Israel - The land of many guns.
Day 17

We leave Amman early (0630) for Tel Aviv (taxi -bus - service taxi - taxi - bus - sherut) and finally arrived 1200. If you've been following this travelogue, buses and minibuses are the main mode of travel in the Middle East. We were told that our bus would leave at 0700 (we had to be there at 0630) and would go all the way to Tel Aviv. Guess what? We arrived at 0625, were put on a bus that promptly left at 0630 and didn't go all the way to Tel Aviv. We were dropped off on the Israeli side of the border (the first armed border I've crossed) and left to find out own way to Tel Aviv. I'll never forget the old Jewish woman who elbowed Dan around at the border station.

This is Dan and our lovely hostess Ronit. Thanks again.

Once in Tel Aviv, we finally met up with Ronit (Dan's relative through marriage). To decompress, we took a walk through the mall next to her apartment tower and found a McDonalds. After eating shwarma, hummus, and falafel for 2 1/2 weeks, we had each been craving a hamburger. Unfortunately, the McDonalds was unsatisfying -- though the fries were great. We later met Amanda, Ronit's cousin and recent immigrant to Israel, and walked through market to see the arts and crafts street stores, iced coffee, and walked along beach boardwalk towards the drum jam. Almost sounds like Cal.

BIG THANKS - Ronit and her family have been great. They have taken us in with open arms, shown us around Israel and given us more support than we could have asked for. Our trip is a hundred times better because of them. We also had some great discussions about Israeli-Arab relations, Israeli politics, and comparing armies over dinner.

My first impressions of Israel were negative because the people we ran into seemed pretty gruff and impatient with us. I didn't feel that Israelis were that warm and friendly. It was an especially big shock coming from Jordan and Egypt where the people were really friendly. The gruffness put me off. Ronit did a lot to turn my impressions around. There is a certain seriousness in the air and I'm not sure people can laugh at themselves. I don't know that I'll ever see a "I got stoned in Jerusalem" T-shirt. Of course, after 2 weeks of women who are covered head to toe, the very style conscious Israeli women were a nice change of pace. However, I didn't feel that the people weret as nice, especially after experiencing the hospitality in Jordan.

Day 18

Hump day. We are now exactly halfway through our vacation and it feels like I've been gone forever. We're up at 0300 for a 0330 departure for Masada to see the sunrise over the Dead Sea. Amanda came along with us but we had to drop her off at home in Arad so she could go to work. We missed the sunrise from Masada but saw it on the drive up. All the dust makes the sun very red when it rises and sets. Masada itself was OK. After climbing down from Masada, we left for the Dead Sea to find Ronit's parents at the Holiday Inn. En route to and from Masada we saw deer, ibex, the camel herder, and the goat herder trying to get all his goats across the road.

Taking a float in the Dead Sea is a must do. Just don't stay in too long otherwise you'll end up slightly pickled. And don't get any of that stuff in your mouth.

Of course we went for a float in the water. This is a must do for anyone coming to Israel. The water in the Dead Sea is some 5x more salty than sea water. In addition, it is laden with many other minerals. The Israelis claim soaking in its waters is healthy and is a good treatment for any skin problem. When you climb in, you can feel the buoyancy immediately. You feel oily and realize that you're not walking over sand but salt. It tastes really bad and you can see minerals precipitating out of the water. Along the beach is a white crust of salt. We drove for a while down the other side of the sea where they harvest the minerals and it actually makes the water look pretty disgusting. Anyway the water is incredibly buoyant. Everyone just floats on top of the water. It's so buoyant that you can spin or lift your leg out of the water. You're only supposed to soak 20-30 minutes so we also did some quality lazing on the beach which was a nice break. There was the guy who panicked in knee deep water and thought he was drowning until he stood up ... in knee high water. The new sensation of super buoyancy was a blast and the most fun I have had wading about in years. It made me feel like a little kid again. It's lucky that Ronit's parents were already at the Dead Sea. If it had been just me backpacking around, I don't think that I would have seen the Dead Sea because it would have seemed like an unnecessary extravagance.

After the Dead Sea, we left for Arad where Amanda lives, went to a lookout to look down into the Dead Sea, then hit a bar, Musa, for some beers. One, it was nice to be in a pub again (the first I had seen in 3 weeks) and two, it was a fun pub totally off the tourist track. The beers and food for 4 came out to 103 NIS.

Day 19

We started off with a nice breakfast then I finally mailed my letter to Susana. Afterwards we spent some time arranging our flight to Istanbul. Finally, we set off for the Holy City -- Jerusalem. Unbeknownst to us, a general strike had been called that day. As a result, everything was closed. We started with lunch at the Armenian Tavern then cruised around for a place to stay. To us, the city was dead (no shops open, no one playing or hanging out). There were some kids who showed us directions then demanded money from us. When we refused to pay the $3 they wanted, one of them kicked me. Whoa, there's a novel way to treat tourists and make sure you get your money. What happened to customer service?

Since nothing was open, we walked up to the Mount of Olives and around the city to the Western Wall where the Jews were praying. Later that day we found out about the general strike which explained a lot. My overall impression for first day is underwhelming. I expected more life and energy but with the strike this is excusable. The Lutheran Hospice very nice ($59) especially in comparison to the alternative with the grumpy man and the cell.

Day 20

I watched at completely different Jerusalem wake up. The sun is out, shops are opening, birds are out -- it is so much different from yesterday. At least today I feel that people have purpose. We took a morning tour of the 4 quarters for an overview with Zion Walking Tours. After the tour, we blitzed though 3 major religions in 3 hours, 2 beautiful mosques, saw the bar mitzvahs at Western Wall, and the Church of Holy Sepulcher. I've come to really appreciate the architecture of mosques. For the most part, they are very graceful and spacious. The Dome of the Rock and the El Aqsa Mosque are especially beautiful and the stained glass windows and interior tile work make them very bright inside. In comparison, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was dank and poorly kept. It is shared by 6 denominations and these politics cause some major obstacles. Still, it was dark, cluttered, and wasn't a place that I would have wanted to spend any time in.

We finished off Jerusalem with some souvenir shopping and found some hand painted Palestinian tiles. (we'll see how they travel). We had to be back in Tel Aviv that night for a concert at the Israeli Philharmonic that Sid, Ronit's father, had given us 2 tickets for. The guest pianist was very good but was out of control. Overall the IPO was great. The first 2 pieces by Dvorak and Grieg were nice and lively and very pleasing to listen to. For the last hour, they played Bluebeard's Castle. This dark and heavy opera was too much for me. Apparently, it was to much for others too -- people were leaving in the middle of the performance. It didn't help that the two singers didn't move at all.

Day 21

We slept in then saw Tel Aviv University followed by the Diaspora Museum. This was really nice because I've never learned about the history of Judaism in a comprehensive manner and would recommend this highly for anyone else in Israel. The presentation is biased but after you compensate for it, it is still a good museum. We also tried to see a movie but there was no electricity in the morning which shut down that idea.

That evening, as we watched TV, we saw news report of pipe bombing and watched the bomb go off injuring 2 Israeli soldiers because the news crew was filming the two soldiers as the bomb went off. The next day we saw the newspapers with frame by frame shots of the bomb going off.

Day 22

We slept in again. Staying with someone is such a nice break. Of all things, we visited the Armor Museum. This is a must see for anyone interested in militaria because they have a fantastic collection of WarPac vehicles. It was really cool with lots of stuff I recognize but have never seen. Dan's about the only one that I could have seen this museum with since I would have felt a little self conscious with someone who didn't share a similar interest. Our last stop was a cave just outside of Jerusalem. The cave was great with lots of really spectacular stalactites/mites. We were accompanied by a group of really obnoxious American tourists who were loud and asked a lot of stupid questions. I was embarrassed enough that I felt that I had to apologize to the tour guide. The neat part of today was that all the sites we visited were pretty far off the beaten path and they would have been a pain in the ass to get to without a car.

For our last night in Israel, we had a farewell dinner with Ronit We found a nice steak place and had a very pleasant meal. I'm sorry to leave Israel. Ronit was really nice and a great hostess. She spent a lot of time driving us around and taking care of us. I hope that I can return the gesture one of these days. We left for Istanbul that evening and endured and intense El-Al security check. It didn't help that we had been drinking beer and wine during dinner.

Tomorrow we go to Turkey