just had the one. We got back to the hotel about 9pm. It was time for bed as bags are out at 7am.
We were at breakfast at opening of 6:30am. We put our bags out before hand. We sat at our first shared table this morning as another guest invited us to a table for 6.
We wound up helping one overwhelmed bellboy roll our group's cart of luggage across the street and uphill to where we finally found our bus today. As I said above, the Huckabee group was taking precedence. It was a good time for us to depart! It was about an hour and a half drive to TLV airport. There were 2 flight 85s to the US that morning. We had people on both flights, our Air Canada to Toronto and a United to Newark. Mick, our travel director, was on the bus with us but flying to Rome. The Newark flight was checking in when we arrived. It was a little early for ours so we had time to use the restrooms. We were ready when they let us check in 3 hours early. Our bags weighed 10 and 15 Kg. I think we were allowed over 20, so we were traveling light. We got new boarding passes for both flights and luggage receipts. Off we went to security. We went through passport control where we had to have our blue slips from arrival. Lucky we still had them! They gave us a red slip that we had to scan to move on. We got access to priority/VIP security as we were Premium Economy. There was no line and we moved right along. We were very early. We were in boarding group 2 and they called 1 and 2 together. So far we were happy with Premium Economy vs. Business. The Air Canada Dreamliner Premium Economy experience onboard was equal to domestic Business Class, so we still have no complaints. It was a nice experience. Since the 12 hour flight was all daylight, it seemed like they served a lot more food. It was good and at some point, they simulated night by darkening the windows and turning off the lights. Clay slept some. I tried but the woman sitting alone behind us had 2 seats to herself and that still wasn't enough space for her. She kept sticking her feet between the seats onto the armrest or between my seat and the wall on the armrest. She must have toed me 1000 times during the flight, when she wasn't drumming her heels on the back of my seat. I have to conclude that she had some kind of medical condition. If I thought otherwise, I'd have had to give her a tongue lashing. I saw her when we left the plane and she was at least 40 years old, so she had to know better. Food. They offered water or orange juice before take off. We declined. Shortly after take off they brought menus. Meal one was salad, chicken or vegetarian ravioli with chocolate mousse. They served wine and beer with it. Meal two was a cold sandwich. Choices were pita filled with feta or pita filled with tuna. We both had feta. I liked it. It was served with pretzels and a choice of beverages. Meal three was tabbouleh salad, chicken or vegetarian pasta with Lotus cookies and a choice of beverages. It was all good and it seemed like they were serving a meal every 2-3 hours. We definitely didn't feel like eating dinner in Toronto.
We arrived in Toronto at about 6pm. Our outbound flight was scheduled to depart at 8:55pm. Plenty of time. This would be our first time re-entering the US after obtaining Global Entry. Toronto is listed as an airport with Global Entry kiosks. That is true, we used the kiosks. That was the only benefit. We used the Global Entry lines and got kicked aside for special holding while our checked baggage was processed. Per the Global Entry FAQ: If the kiosk receipt has an "X" printed on it, you must report to a CBP officer at the nearest staffed CBP passport control booth. You do not have to get back in line. The CBP officer at the passport control booth will review your documents, determine the reason for the "X" and either release you from there or refer you to "secondary" for additional processing.The "X" can mean many different things: random inspection; your fingerprints may not have matched; or other issues. You must have the "X" cleared before proceeding to the exit control point or you will be directed back to passport control for processing. The kiosk receipt shows the CBP officer that you have successfully used the kiosk.
We had to go through full security screening again. This was more rigorous than the swabbing we experienced in Toronto on the way to Israel. Keep in mind we never left a secure area after we were screened in Tel Aviv! We had to separate our liquids and take out electronics, then I got yelled at for not removing my shoes. I guess Toronto does not have TSA pre check. We didn't take off our shoes leaving Israel! Clay's bin with tablets got kicked aside and he got a swabbing. It took the better part of an hour and was not the Global Entry experience we had imagined when we paid $100 each and jumped through the hoops. Better luck next time.
Some last thoughts on Israel. We really enjoyed it and the AHI Tour Israel Land of Cultural Treasures. We learned some Hebrew. What I remember is shalom which means peace, hello and goodbye and toda is thank you. I'm not a very good student! The other thing which kept coming up and which I never wrote about was a really old map that kept coming up and being referenced which showed Jerusalem as the center of the known world. I don't think I mentioned before that Jews believe the Foundation Stone is under the current Muslim Dome of the Rock structure and that it is where God started creating first the world and then Adam. Hence, Jerusalem would be the center of the world. It is a nice story and a nice image.
It was held as I said before off site from the hotel at Olive & Fish. The day before we left, a large group of 4 or 5 full buses arrived and it was VIP time. We were leaving the next day as they were heading out for the day. It was a logistical nightmare but we saw their bus signs were The Israel Experience with Governor Mike Huckabee. I think that explains why we left the hotel for our dinner as that group was having a massive buffet that night. That reminds me... I know this because as we were settling our hotel bill for express checkout in the morning, I saw a business center sign. I walked around to a small corner with some telephones, 2 computers and a printer. We were able to print our boarding passes. That was when I looked over the balcony railing and saw the massive buffet being set. We had a short bus ride to Olive & Fish and back so it was not inconvenient. They put us in a small private upstairs room at one long table with U-shaped sides. We were one one of the 2 sides. The room was overly hot which was the only downside. They served appetizers family style. They took orders for main courses of fish, beef, chicken or vegetarian. Dessert was local pastries served family style. There was water, lemonade, white wine, and red wine on the table for self service. They offered beer if anyone wanted it. Clay did and they came back and told him he was entitled to 2 beers. He just had the one. We got back to the hotel about 9pm. It was time for bed as bags are out at 7am.
We were at breakfast at opening of 6:30am. We put our bags out before hand. We sat at our first shared table this morning as another guest invited us to a table for 6.
We wound up helping one overwhelmed bellboy roll our group's cart of luggage across the street and uphill to where we finally found our bus today. As I said above, the Huckabee group was taking precedence. It was a good time for us to depart! It was about an hour and a half drive to TLV airport. There were 2 flight 85s to the US that morning. We had people on both flights, our Air Canada to Toronto and a United to Newark. Mick, our travel director, was on the bus with us but flying to Rome. The Newark flight was checking in when we arrived. It was a little early for ours so we had time to use the restrooms. We were ready when they let us check in 3 hours early. Our bags weighed 10 and 15 Kg. I think we were allowed over 20, so we were traveling light. We got new boarding passes for both flights and luggage receipts. Off we went to security. We went through passport control where we had to have our blue slips from arrival. Lucky we still had them! They gave us a red slip that we had to scan to move on. We got access to priority/VIP security as we were Premium Economy. There was no line and we moved right along. We were very early. We were in boarding group 2 and they called 1 and 2 together. So far we were happy with Premium Economy vs. Business. The Air Canada Dreamliner Premium Economy experience onboard was equal to domestic Business Class, so we still have no complaints. It was a nice experience. Since the 12 hour flight was all daylight, it seemed like they served a lot more food. It was good and at some point, they simulated night by darkening the windows and turning off the lights. Clay slept some. I tried but the woman sitting alone behind us had 2 seats to herself and that still wasn't enough space for her. She kept sticking her feet between the seats onto the armrest or between my seat and the wall on the armrest. She must have toed me 1000 times during the flight, when she wasn't drumming her heels on the back of my seat. I have to conclude that she had some kind of medical condition. If I thought otherwise, I'd have had to give her a tongue lashing. I saw her when we left the plane and she was at least 40 years old, so she had to know better. Food. They offered water or orange juice before take off. We declined. Shortly after take off they brought menus. Meal one was salad, chicken or vegetarian ravioli with chocolate mousse. They served wine and beer with it. Meal two was a cold sandwich. Choices were pita filled with feta or pita filled with tuna. We both had feta. I liked it. It was served with pretzels and a choice of beverages. Meal three was tabbouleh salad, chicken or vegetarian pasta with Lotus cookies and a choice of beverages. It was all good and it seemed like they were serving a meal every 2-3 hours. We definitely didn't feel like eating dinner in Toronto.
We arrived in Toronto at about 6pm. Our outbound flight was scheduled to depart at 8:55pm. Plenty of time. This would be our first time re-entering the US after obtaining Global Entry. Toronto is listed as an airport with Global Entry kiosks. That is true, we used the kiosks. That was the only benefit. We used the Global Entry lines and got kicked aside for special holding while our checked baggage was processed. Per the Global Entry FAQ: If the kiosk receipt has an "X" printed on it, you must report to a CBP officer at the nearest staffed CBP passport control booth. You do not have to get back in line. The CBP officer at the passport control booth will review your documents, determine the reason for the "X" and either release you from there or refer you to "secondary" for additional processing.The "X" can mean many different things: random inspection; your fingerprints may not have matched; or other issues. You must have the "X" cleared before proceeding to the exit control point or you will be directed back to passport control for processing. The kiosk receipt shows the CBP officer that you have successfully used the kiosk.
We had to go through full security screening again. This was more rigorous than the swabbing we experienced in Toronto on the way to Israel. Keep in mind we never left a secure area after we were screened in Tel Aviv! We had to separate our liquids and take out electronics, then I got yelled at for not removing my shoes. I guess Toronto does not have TSA pre check. We didn't take off our shoes leaving Israel! Clay's bin with tablets got kicked aside and he got a swabbing. It took the better part of an hour and was not the Global Entry experience we had imagined when we paid $100 each and jumped through the hoops. Better luck next time.
Some last thoughts on Israel. We really enjoyed it and the AHI Tour Israel Land of Cultural Treasures. We learned some Hebrew. What I remember is shalom which means peace, hello and goodbye and toda is thank you. I'm not a very good student! The other thing which kept coming up and which I never wrote about was a really old map that kept coming up and being referenced which showed Jerusalem as the center of the known world. I don't think I mentioned before that Jews believe the Foundation Stone is under the current Muslim Dome of the Rock structure and that it is where God started creating first the world and then Adam. Hence, Jerusalem would be the center of the world. It is a nice story and a nice image.
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Last day in Jerusalem
We had a really short and relaxing day today. I don't know why when looking at the itinerary I didn't notice the almost 4 hour gap this afternoon. We are mostly packed up anyway so didn't need the time for that. We can't find that there is any printing facility in the hotel, so we'll be asking for boarding passes at TLV airport when we check our bags.
We learned that the farewell dinner tonight at 7pm will be at a restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. It will be at Olive & fish.That doesn't sound too promising for me. I have been able to easily avoid fish and seafood all trip without any help. In the good news category, we never ate the nabs or apple we had stockpiled for Shabbat. So, I know I'll have something to eat tonight no matter what.
We departed for Yad Vashem at 8:30am. Ori walked us around some of the outdoor features first and described our visit and gave suggestions. This was our first museum we visited unguided here in Israel. I know Ori wasn't allowed to guide or use our headsets because Yad Vashem uses their own. But we still used guides at the last 2 museums. I have no idea why not here. It was fine and probably because it is so disturbing to some people that they get in and out as quickly as possible. We were in around 9am and needed to meet outside on the other side by 11am. It is a tall triangular shaped building that you can see all the way through length-wise but that you have to zig-zag back and forth from side room to side room to progress to the far end to exit. So, you are really forced to spend time and look. Since we felt we knew a lot about the end period of the Holocaust, we focused on the pre-war run up to the Holocaust. I found it disturbing in the historical parallels of a party and candidate coming into power based on a campaign of hate speech. Both the womens' restroom and the Children's Memorial had what was for me a disturbing use of multiple reflection mirrors. An infinity of images that was disorienting. I know the Children's Memorial was designed to do it. I asked Ori about the Ladies' Room and he had never heard about the U-shaped room of mirrors before and the Mens' Room is not like that according to him and Clay. A coincidence?
At 11am we met in a small classroom in the Youth Study Center with Berthe, a French Holocaust survivor. She was 6 when anti-Jewish activity began in Lyon and 9 when her parents sent her to live on a farm with a widow near the Swiss Alps with a certificate stating a local priest had baptized her. She lived on the farm until she was 12 or so and reunited with her parents who had been maquis. It was probably a fairly typical story. We spent almost 2 hours with her.
About 1pm, we arrived outside the Machane Yehuda market. It was much larger and more restrained than the one we visited in Tel Aviv. I don't know if I said it before, but I quickly got over my initial dislike of Jerusalem. I am not sure what I was reacting to on our first arrival in town. It was not a good first impression. I still wonder if it was just the view on arrival because seeing it and approaching it from a distance from the east instead of the west was fine for me. We were back on the west side of town again today and I recognized some of the first day landmarks and it is just different. That said, we drove by the Knesset today and that was new. Back to the market. We had to meet back at 2:30pm and we on our own to have lunch. We wound up at a Yemeni place. There are evidently a lot of Yemeni Jews living in Israel. We ate at Jahnun Bar. Fearing over ordering again, we ordered a pizza malawach to share with the intention of ordering a sweet version in a choice of chocolate, honey or peanut butter for dessert if we liked the first one. We did like the first one, so Clay ordered a chocolate one. He was asked small or large which was weird because the menu only had one size. Then again the menu only had one thing in 2 sizes and after our "dessert" was delivered we realized that somehow Clay's order had become one for jachnun. It came with a cup of tomato sauce, a hard boiled egg and some hot green sauce. It was clearly not dessert. We didn't like it much, especially since it wasn't what we expected, but we ate most of it anyway. We passed a group of 4 female soldiers eating ice cream and figured that would do. Clay bought a selection of pastries before we found a crepe place with ice cream. I had cookies & cream and Clay had dulce de leche. He said it wasn't as good as last night's gelato. It was certainly an International experience anyway.
Since it will be late after dinner and we have a 7:30am departure tomorrow morning, I will post this now I may not post again until after we get home. It depends. I won't have a Business Class Lounge to post from this trip!
Photos
We learned that the farewell dinner tonight at 7pm will be at a restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. It will be at Olive & fish.That doesn't sound too promising for me. I have been able to easily avoid fish and seafood all trip without any help. In the good news category, we never ate the nabs or apple we had stockpiled for Shabbat. So, I know I'll have something to eat tonight no matter what.
We departed for Yad Vashem at 8:30am. Ori walked us around some of the outdoor features first and described our visit and gave suggestions. This was our first museum we visited unguided here in Israel. I know Ori wasn't allowed to guide or use our headsets because Yad Vashem uses their own. But we still used guides at the last 2 museums. I have no idea why not here. It was fine and probably because it is so disturbing to some people that they get in and out as quickly as possible. We were in around 9am and needed to meet outside on the other side by 11am. It is a tall triangular shaped building that you can see all the way through length-wise but that you have to zig-zag back and forth from side room to side room to progress to the far end to exit. So, you are really forced to spend time and look. Since we felt we knew a lot about the end period of the Holocaust, we focused on the pre-war run up to the Holocaust. I found it disturbing in the historical parallels of a party and candidate coming into power based on a campaign of hate speech. Both the womens' restroom and the Children's Memorial had what was for me a disturbing use of multiple reflection mirrors. An infinity of images that was disorienting. I know the Children's Memorial was designed to do it. I asked Ori about the Ladies' Room and he had never heard about the U-shaped room of mirrors before and the Mens' Room is not like that according to him and Clay. A coincidence?
At 11am we met in a small classroom in the Youth Study Center with Berthe, a French Holocaust survivor. She was 6 when anti-Jewish activity began in Lyon and 9 when her parents sent her to live on a farm with a widow near the Swiss Alps with a certificate stating a local priest had baptized her. She lived on the farm until she was 12 or so and reunited with her parents who had been maquis. It was probably a fairly typical story. We spent almost 2 hours with her.
About 1pm, we arrived outside the Machane Yehuda market. It was much larger and more restrained than the one we visited in Tel Aviv. I don't know if I said it before, but I quickly got over my initial dislike of Jerusalem. I am not sure what I was reacting to on our first arrival in town. It was not a good first impression. I still wonder if it was just the view on arrival because seeing it and approaching it from a distance from the east instead of the west was fine for me. We were back on the west side of town again today and I recognized some of the first day landmarks and it is just different. That said, we drove by the Knesset today and that was new. Back to the market. We had to meet back at 2:30pm and we on our own to have lunch. We wound up at a Yemeni place. There are evidently a lot of Yemeni Jews living in Israel. We ate at Jahnun Bar. Fearing over ordering again, we ordered a pizza malawach to share with the intention of ordering a sweet version in a choice of chocolate, honey or peanut butter for dessert if we liked the first one. We did like the first one, so Clay ordered a chocolate one. He was asked small or large which was weird because the menu only had one size. Then again the menu only had one thing in 2 sizes and after our "dessert" was delivered we realized that somehow Clay's order had become one for jachnun. It came with a cup of tomato sauce, a hard boiled egg and some hot green sauce. It was clearly not dessert. We didn't like it much, especially since it wasn't what we expected, but we ate most of it anyway. We passed a group of 4 female soldiers eating ice cream and figured that would do. Clay bought a selection of pastries before we found a crepe place with ice cream. I had cookies & cream and Clay had dulce de leche. He said it wasn't as good as last night's gelato. It was certainly an International experience anyway.
Since it will be late after dinner and we have a 7:30am departure tomorrow morning, I will post this now I may not post again until after we get home. It depends. I won't have a Business Class Lounge to post from this trip!
Photos
Last Night
We had an excellent escort from our Israeli guide, Ori, last night to the Night Spectacular. It was an excellent suggestion and we were glad we spent the extra time and money. We realized this morning as we ate breakfast overlooking the David Tower that it was where we were last night viewing the projections. After the show, we walked through the Mamilla Mall. We stopped at H. Stern. We stopped in to use the card we'd gotten on hotel check in to receive a free charm. Since Clay was at my side, she handed one to each of us. They were both star of David, but the card had an image of a hamsa, or hand, we asked and she found one of those and exchanged it. So we got 2 H. Stern charms from Israel. Nice. Clay had a pistachio gelato cone on the way back to the hotel.
I spent some time sorting my clothes to prepare for our last day here before bedtime. Every hotel we've stayed in in Israel had an iron and small board in the closet. When I got out my travel jeans and blouse, they looked as if they'd been slept in, they hadn't. I went to our David Citadel closet and you guessed it no iron. I hung them up and will have to go rumpled. I checked the guest directory hoping they had a room somewhere or a number to call for an iron but while they will launder or dry clean, there is no mention anywhere of pressing or ironing. So, I'll leave rumpled. I didn't need an iron the first 4 or 5 nights!
Today we visit Yad Vashem. That and a visit to Mechane Yehuda Market are all that we have on the schedule besides a 7pm farewell dinner at the hotel, I believe. We always knew this was a long pair of flights for a short trip, but it really has flown by with very little down time.
I'll be back later this afternoon or evening with a post about today. But, before I go I want to let everyone who mighth be following Mideast news and be worried that we are not feeling any effects of what is happening militarily with Israel. This does probably explain all the tanks we saw moving North towards Syrian when we were in the Golan Heights. I didn't mention it because it was military and it seemed like a bad idea. But I think Clay posted a photo.
More later.
I spent some time sorting my clothes to prepare for our last day here before bedtime. Every hotel we've stayed in in Israel had an iron and small board in the closet. When I got out my travel jeans and blouse, they looked as if they'd been slept in, they hadn't. I went to our David Citadel closet and you guessed it no iron. I hung them up and will have to go rumpled. I checked the guest directory hoping they had a room somewhere or a number to call for an iron but while they will launder or dry clean, there is no mention anywhere of pressing or ironing. So, I'll leave rumpled. I didn't need an iron the first 4 or 5 nights!
Today we visit Yad Vashem. That and a visit to Mechane Yehuda Market are all that we have on the schedule besides a 7pm farewell dinner at the hotel, I believe. We always knew this was a long pair of flights for a short trip, but it really has flown by with very little down time.
I'll be back later this afternoon or evening with a post about today. But, before I go I want to let everyone who mighth be following Mideast news and be worried that we are not feeling any effects of what is happening militarily with Israel. This does probably explain all the tanks we saw moving North towards Syrian when we were in the Golan Heights. I didn't mention it because it was military and it seemed like a bad idea. But I think Clay posted a photo.
More later.
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Masada and the Dead Sea
We were both awake before the alarm this morning. So even though we had time for an extra half hour of sleep, we were up. We had Shabbat breakfast which meant that there was only mostly cold food and no omelet station. The rule is no work, which primarily seems to mean you can't push a button. Like the Shabbat elevator, which is set to just run up and down opening and closing at every floor for the entire 24+ hour period. So, there were people working but supposedly not observant Jews. It was fine. Hopefully they charge less for Shabbat breakfast than regular, but who knows.
The bus left at 9:30am for Masada. On the way we went through West Bank territory, which was just a check point and past Jericho and Qumran.We also passed a lot of Bedouin "encampments". We've seen these in other Mideast countries and they were large tents that looked like they moved around. These looked like shacks and sheds and plastic covered huts. It didn't look like they moved them around, but they hardly looked permanent either. Jericho we were told is the place with the longest continuous human inhabitation. Qumran is where the caves with the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Masada also has a long history but has been mostly abandoned since a 1st century siege that ended tragically. We saw the remains of Herod's construction there which was the same time frame as Caesarea. The Jews who died there later did not built, but just moved in and modified Herod's buildings. It was impressive. We were glad for the cable car up and down! Especially after yesterday, we'd have never survived the 1000 ft. or so elevation climb and descent. Talk about stairs!
The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. The Jordan River that we saw in the Golan Heights in the North runs through the Sea of Galilee and I suppose just ends in the Dead Sea. I mean if it is the earth's lowest point, how could the water get out. As I understand it, it just evaporates. The Dead Sea is receding and is now in 2 separate parts connected by a manmade canal. We drove by both parts and stopped for lunch and bathing at Ein Bokek or En Boqeq at the Hod Hotel. Our package gave us all a towel pass at the hotel to be used to change clothes, shower and use the spa's hydro-facilities. We didn't but just accessed the beach through there and walked along the shore and back. On a clear day, you can see Jordan, but not today.
At 3pm, we drove back to Jerusalem. We got back about 4:30pm or so. We ate the snacks we'd collected about 5pm and finished our 2 liter Coke Zero. We have to meet in the lobby in about 20 minutes to walk to our evening light show that the entire group opted in to do. I'll post this now and expect to go to bed after we return. If I have anything else to report, I'll do it tomorrow. Today was an easy day touring wise. I personally had a hard day. My right leg felt like lead and I had to drag it along. Not an easy day for me, but it would have been a real nightmare yesterday.
Oh yes, last news. We got an Air Canada email and our bid to upgrade to Business Class on Monday was unsuccessful so it will be Premium Economy for us for 12 hours. So sad for us!
Hooray! The lights just came on! Shabbat is over.
Photos
The bus left at 9:30am for Masada. On the way we went through West Bank territory, which was just a check point and past Jericho and Qumran.We also passed a lot of Bedouin "encampments". We've seen these in other Mideast countries and they were large tents that looked like they moved around. These looked like shacks and sheds and plastic covered huts. It didn't look like they moved them around, but they hardly looked permanent either. Jericho we were told is the place with the longest continuous human inhabitation. Qumran is where the caves with the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Masada also has a long history but has been mostly abandoned since a 1st century siege that ended tragically. We saw the remains of Herod's construction there which was the same time frame as Caesarea. The Jews who died there later did not built, but just moved in and modified Herod's buildings. It was impressive. We were glad for the cable car up and down! Especially after yesterday, we'd have never survived the 1000 ft. or so elevation climb and descent. Talk about stairs!
The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. The Jordan River that we saw in the Golan Heights in the North runs through the Sea of Galilee and I suppose just ends in the Dead Sea. I mean if it is the earth's lowest point, how could the water get out. As I understand it, it just evaporates. The Dead Sea is receding and is now in 2 separate parts connected by a manmade canal. We drove by both parts and stopped for lunch and bathing at Ein Bokek or En Boqeq at the Hod Hotel. Our package gave us all a towel pass at the hotel to be used to change clothes, shower and use the spa's hydro-facilities. We didn't but just accessed the beach through there and walked along the shore and back. On a clear day, you can see Jordan, but not today.
At 3pm, we drove back to Jerusalem. We got back about 4:30pm or so. We ate the snacks we'd collected about 5pm and finished our 2 liter Coke Zero. We have to meet in the lobby in about 20 minutes to walk to our evening light show that the entire group opted in to do. I'll post this now and expect to go to bed after we return. If I have anything else to report, I'll do it tomorrow. Today was an easy day touring wise. I personally had a hard day. My right leg felt like lead and I had to drag it along. Not an easy day for me, but it would have been a real nightmare yesterday.
Oh yes, last news. We got an Air Canada email and our bid to upgrade to Business Class on Monday was unsuccessful so it will be Premium Economy for us for 12 hours. So sad for us!
Hooray! The lights just came on! Shabbat is over.
Photos
Friday, February 9, 2018
Day of 1000 stairs
I don't think I'm exaggerating, If anything, my 1000 stair estimate may be conservative. We were up and down all kinds of stairs all day long. Old Jerusalem touring is not for sissies.
I was up early, before the 6am alarm sounded. I had explosive diarrhea last night with cramps and gas. It hit with a wave of dizziness and nausea about an hour before the lecture. I may have not appeciated the lecture as much as I should have because of that, but Clay didn't seem too thrilled either. Anyway, I am not sure that either of us learned anything new or formed any new opinions or impressions of Israel as a result of the lecture. After the lecture, given my condition, we just went to the Lobby Bar for their snack menu. I didn't want much. We ordered a cheese pizza to share with a beer and a Coke Zero. It was good and the perfect amount of food. It was also crazy overpriced. My small glass bottle of Coke Zero was $5.50 USD. After dinner, we walked one block uphill after turning right out of the hotel door and hit a small supermarket, more like a convenience store. We bought a 2 liter bottle of Coke Zero for a fraction of the cost. We also bought a bag of chips and a box of chocolate cookies. We were laying supplies for the onset of Shabbat. We've had dire warnings about restaurants being closed and requiring reservations for those that aren't. We won't go hungry now.
The buffet breakfast this morning was good and came with a view overlooking the old walled city. Ori asked on the bus this morning if anyone had a room with that view. NO! Anyway, I learned at breakfast that I was still in intestinal distress. I finally broke down and took 2 loperamide when we came back to the room to brush our teeth. Good news is it worked! Hopefully it will wear off naturally but we'll be home within 4 days anyway. This was always a short trip, but it is flying by.
At 8am, the bus departed for the Mount of Olives. We had bus number 3 today as Misha's bus couldn't climb hills yesterday. We can't remember today's driver's name but it isn't clear if we'll finish the trip with him or not. We only spent a couple of hours today with him. From our vantage atop Mount of Olives, we could see an overview of many important Christian sites. We saw where "Jesus wept." Where Peter denied Christ 3 times before the cock crowed. Where Jesus was crucified. Where the Ark of the Covenant was once kept. Where the Last Supper was held. Where Pontius Pilate tried and sentenced Christ. The 2nd of 2 places where the Virgin Mary is said to have died. The list went on and on. It was astounding but the atmosphere was of a carnival. There were people selling trinkets and photo opps on camel and white donkeys. It seemed surreal and disrespectful.
We loaded the bus again and drove back to the Dung Gate of the Old City. We went first to the Western Wall because our guide in the Davidson Centre had not arrived. The Western Wall is also known as the Wailing Wall. It is an outside base layer close to where the Ark of the Covenant was once stored and therefore thought to be a place to be close to God. We had to divide by sex to go through security to go there. Then we had to divide by sex again to approach the wall. The men get the wall on the other side of room that held the Ten Commandments, the women get a smaller section further away from the holiness. Men have to cover their heads and women don't. Clay got a souvenir yarmulke or kippah. The tradition is to touch the wall and pray and to write a prayer and fold it up and place it on the wall or in a crack. Clay said he put his hand on it. The women though were packed in 3 and 4 deep at the wall and we only had a short time allowed there. I got to be 2 back from the wall and reached in between 2 women who were standing touching the wall to set my prayer paper on a ledge. The woman to my right evidently didn't like that and elbowed me. I hadn't touched her! Since women were sitting on chairs in front of the first row of standing women reaching over them, I didn't think I was breaching etiquette. Anyway, I got out of there after that and got taken for a shekel at the free ladies room. At 10:45am, we all regrouped and walked back to try the Davidson Centre again. Our guide was not organized and though he knew a lot, he didn't communicate it very effectively. The good news was that the half hour of our lives that he wasted sitting in the dark in a sub-basement was at least dark and cool and quiet. But we were here, and it seemed silly to sit looking at computer simulations when the real thing was outside and above us. Anyway. It seemed that was the low point of the tour for the group. It wasn't just us. We came back outside in time to hear the muezzin call to prayer for Muslims. We had to go through the security checkpoint again. We walked across a good portion of the Old City for the rest of the day. We were warned to take water and our belongings when we left the bus at 10am or so that we wouldn't be back until afternoon. It isn't clear why then since we exited through the Jaffa Gate which we've been told is a 5 to 15 minute walk from our David Citadel Hotel. Here is a map that might help. So as the call for noon prayer was sounding and the noon church bells were ringing, we began the Via Doloroso and the Stations of the Cross. This was not on our itinerary, though Ori had mentioned it when he was pointing things out from the Mount of Olives. It was a surprise. A good one. We started at 3 since 1 and 2 are not accessible according to Ori. We went through 8 I think before we stopped for lunch at about 1pm. It was the latest we've had lunch and it was a hard walk with all the stairs and cobblestones and blazing sunshine and crowds. People seemed stressed. It didn't help that lunch was sidewalk seating at a shwarma/falafel stand. We were fine with it. It wasn't as good as the shwarma we had in Tel Aviv though. After lunch, we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to finish the Stations of the Cross. The carnival atmosphere picked up again here. It did not feel sacred. I was surprised. It was a super crowded noisy maze. I'm glad we went, but what a mess. After a near revolt by about half the group over Ori refusing to stop for souvenirs or shopping of any kind, and after Mick had promised it to them, Mick yanked Ori aside and insisted. We got 15 minutes in a market area. Ori first derided the experience and described something like a long ago Turkish market. They stopped doing that even in Turkey and nothing like that was seen by us. I don't know what his deal is about riding us for spending our time in Israel in toilets or souvenir shops. What difference should it make to him if that is what happens. People, especially old people, go to the bathroom alot and enjoy shopping. I finally found an Israel flag patch in the last shop I checked. So, I'm done!
We rode the bus a long and circuituous route to arrive back at the hotel around 4:30pm. One of the women on our tour had shown me her free H. Stern charm from the voucher with our hotel keycards and told us where to find the store. I have another H. Stern charm from Manaus and I wanted to get mine. I had the voucher in my purse so hoping to beat the Shabbat shutdown, we went straight to the mall across the street to find it all shut down already. We had been told it would be about 5:15pm but it was earlier. We went ahead and walked all the way back to the David Tower to find the store for later reference. It looks like maybe Sunday afternoon on our last day.
We walked straight on to the Mandarin Chinese restaurant that Clay had found near our hotel that would be open as non-kosher on Shabbat. We walked through a bunch of open pubs and coffee shops on our way there as well as past an Italian place named Cielo that would open at 6:30pm. We were inside Mandarin and upstairs eating when we heard the citywide sirens sounding to give the 5 minute warning that Shabbat was beginning. Clay had to make 2 trips up the stairs because Mandarin didn't accept credit cards. He had to go to an ATM across the street. The Chinese food was good. It was a nice change. We got back to find that our setting the AC Shabbat settings per directions had left our AC running, but the lights being out was a problem. The bedside reading lights worked and the maid had left the bathroom lights on so we won't touch that switch all night to have light in there for showers in the morning. According to the hotel guide, the outlets should still work, but all the lamps have wall switches and since we didn't leave them turned on before we left, we can't use them now. The closet lights come on when the doors are opened which the hotel guide wouldn't work with the overhead lights. The elevators work and the hall lights are on. The lights are on in the ice machine room and the ice maker works. The TV works as do our tablets, so the dark is the only issue.
Tomorrow we visit Masada, the Dead Sea and in the evening Ori suggested we all go to an evening show at 55 shekels each. I think everyone took him up on that. Shabbat should end about 8:15pm tomorrow. The show is at 6:30pm, I think. Mick told us right before we got off the bus that tomorrow the tour would provide everyone of us a ticket to some kind of Dead Sea bathing, so to either bring a swimsuit or buy one in the hotel tonight. We didn't bring or buy swimsuits and neither of us would be seen in one any way. He didn't really explain what was happening tomorrow so if you can't just take off your shoes and roll up your pants to test the water, I'm not sure what we'll be doing while bathing is happening. Mick told us we'd all be impressed by Masada and they both think we'll all be impressed by the evening show. It will be another long day. We'll be ready to go home on Monday and just wish it wasn't such a long flight! We still haven't heard from Mick about our airport transfers which we prepaid for when we bought the tour. We have our fingers crossed that our Air Canada BC upgrade bids are accepted too! We won't know before 48 hours.
Photos
I was up early, before the 6am alarm sounded. I had explosive diarrhea last night with cramps and gas. It hit with a wave of dizziness and nausea about an hour before the lecture. I may have not appeciated the lecture as much as I should have because of that, but Clay didn't seem too thrilled either. Anyway, I am not sure that either of us learned anything new or formed any new opinions or impressions of Israel as a result of the lecture. After the lecture, given my condition, we just went to the Lobby Bar for their snack menu. I didn't want much. We ordered a cheese pizza to share with a beer and a Coke Zero. It was good and the perfect amount of food. It was also crazy overpriced. My small glass bottle of Coke Zero was $5.50 USD. After dinner, we walked one block uphill after turning right out of the hotel door and hit a small supermarket, more like a convenience store. We bought a 2 liter bottle of Coke Zero for a fraction of the cost. We also bought a bag of chips and a box of chocolate cookies. We were laying supplies for the onset of Shabbat. We've had dire warnings about restaurants being closed and requiring reservations for those that aren't. We won't go hungry now.
The buffet breakfast this morning was good and came with a view overlooking the old walled city. Ori asked on the bus this morning if anyone had a room with that view. NO! Anyway, I learned at breakfast that I was still in intestinal distress. I finally broke down and took 2 loperamide when we came back to the room to brush our teeth. Good news is it worked! Hopefully it will wear off naturally but we'll be home within 4 days anyway. This was always a short trip, but it is flying by.
At 8am, the bus departed for the Mount of Olives. We had bus number 3 today as Misha's bus couldn't climb hills yesterday. We can't remember today's driver's name but it isn't clear if we'll finish the trip with him or not. We only spent a couple of hours today with him. From our vantage atop Mount of Olives, we could see an overview of many important Christian sites. We saw where "Jesus wept." Where Peter denied Christ 3 times before the cock crowed. Where Jesus was crucified. Where the Ark of the Covenant was once kept. Where the Last Supper was held. Where Pontius Pilate tried and sentenced Christ. The 2nd of 2 places where the Virgin Mary is said to have died. The list went on and on. It was astounding but the atmosphere was of a carnival. There were people selling trinkets and photo opps on camel and white donkeys. It seemed surreal and disrespectful.
We loaded the bus again and drove back to the Dung Gate of the Old City. We went first to the Western Wall because our guide in the Davidson Centre had not arrived. The Western Wall is also known as the Wailing Wall. It is an outside base layer close to where the Ark of the Covenant was once stored and therefore thought to be a place to be close to God. We had to divide by sex to go through security to go there. Then we had to divide by sex again to approach the wall. The men get the wall on the other side of room that held the Ten Commandments, the women get a smaller section further away from the holiness. Men have to cover their heads and women don't. Clay got a souvenir yarmulke or kippah. The tradition is to touch the wall and pray and to write a prayer and fold it up and place it on the wall or in a crack. Clay said he put his hand on it. The women though were packed in 3 and 4 deep at the wall and we only had a short time allowed there. I got to be 2 back from the wall and reached in between 2 women who were standing touching the wall to set my prayer paper on a ledge. The woman to my right evidently didn't like that and elbowed me. I hadn't touched her! Since women were sitting on chairs in front of the first row of standing women reaching over them, I didn't think I was breaching etiquette. Anyway, I got out of there after that and got taken for a shekel at the free ladies room. At 10:45am, we all regrouped and walked back to try the Davidson Centre again. Our guide was not organized and though he knew a lot, he didn't communicate it very effectively. The good news was that the half hour of our lives that he wasted sitting in the dark in a sub-basement was at least dark and cool and quiet. But we were here, and it seemed silly to sit looking at computer simulations when the real thing was outside and above us. Anyway. It seemed that was the low point of the tour for the group. It wasn't just us. We came back outside in time to hear the muezzin call to prayer for Muslims. We had to go through the security checkpoint again. We walked across a good portion of the Old City for the rest of the day. We were warned to take water and our belongings when we left the bus at 10am or so that we wouldn't be back until afternoon. It isn't clear why then since we exited through the Jaffa Gate which we've been told is a 5 to 15 minute walk from our David Citadel Hotel. Here is a map that might help. So as the call for noon prayer was sounding and the noon church bells were ringing, we began the Via Doloroso and the Stations of the Cross. This was not on our itinerary, though Ori had mentioned it when he was pointing things out from the Mount of Olives. It was a surprise. A good one. We started at 3 since 1 and 2 are not accessible according to Ori. We went through 8 I think before we stopped for lunch at about 1pm. It was the latest we've had lunch and it was a hard walk with all the stairs and cobblestones and blazing sunshine and crowds. People seemed stressed. It didn't help that lunch was sidewalk seating at a shwarma/falafel stand. We were fine with it. It wasn't as good as the shwarma we had in Tel Aviv though. After lunch, we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to finish the Stations of the Cross. The carnival atmosphere picked up again here. It did not feel sacred. I was surprised. It was a super crowded noisy maze. I'm glad we went, but what a mess. After a near revolt by about half the group over Ori refusing to stop for souvenirs or shopping of any kind, and after Mick had promised it to them, Mick yanked Ori aside and insisted. We got 15 minutes in a market area. Ori first derided the experience and described something like a long ago Turkish market. They stopped doing that even in Turkey and nothing like that was seen by us. I don't know what his deal is about riding us for spending our time in Israel in toilets or souvenir shops. What difference should it make to him if that is what happens. People, especially old people, go to the bathroom alot and enjoy shopping. I finally found an Israel flag patch in the last shop I checked. So, I'm done!
We rode the bus a long and circuituous route to arrive back at the hotel around 4:30pm. One of the women on our tour had shown me her free H. Stern charm from the voucher with our hotel keycards and told us where to find the store. I have another H. Stern charm from Manaus and I wanted to get mine. I had the voucher in my purse so hoping to beat the Shabbat shutdown, we went straight to the mall across the street to find it all shut down already. We had been told it would be about 5:15pm but it was earlier. We went ahead and walked all the way back to the David Tower to find the store for later reference. It looks like maybe Sunday afternoon on our last day.
We walked straight on to the Mandarin Chinese restaurant that Clay had found near our hotel that would be open as non-kosher on Shabbat. We walked through a bunch of open pubs and coffee shops on our way there as well as past an Italian place named Cielo that would open at 6:30pm. We were inside Mandarin and upstairs eating when we heard the citywide sirens sounding to give the 5 minute warning that Shabbat was beginning. Clay had to make 2 trips up the stairs because Mandarin didn't accept credit cards. He had to go to an ATM across the street. The Chinese food was good. It was a nice change. We got back to find that our setting the AC Shabbat settings per directions had left our AC running, but the lights being out was a problem. The bedside reading lights worked and the maid had left the bathroom lights on so we won't touch that switch all night to have light in there for showers in the morning. According to the hotel guide, the outlets should still work, but all the lamps have wall switches and since we didn't leave them turned on before we left, we can't use them now. The closet lights come on when the doors are opened which the hotel guide wouldn't work with the overhead lights. The elevators work and the hall lights are on. The lights are on in the ice machine room and the ice maker works. The TV works as do our tablets, so the dark is the only issue.
Tomorrow we visit Masada, the Dead Sea and in the evening Ori suggested we all go to an evening show at 55 shekels each. I think everyone took him up on that. Shabbat should end about 8:15pm tomorrow. The show is at 6:30pm, I think. Mick told us right before we got off the bus that tomorrow the tour would provide everyone of us a ticket to some kind of Dead Sea bathing, so to either bring a swimsuit or buy one in the hotel tonight. We didn't bring or buy swimsuits and neither of us would be seen in one any way. He didn't really explain what was happening tomorrow so if you can't just take off your shoes and roll up your pants to test the water, I'm not sure what we'll be doing while bathing is happening. Mick told us we'd all be impressed by Masada and they both think we'll all be impressed by the evening show. It will be another long day. We'll be ready to go home on Monday and just wish it wasn't such a long flight! We still haven't heard from Mick about our airport transfers which we prepaid for when we bought the tour. We have our fingers crossed that our Air Canada BC upgrade bids are accepted too! We won't know before 48 hours.
Photos
Thursday, February 8, 2018
To Jerusalem
The alarm Clay set woke us this morning so we could watch the sun come up again over the Golan Heights and the Sea of Galilee. That happened about 6:45am. Breakfast began at 7am. Bags had to be out by 7:15 and identified at the bus by 7:50am. We went ahead and put out the bags before we left the room and checked out of the Scots Hotel between sunrise and breakfast. It seemed like our best plan since we only had 50 minutes available.
The bus left at 8am and we had our original bus and driver back today. Good news and bad. We all appreciate Misha, our driver, but our bus has little power going up hills. We had some hills again today and we crawled them. We had to get back above sea level leaving Tiberius. We drove almost all the way back to Haifa for our Druze lunch today. First stop at 9am was Megiddo, or Armageddon. It is a ruin of fortresses piled atop one another for thousands of years. It was impressive. We walked uphill to the top and across it while Ori told us about it. When we had walked across we enter a well hole dug to reach a spring outside the fortifications maybe 700 years ago. It was 183 steps down and through a tunnel and up 80 steps to another parking lot to meet the bus. It was very impressive.
Lunch was about 12:30pm in the home of a Druze family in a Druze village called Usfiya or Isfiya. This was bizarre if still enjoyable. We had a 20 year old Druze college girl as our local contact or guide. She took us through a section of the Druze village to a private home where the inhabitants cooked for us, served us and spoke to us but didn't really welcome or greet us or invite us in. It was weird. The food was good, the setting was scenic and the people welcoming but it was slightly uncomfortable. The Druze religion as explained to us was one of the more bizarre, but in my opinion at this point they're all bizarre. As we've recently learned we'll be pretty severely impacted by Shabbat here in Jerusalem at the David Citadel Hotel. I guess we didn't see anything close to this in Tel Aviv last weekend.
Anyway, the rest of the afternoon was spent getting to the hotel. I have so long looked forward to arriving in Jerusalem and I am sorry to say that my initial impression is of immediate dislike. I had been marveling at how comfortable I had felt in Israel. It is like Singapore is to Asia as I felt Israel is to the Middle East. But I don't feel that way in Jerusalem. It feels completely different. Clay is impressed with the David Citadel Hotel, but other than the ice machine across the hall, I much prefered the last 2 hotels. I hope I get over this since our last 4 nights, or the majority of our trip, is spent here. We'll see. There was a major bumble over luggage here with Mick telling us to just go to our rooms as they were assigned and let our luggage be delivered. I bypassed the snacks and welcome drinks and there by found myself as the first asked to check in. I guess that meant we were gone when someone said that every bag had to be identified outside the hotel before it would be brought in. Clay went out and learned this after we had waited about an hour. I suppose this dead time this afternoon was meant to be relaxing but we were pretty stressed. The other thing is that this hotel photocopied our passports and a little bar code/UPC code slip of paper we got at the airport when we arrived. The immigration woman who handed this slips to Clay with our passports did not say a word about how important they were. Evidently, it is like the slip you get in Vietnam or Argentina. You MUST have it on you at all times, it is required for hotel stays and to leave the country. We had to show only Clay's at the Carlton on arrival and then we showed nothing at Scots Hotel. So we didn't know until today. It is just dumb luck that we stuck them in our passports after we left passport control at the airport after using them to scan open the turnstiles and that we didn't drop them in a trash can since the issuer said nothing. In fairness, after we got them back this afternoon at the hotel with an hour or more waiting, I found in small print on the back of the slip that you need to keep it with your passport. That was pretty subtle given the importance. Anyway, now you know.
We have a lecture on Middle East politics at 6:30pm tonight. We have to meet at 6:20pm to walk to another hotel to use a meeting room. We are on our own for dinner every night in Jerusalem except our final farewell dinner on Sunday night. We are told it will be problematic to dine here because of Shabbat from 5pm Friday to about 8:15pm Saturday. We can stand to miss some meals. We'll just see what we find to eat after the lecture tonight or if we'll skip dinner every night here but the last.
We have another early start tommorow so I'll post this now.
Photos
The bus left at 8am and we had our original bus and driver back today. Good news and bad. We all appreciate Misha, our driver, but our bus has little power going up hills. We had some hills again today and we crawled them. We had to get back above sea level leaving Tiberius. We drove almost all the way back to Haifa for our Druze lunch today. First stop at 9am was Megiddo, or Armageddon. It is a ruin of fortresses piled atop one another for thousands of years. It was impressive. We walked uphill to the top and across it while Ori told us about it. When we had walked across we enter a well hole dug to reach a spring outside the fortifications maybe 700 years ago. It was 183 steps down and through a tunnel and up 80 steps to another parking lot to meet the bus. It was very impressive.
Lunch was about 12:30pm in the home of a Druze family in a Druze village called Usfiya or Isfiya. This was bizarre if still enjoyable. We had a 20 year old Druze college girl as our local contact or guide. She took us through a section of the Druze village to a private home where the inhabitants cooked for us, served us and spoke to us but didn't really welcome or greet us or invite us in. It was weird. The food was good, the setting was scenic and the people welcoming but it was slightly uncomfortable. The Druze religion as explained to us was one of the more bizarre, but in my opinion at this point they're all bizarre. As we've recently learned we'll be pretty severely impacted by Shabbat here in Jerusalem at the David Citadel Hotel. I guess we didn't see anything close to this in Tel Aviv last weekend.
Anyway, the rest of the afternoon was spent getting to the hotel. I have so long looked forward to arriving in Jerusalem and I am sorry to say that my initial impression is of immediate dislike. I had been marveling at how comfortable I had felt in Israel. It is like Singapore is to Asia as I felt Israel is to the Middle East. But I don't feel that way in Jerusalem. It feels completely different. Clay is impressed with the David Citadel Hotel, but other than the ice machine across the hall, I much prefered the last 2 hotels. I hope I get over this since our last 4 nights, or the majority of our trip, is spent here. We'll see. There was a major bumble over luggage here with Mick telling us to just go to our rooms as they were assigned and let our luggage be delivered. I bypassed the snacks and welcome drinks and there by found myself as the first asked to check in. I guess that meant we were gone when someone said that every bag had to be identified outside the hotel before it would be brought in. Clay went out and learned this after we had waited about an hour. I suppose this dead time this afternoon was meant to be relaxing but we were pretty stressed. The other thing is that this hotel photocopied our passports and a little bar code/UPC code slip of paper we got at the airport when we arrived. The immigration woman who handed this slips to Clay with our passports did not say a word about how important they were. Evidently, it is like the slip you get in Vietnam or Argentina. You MUST have it on you at all times, it is required for hotel stays and to leave the country. We had to show only Clay's at the Carlton on arrival and then we showed nothing at Scots Hotel. So we didn't know until today. It is just dumb luck that we stuck them in our passports after we left passport control at the airport after using them to scan open the turnstiles and that we didn't drop them in a trash can since the issuer said nothing. In fairness, after we got them back this afternoon at the hotel with an hour or more waiting, I found in small print on the back of the slip that you need to keep it with your passport. That was pretty subtle given the importance. Anyway, now you know.
We have a lecture on Middle East politics at 6:30pm tonight. We have to meet at 6:20pm to walk to another hotel to use a meeting room. We are on our own for dinner every night in Jerusalem except our final farewell dinner on Sunday night. We are told it will be problematic to dine here because of Shabbat from 5pm Friday to about 8:15pm Saturday. We can stand to miss some meals. We'll just see what we find to eat after the lecture tonight or if we'll skip dinner every night here but the last.
We have another early start tommorow so I'll post this now.
Photos
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
A Good Day
We were up for sunrise today over the Sea of Galilee. I don't know why I was up before the alarm went off but I was and we got to see something special before breakfast began at 7am.
We went to the restaurant and gave our room number 202 and were told to go into a crowded and noisy side room. I looked in there and didn't recognize anyone and so I asked him to confirm and he said yes, go in there, you are with a group. Well, we are but not with that group that all had luggage with them as they were leaving today. Anyway, 4 of our group wound up in there crowding them out of their seats while the rest of our group ate at small tables on the sun porch in peace and quiet. I am guessing that tomorrow when it is our turn to check out that we'll be in the noisy side room again. We'll see.
We had another busy day, but not moving hotels is so much easier. Plus it was still daylight when we got to the hotel so I'm not trying to write this up at bedtime! We got a new bus and driver today as yesterday we had a weak engine climbing a hill and today we had to climb the Golan Heights.
We started the morning leaving Scots Hotel in Tiberius at 8:30am. We started at 700 feet below sea level. The Sea of Galilee is Israel's only significant fresh water lake and not a sea at all. Our first stop was at the kibbutz of Ginnosaur to board a wooden boat for an orientation cruise on the Sea of Galilee. It was a nice relaxing way to start the morning. We saw all the places we would visit today from the water.
Next we visited the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. Afterward Clay told me when he was about 14 years old he gave a similiar sermon. Huh? It felt sacred. Next was a visit to Tabgha where Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes. We saw the actual big rock he was supposed to have performed the miracle upon. It was a special place but didn't feel particularly sacred.
Last visit of the morning was to Capernaum. This is where we visited the ruined remains of Peter's house where Jesus lived with him. There is a church over it now and is the most recent of a series of them. We also saw a ruined synagogue built atop the basalt stone foundation of the one that stood there when Jesus lived there. So, I don't know what destroyed all the ruined places we saw today but we were told the Capernaum was one of three cities Jesus cursed. It was destroyed in 749AD by an earthquake and never rebuilt. It and Tabgha were supposedly always spots of Christian worship even during the early Christian period of time when it was banned.
We drove up into the Golan Heights to have lunch and spent the afternoon. We went to Quatsrin or Katzrin. We had lunch at Golan Brewhouse. It was served family style like yesterday's lunch but it was unanimous that it was prefered to yesterday's lunch. It was heartier and tastier. They served some very nice little beef sausages on top of sauerkraut that we finished at our table. They had beer for sale, but we had included OJ, lemonade, water and mint tea or coffee. Clay had a dark beer for 17 shekels and it was good though a small serving. He bought a t-shirt. After lunch, we crossed the street to Olea Essence. We learned about olive oils and by products. It was a very popular stop amongst the shoppers. Last stop of the day was a few minutes away by bus. Golan Vineyards. We had a very thorough tour of the barrels to the bottles followed by a tasting of 2 whites and a red. Very well done and good wine. We have really enjoyed all the wines we've had here. They gave us each a wine opener as a gift. Nice touch.
So, as I said we got back to our hotel before sunset. It is now about 30 minutes to our 7pm dinner and I need to post this and put my shoes back on.
Photos
We went to the restaurant and gave our room number 202 and were told to go into a crowded and noisy side room. I looked in there and didn't recognize anyone and so I asked him to confirm and he said yes, go in there, you are with a group. Well, we are but not with that group that all had luggage with them as they were leaving today. Anyway, 4 of our group wound up in there crowding them out of their seats while the rest of our group ate at small tables on the sun porch in peace and quiet. I am guessing that tomorrow when it is our turn to check out that we'll be in the noisy side room again. We'll see.
We had another busy day, but not moving hotels is so much easier. Plus it was still daylight when we got to the hotel so I'm not trying to write this up at bedtime! We got a new bus and driver today as yesterday we had a weak engine climbing a hill and today we had to climb the Golan Heights.
We started the morning leaving Scots Hotel in Tiberius at 8:30am. We started at 700 feet below sea level. The Sea of Galilee is Israel's only significant fresh water lake and not a sea at all. Our first stop was at the kibbutz of Ginnosaur to board a wooden boat for an orientation cruise on the Sea of Galilee. It was a nice relaxing way to start the morning. We saw all the places we would visit today from the water.
Next we visited the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. Afterward Clay told me when he was about 14 years old he gave a similiar sermon. Huh? It felt sacred. Next was a visit to Tabgha where Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes. We saw the actual big rock he was supposed to have performed the miracle upon. It was a special place but didn't feel particularly sacred.
Last visit of the morning was to Capernaum. This is where we visited the ruined remains of Peter's house where Jesus lived with him. There is a church over it now and is the most recent of a series of them. We also saw a ruined synagogue built atop the basalt stone foundation of the one that stood there when Jesus lived there. So, I don't know what destroyed all the ruined places we saw today but we were told the Capernaum was one of three cities Jesus cursed. It was destroyed in 749AD by an earthquake and never rebuilt. It and Tabgha were supposedly always spots of Christian worship even during the early Christian period of time when it was banned.
We drove up into the Golan Heights to have lunch and spent the afternoon. We went to Quatsrin or Katzrin. We had lunch at Golan Brewhouse. It was served family style like yesterday's lunch but it was unanimous that it was prefered to yesterday's lunch. It was heartier and tastier. They served some very nice little beef sausages on top of sauerkraut that we finished at our table. They had beer for sale, but we had included OJ, lemonade, water and mint tea or coffee. Clay had a dark beer for 17 shekels and it was good though a small serving. He bought a t-shirt. After lunch, we crossed the street to Olea Essence. We learned about olive oils and by products. It was a very popular stop amongst the shoppers. Last stop of the day was a few minutes away by bus. Golan Vineyards. We had a very thorough tour of the barrels to the bottles followed by a tasting of 2 whites and a red. Very well done and good wine. We have really enjoyed all the wines we've had here. They gave us each a wine opener as a gift. Nice touch.
So, as I said we got back to our hotel before sunset. It is now about 30 minutes to our 7pm dinner and I need to post this and put my shoes back on.
Photos
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Leaving Tel Aviv
It's been a long day. It's late and we have an early morning tomorrow, so I won't be too detailed here I'm afraid.
Breakfast buffet again around 7am, bags out before leaving the room, downstairs to leave at 8:20am. Bus departed at 8:30am. We checked out and ID'd our bags to load the bus in there too. We drove North along the coast road. We visited Caesarea from about 10am to noon. It was the ruins of a massive coastal city built in Roman style about 30 to 10 BC by King Herod. It was interesting. We ate lunch at a restaurant there. It was a variety of dishes served family style with water and coffee or tea. It was OK. We had an addition to today's itinerary with an afternoon stop in Haifa with a view over it and the natural harbor from high on Mt. Carmel atop the Bahá'à Gardens. That was interesting and although it was a clear, sunny day, it was too hazy for a really long view as on a clear day you can see into Lebanon, but not today. Our last visit of the afternoon was Akko or Acre. It was completely different. It was a Crusades-era fort built about 1099 and then buried under dirt and rubble by a conqueror and forgotten about with a prison built atop it. It was the site of one of only 2 of Napoleon's defeats. It was really fascinating. I don't think we'd ever seen anything quite like it or anything of that era in that good a condition of preservation. Neglect can be a great preserver sometimes. It is still a mostly Arab villlage above ground!
We left to head east away from the coast to the Sea of Galilee and Scots Hotel in Tiberias for the next 2 nights. The sun was setting in the west as we left. We immediately landed in the mother of all traffic jams at what appeared to be a poorly timed stop light where it took us an hour to go about 5 miles. We wound up delaying dinner by 15 minutes to 7:15pm and we mostly went straight there. It is too bad we arrived after dark as it looks interesting. It is a former Church of Scotland mission and hospital that is now a hotel still owned and operated by the Church of Scotland. They put our group in the modern building they built to make the property a hotel. They served Scotch as their welcome drink! Dinner was served buffet style and I believe that will be true for breakfast here as well. Getting ice here was not done with the ease of the Carlton in Tel Aviv.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner were included today.
More tomorrow.
Photos
Breakfast buffet again around 7am, bags out before leaving the room, downstairs to leave at 8:20am. Bus departed at 8:30am. We checked out and ID'd our bags to load the bus in there too. We drove North along the coast road. We visited Caesarea from about 10am to noon. It was the ruins of a massive coastal city built in Roman style about 30 to 10 BC by King Herod. It was interesting. We ate lunch at a restaurant there. It was a variety of dishes served family style with water and coffee or tea. It was OK. We had an addition to today's itinerary with an afternoon stop in Haifa with a view over it and the natural harbor from high on Mt. Carmel atop the Bahá'à Gardens. That was interesting and although it was a clear, sunny day, it was too hazy for a really long view as on a clear day you can see into Lebanon, but not today. Our last visit of the afternoon was Akko or Acre. It was completely different. It was a Crusades-era fort built about 1099 and then buried under dirt and rubble by a conqueror and forgotten about with a prison built atop it. It was the site of one of only 2 of Napoleon's defeats. It was really fascinating. I don't think we'd ever seen anything quite like it or anything of that era in that good a condition of preservation. Neglect can be a great preserver sometimes. It is still a mostly Arab villlage above ground!
We left to head east away from the coast to the Sea of Galilee and Scots Hotel in Tiberias for the next 2 nights. The sun was setting in the west as we left. We immediately landed in the mother of all traffic jams at what appeared to be a poorly timed stop light where it took us an hour to go about 5 miles. We wound up delaying dinner by 15 minutes to 7:15pm and we mostly went straight there. It is too bad we arrived after dark as it looks interesting. It is a former Church of Scotland mission and hospital that is now a hotel still owned and operated by the Church of Scotland. They put our group in the modern building they built to make the property a hotel. They served Scotch as their welcome drink! Dinner was served buffet style and I believe that will be true for breakfast here as well. Getting ice here was not done with the ease of the Carlton in Tel Aviv.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner were included today.
More tomorrow.
Photos
Monday, February 5, 2018
Touring in Israel - Day One
After a lavish and extensive buffet breakfast at Carlton on the Beach which is included, we began touring today. We met Mick, our British lives in Italy once married to an Israeli and lived here for a while, tour director last night at the welcome reception and dinner. This morning we met Ori, our Israeli guide, and Misha, our bus driver. We really are only 18 in the group and only 3 are with Tulane and all the rest with Northwestern. We were speaking with a couple who had come in one day earlier than us in the lobby before our meeting and they urged me to go complain at reception about how hot our room is. We should have done this yesterday. It is blowing cold air on me this evening as I type this and we came back to find our west-facing windows with the curtains left open all day by housekeeping!
Mick told us our itinerary had dropped the diamond museum for Neve Tzedek neighborhood walk because the diamond museum had suddenly shut down and gone out of business. I am not sure this was a good substitute. Mick told us last week they walked for over an hour there in a drenching, freezing rain. I can only imagine what they thought.
We started by getting our Vox headsets that we will use every day except when we are on the bus. We loaded the bus and drove to Jaffa. We can see this out our hotel room window in the distance down the coast. It was the original settlement here before Tel Aviv started in 1909. It was a settlement during Old Testament and the home of Jonah who was swallowed by a whale. Appropriately, we unloaded the bus and began our walking tour by a fountain sculpture of a happy whale. We wove through little alley ways and up and down stairs. We visited the St. Peter Church perched as a towering landamark at the end of the little peninsula. We walked back down hill to the clock tower and reloaded the bus. We rode a few minutes and unloaded again to see the former original train station. From there we walked to the Neve Tzedek neighborhood. We strolled and heard a lot about the history of Tel Aviv and Israel. About noon, we walked back to the bus and loaded up. It was a fairly short ride to Allenby Street and the HaCarmel Market or Souk. We had free time here until 1:45pm. We headed into the belly of the beast as instructed but, one it was far too crowded for me, too noisy, no promised street food. About 2 blocks in we cut out to a parallel street and headed back down Allenby St where Clay thought he had overheard Ori say there was a good shawarma stand. We don't know if we found the one he was talking about but we found one with a red and white awning where they were wearing t-shirts that said Doner Kebab. We again way over-ordered and had hummus, falafels and chicken shawarma wraps. Clay will never duplicate the meals he wants to recreate from Libya until he returns to Libya, if ever. We both thought it was closest to one we had in Bordeaux. We walked back down to the noisy souk corner and found a corner market with a cooler box of Ben & Jerry's cookies & cream cones. We each got one and waited for 1:45pm. We reloaded the bus and drove for a while to stop the bus next to the spot where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Our guide, Ori, is a former political journalist and political media spokesman so he had some personal experiences here. Last stop of the day was the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora. We were split into 2 smaller groups and guided through on a truncated and focused visit. It was interesting. We spent time looking a small models of worldwide synagogues and associated artifacts from each. Then we went to an exhibit about Chim, a photographer. We finished earlier than the other group and had a few minutes to slip into a special Leonard Cohen retrospective and got a sample of You Want It Darker with Mick. We got stuck in heavy traffic on the way back to the Carlton and it took over 45 minutes to get back.
We made our usual stop at the Lobby Bar to request a refill of ice cubes for my water bottle and picked up a hot focaccia topped with pesto, feta and olive and cherry tomato halves to bring to the room to share. I couldn't face another long way to the Tel Aviv Old Port and Clay couldn't face another too big meal at Fortuna del Mar right out on the beach. We enjoyed it with our room AC!
Tomorrow we have an early start as we have to pack up and check out to leave by 8:30am. Tomorrow we visit Caesarea, Akko and Tiberius before spending the next 2 nights at the Scots Hotel in Tiberius.
Photos
Mick told us our itinerary had dropped the diamond museum for Neve Tzedek neighborhood walk because the diamond museum had suddenly shut down and gone out of business. I am not sure this was a good substitute. Mick told us last week they walked for over an hour there in a drenching, freezing rain. I can only imagine what they thought.
We started by getting our Vox headsets that we will use every day except when we are on the bus. We loaded the bus and drove to Jaffa. We can see this out our hotel room window in the distance down the coast. It was the original settlement here before Tel Aviv started in 1909. It was a settlement during Old Testament and the home of Jonah who was swallowed by a whale. Appropriately, we unloaded the bus and began our walking tour by a fountain sculpture of a happy whale. We wove through little alley ways and up and down stairs. We visited the St. Peter Church perched as a towering landamark at the end of the little peninsula. We walked back down hill to the clock tower and reloaded the bus. We rode a few minutes and unloaded again to see the former original train station. From there we walked to the Neve Tzedek neighborhood. We strolled and heard a lot about the history of Tel Aviv and Israel. About noon, we walked back to the bus and loaded up. It was a fairly short ride to Allenby Street and the HaCarmel Market or Souk. We had free time here until 1:45pm. We headed into the belly of the beast as instructed but, one it was far too crowded for me, too noisy, no promised street food. About 2 blocks in we cut out to a parallel street and headed back down Allenby St where Clay thought he had overheard Ori say there was a good shawarma stand. We don't know if we found the one he was talking about but we found one with a red and white awning where they were wearing t-shirts that said Doner Kebab. We again way over-ordered and had hummus, falafels and chicken shawarma wraps. Clay will never duplicate the meals he wants to recreate from Libya until he returns to Libya, if ever. We both thought it was closest to one we had in Bordeaux. We walked back down to the noisy souk corner and found a corner market with a cooler box of Ben & Jerry's cookies & cream cones. We each got one and waited for 1:45pm. We reloaded the bus and drove for a while to stop the bus next to the spot where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Our guide, Ori, is a former political journalist and political media spokesman so he had some personal experiences here. Last stop of the day was the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora. We were split into 2 smaller groups and guided through on a truncated and focused visit. It was interesting. We spent time looking a small models of worldwide synagogues and associated artifacts from each. Then we went to an exhibit about Chim, a photographer. We finished earlier than the other group and had a few minutes to slip into a special Leonard Cohen retrospective and got a sample of You Want It Darker with Mick. We got stuck in heavy traffic on the way back to the Carlton and it took over 45 minutes to get back.
We made our usual stop at the Lobby Bar to request a refill of ice cubes for my water bottle and picked up a hot focaccia topped with pesto, feta and olive and cherry tomato halves to bring to the room to share. I couldn't face another long way to the Tel Aviv Old Port and Clay couldn't face another too big meal at Fortuna del Mar right out on the beach. We enjoyed it with our room AC!
Tomorrow we have an early start as we have to pack up and check out to leave by 8:30am. Tomorrow we visit Caesarea, Akko and Tiberius before spending the next 2 nights at the Scots Hotel in Tiberius.
Photos
Sunday, February 4, 2018
A walk on the Tayelet of Tel Aviv
We both slept all night last night. It must have been jetlag because the room is stifling hot, the bed is hard with a heavy duvet and no sheet and the traffic noise went on to the wee hours before things got quiet. We slept, we were jetlagged. Thank God no wild animals came through the door we kept wide open all night!
So, we wound up with at least Plan C all day today. We went back this morning to the cafe/bakery nearby that Clay had picked from the map and their website. As last night even though their website listed open hours, they were closed last night and again this morning. We can see it from the room's balcony and it looked closed but Clay assured me the website said it was open. It wasn't. I think it must not be the same place with the website. It has no name on the building and that would explain the difference between the website and the real place that sits there. Anyway. In good news, we checked with reception and we kept our room so we didn't have to pack and move. We just got new keycards. We got a letter welcoming us to the tour. We found the lobby sign board for AHI Tours suggesting we walk the opposite direction from where we'd previously walked for 15 minutes to reach the Old Tel Aviv port area with a lot of bars, cafes, restaurants and shopping. Since Clay's bakery/cafe was closed we backtracked and walked back past the Carlton in that direction. We walked 15 minutes and reached nothing but we could see that in another 15 minutes there was a restaurant. We couldn't see if it was open. I balked and we turned back again. There was another restaurant at the end of the little strip that holds the Carlton on the Beach breakfast place. Tomorrow on AHI, breakfast is included and should be there as we understand it but not today. We walked to the little place at the end and the guy working there told us he'd open at 9:30am. We came back to the room to kill time. We still didn't know the name of the place and Google Maps never showed it anytime we were out there and asked for restaurants near me. Clay found it online and the menu was the same basically as La La Lands and the bakery/cafes and Carltons. We learned it was Fortuna del Mar. We finally had breakfast. We only walked about 2 miles for it! Clay had the full breakfast which held him for 2 meals and for the same price, I had a bowl of muesli. Go figure.
After breakfast, we went to find the Segway TLV shop. We found guys moving Segways but still didn't see the shop. Anyway we asked them and they said no because they had a big girls' tour today, but gave us a sheet with a phone number to call. I nixed that. We filled out their website request and they never replied. I had already written them off. We walked back past the rental bike stand and decided to go into the room and use the bathroom first before setting out. When we got back there were only 4 bikes left. As we were using the credit card kiosk to rent 2 bikes, 2 more got returned. For whatever reason, the kiosk took our money to rent 2 bikes but would only release one. After several tries, Clay got a human on his cellphone and they told him to walk to another kiosk miles away to get the other bike and said they didn't recognize that the other 4 bikes were still parked there. They assured Clay they had no bike available to rent where we stood and he should walk a couple miles in either direction to reach the next station. He suggested we return the one bike they had released and refund him all his money. They agreed to that. So, plan C we walked. It took us over an hour to reach the big selection of eateries that our AHI sign claimed was 15 minutes down the shore. It is hot and sunny out but we're still pretty good walkers and that was too far to walk for a meal. Clay did get to buy a nice pair of mesh Merrells so he has shoes he can wear without socks now. A good thing because the forecast gets hotter everytime we check Accuweather! I still don't understand why with a 23 pound mostly empty rolling duffel he decided to leave a pair of sandals at home, but he needed a new pair anyway and hopefully these Merrells will fill that need.
So, plan C was we walked for hours. We went as far as the old Tel Aviv port lighthouse and stopped. We had picked up a pair of green apples from the Carlton lobby and we sat in the shade with them viewing the old lighthouse and watching planes land at the city airport. Clay had a gelato a little earlier. Then we walked back. When we got to the room, we found a bottle of local red wine waiting for us as a gift from our friends at Tulane Alumni Travel. Too bad it wasn't something on ice!
We have our tour meeting at 6:30pm in the hotel followed by dinner in the hotel Touring begins in earnest at 8:45am tomorrow. We're glad we came in early to get acclimated! I am going to assume there will nothing else noteworthy to report today and post this now.
Photos
So, we wound up with at least Plan C all day today. We went back this morning to the cafe/bakery nearby that Clay had picked from the map and their website. As last night even though their website listed open hours, they were closed last night and again this morning. We can see it from the room's balcony and it looked closed but Clay assured me the website said it was open. It wasn't. I think it must not be the same place with the website. It has no name on the building and that would explain the difference between the website and the real place that sits there. Anyway. In good news, we checked with reception and we kept our room so we didn't have to pack and move. We just got new keycards. We got a letter welcoming us to the tour. We found the lobby sign board for AHI Tours suggesting we walk the opposite direction from where we'd previously walked for 15 minutes to reach the Old Tel Aviv port area with a lot of bars, cafes, restaurants and shopping. Since Clay's bakery/cafe was closed we backtracked and walked back past the Carlton in that direction. We walked 15 minutes and reached nothing but we could see that in another 15 minutes there was a restaurant. We couldn't see if it was open. I balked and we turned back again. There was another restaurant at the end of the little strip that holds the Carlton on the Beach breakfast place. Tomorrow on AHI, breakfast is included and should be there as we understand it but not today. We walked to the little place at the end and the guy working there told us he'd open at 9:30am. We came back to the room to kill time. We still didn't know the name of the place and Google Maps never showed it anytime we were out there and asked for restaurants near me. Clay found it online and the menu was the same basically as La La Lands and the bakery/cafes and Carltons. We learned it was Fortuna del Mar. We finally had breakfast. We only walked about 2 miles for it! Clay had the full breakfast which held him for 2 meals and for the same price, I had a bowl of muesli. Go figure.
After breakfast, we went to find the Segway TLV shop. We found guys moving Segways but still didn't see the shop. Anyway we asked them and they said no because they had a big girls' tour today, but gave us a sheet with a phone number to call. I nixed that. We filled out their website request and they never replied. I had already written them off. We walked back past the rental bike stand and decided to go into the room and use the bathroom first before setting out. When we got back there were only 4 bikes left. As we were using the credit card kiosk to rent 2 bikes, 2 more got returned. For whatever reason, the kiosk took our money to rent 2 bikes but would only release one. After several tries, Clay got a human on his cellphone and they told him to walk to another kiosk miles away to get the other bike and said they didn't recognize that the other 4 bikes were still parked there. They assured Clay they had no bike available to rent where we stood and he should walk a couple miles in either direction to reach the next station. He suggested we return the one bike they had released and refund him all his money. They agreed to that. So, plan C we walked. It took us over an hour to reach the big selection of eateries that our AHI sign claimed was 15 minutes down the shore. It is hot and sunny out but we're still pretty good walkers and that was too far to walk for a meal. Clay did get to buy a nice pair of mesh Merrells so he has shoes he can wear without socks now. A good thing because the forecast gets hotter everytime we check Accuweather! I still don't understand why with a 23 pound mostly empty rolling duffel he decided to leave a pair of sandals at home, but he needed a new pair anyway and hopefully these Merrells will fill that need.
So, plan C was we walked for hours. We went as far as the old Tel Aviv port lighthouse and stopped. We had picked up a pair of green apples from the Carlton lobby and we sat in the shade with them viewing the old lighthouse and watching planes land at the city airport. Clay had a gelato a little earlier. Then we walked back. When we got to the room, we found a bottle of local red wine waiting for us as a gift from our friends at Tulane Alumni Travel. Too bad it wasn't something on ice!
We have our tour meeting at 6:30pm in the hotel followed by dinner in the hotel Touring begins in earnest at 8:45am tomorrow. We're glad we came in early to get acclimated! I am going to assume there will nothing else noteworthy to report today and post this now.
Photos
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Jet Lag
So, we were lucky that when we arrived at the Carlton around noon that our room was ready because we had been expected between 1 and 2pm with only a promise to try to have a room ready for us. It is still unclear if we will have to pack up and check out in the morning and recheck in with the AHI Tour for the next 2 nights. The woman who checked us in wasn't sure and asked us to ask in the morning if she didn't contact us with an answer. So, we'll find out tomorrow morning. Checkout is noon. Given the uncertainty, we have no plans for tomorrow. That and the fact that Segway TLV never replied to our query through their website asking to arrange a tour. There is a bike rental station outside the Carlton on the Tayelet, so we may just do that instead tomorrow. Our AHI Tour begins at 6:30pm tomorrow. We do not have breakfast included tomorrow, but AHI's nights all include a complimentary hotel breakfast. There is a pot and supplies for coffee and tea in the room. We think we passed a bakery/cafe about a block away. It was closing at 5:30pm so looked like a breakfast/lunch place that we'll try in the morning.
It is still much warmer here than had been forecast. We checked the same 10 day forecast website we checked on Thursday when we packed and all the days are on order of 10 degrees F warmer than they were 3 days ago! Also, the hotel room either has no AC or it doesn't work. The good news is a balcony door we can open for a sea breeze and bonus traffic noise. We also found we can ask for ice at the Lobby Bar. Though there is no ice bucket so we're using my water bottle. I think they would probably just give you a glass to bring upstairs but we haven't tried that.
So, us being so tired and sweaty and getting our room immediately, you can probably guess what we did. Right. The first thing everyone says not to do to combat jetlag, we stripped off and took a 4 hour nap! We walked out on the Tayelet looking for dinner around 5pm. We didn't find much but kept walking as the sun set and places were closing. We had thought it being Shabbat, we'd find more opening than closing as the sun set. We ate a couple of blocks away at La La Land. We both ordered a chicken main course and had about twice as much food as we wanted or needed. It was good, if pricey. In hindsight, we should have ordered one or the other and shared maybe with an appetizer. It served the purpose in any event of hopefully getting us in sync with local time. The temperature dropped dramatically after sunset but it is still significantly warmer than forecast. I stuck in a pair of sandals at the last minute as I had plenty of space and weight available in my rolling duffel for such a short trip. Clay is really upset that he never thought about it since it seems too hot for socks and long pants. We'll have to see if we wind up shoe shopping for him.
It is close to a reasonbale bed time here for us now, so I'll post this and close the day. So far, so good.
Photos
It is still much warmer here than had been forecast. We checked the same 10 day forecast website we checked on Thursday when we packed and all the days are on order of 10 degrees F warmer than they were 3 days ago! Also, the hotel room either has no AC or it doesn't work. The good news is a balcony door we can open for a sea breeze and bonus traffic noise. We also found we can ask for ice at the Lobby Bar. Though there is no ice bucket so we're using my water bottle. I think they would probably just give you a glass to bring upstairs but we haven't tried that.
So, us being so tired and sweaty and getting our room immediately, you can probably guess what we did. Right. The first thing everyone says not to do to combat jetlag, we stripped off and took a 4 hour nap! We walked out on the Tayelet looking for dinner around 5pm. We didn't find much but kept walking as the sun set and places were closing. We had thought it being Shabbat, we'd find more opening than closing as the sun set. We ate a couple of blocks away at La La Land. We both ordered a chicken main course and had about twice as much food as we wanted or needed. It was good, if pricey. In hindsight, we should have ordered one or the other and shared maybe with an appetizer. It served the purpose in any event of hopefully getting us in sync with local time. The temperature dropped dramatically after sunset but it is still significantly warmer than forecast. I stuck in a pair of sandals at the last minute as I had plenty of space and weight available in my rolling duffel for such a short trip. Clay is really upset that he never thought about it since it seems too hot for socks and long pants. We'll have to see if we wind up shoe shopping for him.
It is close to a reasonbale bed time here for us now, so I'll post this and close the day. So far, so good.
Photos
Eighty!
Mighty eighty. It seems it has been a lot of work to reach that number, but here we are in Israel, my 80th country.
We had a really good flight considering it was 10 hours. The Air Canada BC seats were amazing with semi-private pods with lay flat seats and 18 inch monitors. They had a good selection of movies and I watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbing and American Made. I really enjoyed both. The food was good, service was attentive and the Dreamliner remarkably quiet. (Link to our menu.) The man behind me snoring woke me and kept me awake. I don't ever remember that being a problem on a flight before.
We arrived about an hour early in Tel Aviv, but it took more than an hour to clear all the hurdles to leave the airport. It seemed to be an understaffing problem as several flights arrived within minutes of each other.
We somehow got a shared taxi van to the Carlton on the beach which will be our home for the next 3 nights. The ride cost 190 shekels, about $60. Clay got 600 shekels at an airport ATM which is about $200. It is much hotter here than we had expected based on 10-day forecasts and more humid than we'd expected. Today is Shabbat so we are going to rest. Tomorrow we'll see and we join our AHI Tour at 6:30pm tomorrow.
Link to Clay's photos
We had a really good flight considering it was 10 hours. The Air Canada BC seats were amazing with semi-private pods with lay flat seats and 18 inch monitors. They had a good selection of movies and I watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbing and American Made. I really enjoyed both. The food was good, service was attentive and the Dreamliner remarkably quiet. (Link to our menu.) The man behind me snoring woke me and kept me awake. I don't ever remember that being a problem on a flight before.
We arrived about an hour early in Tel Aviv, but it took more than an hour to clear all the hurdles to leave the airport. It seemed to be an understaffing problem as several flights arrived within minutes of each other.
We somehow got a shared taxi van to the Carlton on the beach which will be our home for the next 3 nights. The ride cost 190 shekels, about $60. Clay got 600 shekels at an airport ATM which is about $200. It is much hotter here than we had expected based on 10-day forecasts and more humid than we'd expected. Today is Shabbat so we are going to rest. Tomorrow we'll see and we join our AHI Tour at 6:30pm tomorrow.
Link to Clay's photos
Friday, February 2, 2018
YYZ
We are on our way, enjoying the BC perks of our upgrade in the lounge! We left RDU on a regional jet and had to disembark on the tarmac on arrival in an 8F wind! Clay had packed his jacket in his checked bag at RDU, big mistake. We're going to remember that for the return trip.
Hopefully, here is a link to Clay's photos.
Hopefully, here is a link to Clay's photos.
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