Israel

Shalom!
Ok, so I know I said I would blog about Praha. That one is still coming, although I know it was way back in November. Oh, well. Better late than never.
Brandon and I just got back from an AMAZING trip to Israel. We already cannot wait to head back. What an incredible experience.
I have to say I was a little nervous at first about going. I mean, it is the Middle East afterall and we would be surronded by countries that really don't like Israel. Brandon had a 4 day weekend (MLK weekend) and he took Thursday off as well because our flight was scheduled to leave at 1900 (7:00) from Frankfurt, Germany. After dropping Benson off, stopping by his office for some paperwork, and getting gas we headed to Frankfurt! We stopped on the way at a 50's diner to eat lunch. And it was surprisingly pretty good. They had all American food. It was weird to see onion rings on the menu. They were so tasty,although I have to admit...I don't eat hamburgers and/or beef all that much (I don't remember the last time I had a hamburger), so after I had eaten the hamburger I ordered....I felt blah and gross. I am more of a turkey/chicken girl. Don't get me wrong, though, I love me a good whataburger/Double R/Fuddruckers hamburger! :) Anyway, we got to the airport around 1500 (3:00), 2 hours before we were scheduled to meet our tour group. This never surprises me. Brandon and I are both paranoid about time and being on time, so we get everywhere hours ahead of time just in case something comes up. I'm pretty sure I got that trait from my Dad. ;)
Brandon's first sergeant (1SGT) and his family were also going on the trip. His sister, who is studying nueroscience in Scotland (no big deal, ha) came down to go on the trip as well. Actually, a lot of people from Bavaria MEDDAC (the organization Brandon is apart of) went on the trip! The tour group consisted of 45 people (all American military) and the tour group is run by an American couple living in England (who were prior Air Force). The husband's family is from Israel. We all had to wear these gooofy blue hats, so we could all stay together in both the Frankfurt and Tel Aviv airports, as well as in Jersusalem. Those would be the most crowded places, although come to find out later they were the least crowded, especially Jerusalem (will mention this later). So anyway,as we are waiting for check in time, we start to notice a lot of police in the area and thought it was weird. We found out a few minutes later and through the entire trip that Israel is serious about their security. I mean we had several police around us from the time we checked in until we landed in Tel Aviv. Going through security was even more intense than it is in States. I mean, obviously there are a lot of people as well as countries in the middle east surronding Israel that do not like Israel at all, but I had no idea security would be that intense. They searched and did a pat down on every person that walked through that security line and then we were in a secluded room when waiting to board the plane after that (with an armed guard, of course). Oh, and THEN the plane (from the time we boarded until we took off) was at all times guarded with armored vehicles. Crazy, right? I wasn't sure what to think at that point. Was it so "dangerous" that security had to be everywhere OR where they just taking extra steps to make sure its people and passengers are safe? I think it is a little bit of both, but throughout the entire trip I always felt safe. Sure there are parts of Israel that are more dangerous (i.e. West Bank and Gaza Strip), but everyone seemed to get along and a lot of what I saw reminded me of the States in some ways.
Anyway, we arrived in Tel Aviv around 12:30-12:45 (Israel is 1 hour ahead of Germany)and were already exhausted from a long day of traveling. By the time everyone in the group got their bags and got on the bus it was 1:30 in the morning. On our way to the hotel I noticed that all of the highway signs were in Hebrew, Arabic, and English! Most places had all three languages.
After getting to the hotel and getting settled, we fell asleep around 2:00-2:30. And, the alarm went off 4 hours later. Surprisingly, I wasn't that tired. Brandon definitely was and needed his coffee. He drinks 2-3 cups a day, so he got his caffeine fix in at breakfast.
The first day would be spent in Jerusalem. It was a rainy and cold morning, but I really thought nothing of it because I had read before coming that the winter months could be rainy, but the high would be in the 60s. WRONG. It POURED rain the ENTIRE day. There was no let up, no sprinkling. It just poured and it was in the 30s. I tried my best to keep a positive attitude the entire day, but I was honestly just miserable. My feet were frozen and wet and I wasn't able to take too many pictures. If you know me, you know that I am NOT a cold weather person. I get cold when it's in the low 60s. So anyway, depsite the rain and cold (which Israel hardly ever gets), we L.O.V.E.D. Jerusalem. There is just SO much history there. It's a very holy place for Christianity, Islam, and Judiasm. So, you can imagine the diversity. We started out by going to the top of the Mount of Olives, which overlooks the entire city. Beautiful. We headed down the Mt. of Olives to the Church of All Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane, which of course is where, according to the Bible, Jesus was praying and spending his last moments before being arrested. A lot of the places we saw in Jerusalem related to Jesus were not "A" places. Meaning, they don't know FOR SURE if the event happened there or a couple of streets over. But, even if the place was a "B" place, Jerusalem was certainly not as big as it is today and so the event probably happened near, if not at the "B" place.
Next, we headed into Jerusalem through the Lions Gate and walked the Via Dolorosa. If you are Catholic or are familiar with the Stations of the Cross, this is what the Via Dolorosa is....the way Jesus walked from where he was condemned and beaten to the place of crucifixion. The courtyard where Jesus was condemned and beaten is an "A" place. They know for sure because of historical records. At every "holy site" we visited, there was a church built over it, so a lot of the pictures I took were of churches.
We continued on through all of the stations and ended our journey at the Holy Sepulchre (Golgotha) where Jesus was crucified. The church (Holy Sepulchre)is shared by several different denominations of Christianity and is very ornate.
After walking the Via Dolorosa, we continued to the Armenian Quarter and then to the Jewish Quarter. Along the way we saw old city walls dating back thounsands of years and the old Roman market road, with half of its pillars still standing. Pretty neat.
We ended the day in Jerusalem with a visit to the wailing wall. That was neat to see! The men and women had to go to seperate areas for prayer and it was highly guarded, of course. We didn't stay too long because of the rain. After returning to the bus with the heaters on high, we headed back to the hotel.
We loved this day, although the weather (and our tour guide) did not do it justice. Brandon and I want to go back ourselves and spend more time in the city. You can only see so much in one day with 45 other people, but we wanted to see more of the city, more of the history. We felt like a lot of the tour was centered around the Christian sites, which is fine but we wanted to see more of the city's history and more of the other quarters as well. People were so nice and all so different. I like different. :)
After we returned to the hotel and changed into dry clothes, Brandon and I headed out to find a good place to eat! We ended up at a fish place several blocks down from our hotel. It was amazing. They first brought out all of these (what looked like to us) side dishes. Some looked like dips, others looked like salads, and there were about 10-12 of these "side dishes." We also were given some bread. We weren't sure how and when we were supposed to eat these, so I asked. haha. They are appetizers and you can eat them by themselves or with the bread. We did both. and we couldn't stop eating them! It was like heaven in your mouth! We ordered Israeli beer and some yummy fish to go along with our "appetizers." After dinner we headed back to the hotel and were asleep by 9:00. long day.
The next day was spent at some more amazing places! We hopped on the bus and headed to Masada, which is located on the eastern fringe of the Judean Desert near the shore of the Dead Sea (which we went to next)! The weather was much better on the 2nd day. Thank goodness! Masada was really really neat. King Herod build a fort on top of this mountain because of its strategic advantages against enemies. During his reign palaces, storerooms, and cisterns where built on top of the mountain. After his death and the Roman occupation, the Romans stationed a garrison at Masada. The Jews later revolted and took Masada back. Masada become the last "stronghold" for the Jewish rebels. They all lived and had community there. The Romans eventually built camps around the mountain and attacked by building a "wall" alongside the mountain. Before they got there, however, the Jewish leader had convinced the leaders of the community that it would be better to take their own life than to live in shame and humiliation as Roman slaves. So, by the time the Romans arrived, only 2 women and 5 children were left. They had been hiding. For thousands of years, Masada transformed into both a Jewish cultural icon and a symbol of freedom from oppression.
After eating lunch (they had Dr. Pepper!!) and doing some shopping in the gift shop, we were on our way to the Dead Sea, which by the way, is the lowest place on Earth! It had been a cool day, so Brandon and I left our swimsuits at the hotel and were disappointed about this later. Although, it would have taken a lot for me to get in. The water was not warm. Most of our tour group did get in and it was really neat to watch everyone. There is no possible way you could drown in the Dead Sea because of how much salt it holds, so everyone was floating! They had a mud station, so people could put a "mud mask" on before dipping into the salt. It's all very good for the skin. I stuck my hands in and for the rest of the day they were super soft. It's like using bath salt in the bathtub. Again, this leaves us another reason to come back. We want to swim...correction...FLOAT in the Dead Sea. (As a side note, for all of you coming to visit us, Israel is only 3 hours away via plane ;) )
For dinner, our tour leaders invited whoever wanted to come to a restaurant they eat at every time they are in Tel Aviv. IT. WAS. AMAZING. Even more heavenly than the 1st day's dinner. We got there via taxi (which was crazy), and sat down to eat. By the way, everyone who we had a conversation with spoke English, almost perfectly. What country's citizens cannot speak at least 2 languages?? I mean, seriously. America needs to catch up. Most of us only know English, including me. And, everywhere we go, when we ask if they speak English (i.e. Germany), they reply, "A little bit." HA! A little bit. Yeah. Ok. And then they continue to speak to me in perfect English. :) Anyway, back to food. We had two tables with 12-15 people each. All of a sudden, they bring out TONS & TONS of those appitizers I was talking about on the 1st day. There was no room on the table for anything else. We ate like kings and had more Israeli beer. HEAVEN. And everything is FRESH and grown locally, so it tasted extra yummy. Writing this paragraph just makes me want to go back right now! By the time our main course came out, we were all stuffed, but ate anyway. And no worries, it was all kosher! ;)
The last full day we had in Israel was spent ---oh crap, just forgot something.After the Dead Sea, we headed to Qumran where we visited the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. No big deal. Brandon was able to go up to see them (they were up a hill). I, however, in my excitement to see them slipped flat on my butt in the mud. I then spent the next 30+ minuntes cleaning off my entire lower body.----Ok, back to the third full day. We first headed to Caesarea, where Herod had his harbour complex. This complex went through several periods (Persian,Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Mameluke, Ottoman)and was occupied by several different groups of people. It was pretty neat to see the ruins of that! After Caesarea, we headed to Nazareth. I was actually expecting to see more than we did. There really isn't much to see as far as "Old Nazareth" goes, but what we did see was neat. The Church of the Annunciation was built around/on top of Mary's house, which was pretty neat to see. We also saw what was believed to be Joseph's carpentry. We were able to see a small part of the old village, which was also really neat and my favorite part. I was hoping to see more of the old village (which was very small, 400-500 people). After we took a tour of the church and the area around it, we found a place to grab a quick bite to eat. Brandon had a shwarma and I had a falafel, which are typical "street food" items found in Israel. So yummy.
Our last stop was the crusader city of Acre. We only spent a hour here (Brandon really wasn't happy about this). There was so much to see in this city and it felt like we only saw a fraction of it! However, I must say that having a husband who has his degree in history and reads all the time and knows SO much was helpful as we were going to different places. Actually, EVERY time we travel somewhere, he is like my own personal tour guide. :) LOVE him.
We headed back to Tel Aviv after another full day and ate dinner at a steak restaurant down the street. Brandon said it was one of the best steaks he had ever had! I had some yummy chicken and of course we had more Israeli beer! We were sad to be leaving the next day. Three full days in Israel is not nearly enough. It was like a tease, but we seriously are considering going back in the Spring/Summer. We loved it. We loved the people, the food, the culture.
There were a few things that stood out to me during the trip that reminded me that we were in the Middle East and in Israel in particular. Most of their population is made up of Jews and Muslims, with Christians being a small percentage. Five times a day we would hear the Islamic Call to Prayer, which was definitely a reminder we were in the Middle East. Brandon was used to hearing it, being in Iraq for a few years, but it was new to me. The neighborhoods are also very different because of big cultural differences. Jewish neighborhoods were generally speaking, well kept. Everything was green and clean. Arab neighborhoods had a lot of trash everywhere. Brandon says it's custom to just throw trash outside. The home is well kept, but the heck with outside of the house. So, driving through these neighborhoods you also saw a lot of trash everywhere. Piles of it.
I also wanted so bad to go up to one of the ultra-orthodox Jewish men and say hello. It was so tempting, because as you may know..they do not speak to women. Only their wives. Women are second class in their world. If you have been reading the news, a lot of Israelis aren't happy with them because they go to school until around the 8th grade and then a lot of them drop out and study the Torah for the rest of their lives, while living on welfare. So, the rest of the Israeli people are paying for these people to live on welfare while they "pray." Not a happy situation. So, I was tempted to talk to one of them, just because I knew I wasn't supposed to. It's like someone telling you you can't do something and then it makes you want to do it even more. Ha! I probably would have been been spit on or something. Oh well. I'm anxious to see how that plays out. It's hard to believe people are so intolerant and extreme. Can we all just get along? Please?
Well, we are back home now and back to work. Lots of stuff coming our way...will blog about this soon,along with the Praha insert.
p.s. If you ever have the chance to go to Israel, GO! It's incredible and it's a wonderful country.
Shalom!