/>Saturday = Shabbat = day of rest = we did nothing of any turistical interest, which was most excellent as everyone was still dead-on-their-feet from the flight. But we did get in a rousing game of ultimate frisbee at the hotel and, of course, sectioned off into roommates, mine being Daniel from San Francisco and Andy from New York by way of Rhode Island.
/>Next day: Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. A bit rushed, but some good presentations and, of course, lots of history. Not as emotional as I'd been lead to believe though there were a couple touching individual stories about lost loves. And the photo above is of one of the trains used to transport Jews to the camps. After a pizza lunch, we were whisked off to Mt. Arbel, a view point over the Sea of Galilee, which is actually a freshwater lake, before arriving at a Kibbutz in the Golan Heights for an evening of folk dancing.
Canyon hike and hotsprings the next day, plus some views into Syria from old military ramparts. Canyon hike was good, hotsprings were a little subpar, in my opinon - only one temperature of water. But we freaked out the locals with some organized yoga on the lawn near some Roman ruins. Oh, and of course, we also had a night out at a cheesy bar.
Tuesday was the tour of Tzfat, the center of Kabballah and Jewish mysticism... which was basically a shopping tour of a couple selected stores. After an hour in the candle shop, Buddy and I snuck off to get some zaatar from a Yemeni Jew who claimed the bread was the first bread made by man and also offered us some interesting insight into Western vs. Eastern philosophy, summed up by the idea that in the West, we ask "How are you doing?" whereas in the East, they say "How do you feel?" We picked up a tasty lunch at a Druze village then rounded out the day with a visit to a winery where they make wine out of everything but grapes before we headed to Tel Aviv for a night of wandering the boardwalk.
Then it was time to meet our Israelis - we were joined by a group of 9 soldiers who would stay with our group for the next five days. After the introductions, we headed off to climb around some caves used by Jewish resistance fighters in Roman times. Then we had a special treat of going to one of the soldiers´ air force base to check out some helicopters. Most excellent. After a quick stop at David Ben-Gurion´s grave overlooking the Negev Desert, we continued into the sands themselves for a night around a campfire in a Bedouin tent. I slept extremely well with my trusty earplugs, but was apparently in the minority.
Next morning, we headed to Eilat, but not without stopping for a) a rather lame camel trek of 20 minutes and b) a touristy jewelry store. But then we went snorkeling in the Red Sea, which was on of the highlights of the trip for me. After a few hours of wandering the boardwalk, geting some food, and relaxing by the beach, it was back to the hostel (where, having lost Daniel as a roommate as he left the trip early, we picked up Avichay, one of the soldiers) to get ready for our big night out, cruising the Red Sea on a private boat. Another highlight, in my opinion.
The next day brought a desert hike, some faux poop eating, and more beaching. Most excellent. And that´s Jordan you can see across the water, if you were wondering. We ended with a real night out at an actual bar this time which included table dancing and other various sordid activities. Good times.
More hiking in the morning, but I actually don´t remember this day very well, just that we finished it off by arriving at our hostel near Masada around midnight, going to bed, and waking up at 4am to hike to the top of Masada. Not quite sure if it was worth it, but the sunrise over the Dead Sea was pretty spectacular. Also interesting: the Masada story is apparently fabricated, according to one of our Israeli soldiers. It was appropriated by a Jewish commander in the north who, when his whole squad committed suicide rather than be killed by Romans... didn´t, instead, joined the Romans and wrote romantic stories for them about the Jews, including the apparent "myth" of Masada. Anyway, that day was also the day we left the soldiers and returned to Tel Aviv.
One day in Tel Aviv where we checked out the old port of Jaffa, wandered a market, and went to Independence Hall, then it was back to Jerusalem for our last day to see the soldier´s cemetary. This one was a lot more emotional than Yad Vashem, perhaps because we´d spent so much time with the soldiers themselves. But it was really interested... if a downer to end the trip on... as right after that, we went to the airport and there ended the trip. I said goodbye to those who weren´t staying (which was most people as only 4 of us stayed out of 37) and then it was back to Tel Aviv... but that´s a story for the next blog...
And more photos cause I´m too lazy to do this blog nice and neat. Sorry. But at least I put them in order.
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