The purpose of this trip was for me to perform integration testing on a system jointly developed by my company and Client/Server Technology (CST), located in Herzliya, Israel. I had originally been scheduled to be at the Vision New England Congress 98 in Boston during the last weekend of January. Here is the journal:
Friday, January 30
Come back from Congress 98 at the Hynes via CVS for film. Hurry up pack, shower, think of everything, final e-mails to CLM and HH, change work phone message. Call cab, leisurely ride ($28) to airport. Vonnie and cab driver lamenting the decline of American culture. Easy check-in at Logan. I work on laptop while Vonnie shops. Then through metal detector to gate area. Plane to New York 45 minutes late. While waiting, re-book Tel Aviv flight with bulkhead seats. Shuttle to New York with seats 1b/1c — propeller airplane. Light black female flight attendant with strange (affected?) accent. Already tired on THIS flight. At Kennedy, long walk through space age tubes to Gate 32 area. Gruff people at metal detector. Wait with Cairo crowd for their flight at 9:40pm (ours at 10:00pm). We buy turkey on roll, with Peach iced tea. Also Pasta. Two CC cookies and coffee for dessert. Finally board after getting mileage credit. About 1 hour into flight, they serve full dinner, but Vonnie and I decline, settling for only drinks.
Saturday, January 31
On flight to Tel Aviv, got to sleep about midnight EST. Hard to sleep sitting up. Sometime during flight, Vonnie and I change places, with me next to wall. Really cold. After many hours with some sleep, breakfast is served. After some more time, we begin our descent into Tel Aviv. As we get off plane with portable steps, we notice the El Al planes, with NOBODY nearby. It’s the Sabbath. Amazing experience. Through customs, and then get luggage, and talk to tourist people. Then outside — high 60’s. Get a cab. Driver speaks no English, but we make it to Herzliya ok (85 shekels), driving on Freeway through center of Tel Aviv. The hotel is right on the Mediterranean. After paying cabby, but before going in, Vonnie finds a tiny stray cat, and spends time with him, ultimately feeding him some cheese and peanut butter crackers. In side, the receptionist (Gita) is very helpful, answering many questions. We get Room 205, and it has a side view of the Sea. A housekeeping man is still in there, but we settle down until he is done cleaning the patio. We take a walk on the beach, then come back and set things up. Then down to restaurant for rice and steamed vegetables (Vonnie), and Pad Thai (me). Back to room. Collapse. Eran (the guy I will be principally be working with) calls. Vonnie asleep. Dick up not much longer.
Sunday, February 1
Wakeup call from — Courtney! at 7:30am. Eran to be by at 9:30am (the work week in Israel is Sunday to Thursday), so there is a little time to check out the area with Vonnie. To do today:
. Adapter for the laptop
. Food for Vonnie during the day
. Personal e-mail address (manri02@yahoo.com)
. Learn more about customs: tipping, dollars, shekels, Credit Cards
Continental breakfast with Vonnie at 8:30am or so, and then we walk down to a nearby market area to shop for some food. This takes some getting used to, with language problems, store layout, and customs. They DO take dollars, and give change in Shekels. We get back to the hotel by 9:20am, and then I am picked up by Eran about 20 minutes later (he never goes to work early). On to Client/Server Technology (CST) while Vonnie rests and checks out the area, etc. I work until 7:15pm. CST is a very interesting company. There are about 50 people in this facility (they also have offices in the UK and the US), and nearly all of them came from a single unit in the Israeli army — a unit that deals in artificial intelligence. The CEO is 33 and nearly all the employees in Israel are in their 20’s. Every day at about 10:00am, some women go into the lunch room and cut up bowls of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, avocados and other vegetables. There is a layout of various sauces and dips: eggplant dip, humus, etc. And lots of bread. We eat and talk for 15 minutes, and we place an order for lunch (paid for by CST). Then back to work. We go back for lunch — the entire company eats together every day — at around 1:30pm. They may talk about work, or anything. But it’s company policy that they eat together. The CEO wants work to be enjoyable, and food is one of the means to that end. No ride back to hotel, so I walked. Took 20 min. Very tired. Order Pat Thai for both of us (in the room), and then fried ice cream. More than enough for both of us. I am subsequently useless for the remainder of the evening.
Monday, February 2
Vonnie didn’t sleep too well, so I had the Continental breakfast alone. Then walked to work. Up on roof of CST at noon with Eran and Erez to look around. Can see Tel Aviv to the south, and our hotel to the northwest. Housing in the area is extremely expensive: $1,000,000 for a modest sized home. After work, walked home. This time fried Nile perch and steamed vegetables, plus fried ice cream. Then, walk on the beach with Vonnie. Still very tired, but watch CNN and BBC about Clinton and friends, plus the latest on bombing Sadam.
Tuesday, February 3
No Continental breakfast today or any more this week. Too little food, and too much of a bother. Walked to work. Eran takes me to a nearby semi-fast food restaurant, and we eat at a table outdoors. Real middle-Eastern food, for sure (but I didn’t order goose liver, or testicles or nipples or spine, all of which are on sale there — I had chicken!) Stay at work even later tonight, but on the way “home” I buy some things for Vonnie at the market before it closes. Supper in the room again, and then a walk down to another commercial area in Herzliya. Then back at the hotel there is more CNN and perpetual exhaustion.
Wednesday, February 4
Into a routine now. Vonnie spends her days exploring along the shore, and I work. However, tonight Eran will be taking us out to eat some indigenous Yemen food. He drives us through Tel Aviv and into Jaffa. Whereas the parts of Tel Aviv we have seen are quite modern, this portion of Jaffa is very old. We park in a rather unkempt area, walk down some dark alleys and come to a one-of-a-kind restaurant. We are served 7 or 8 small dishes of food to sample, and then some larger dishes. It is all quaint, exotic and very different from anything in the States. We have a great time of conversation and eating.
Thursday, February 5
Last day at work. Need to get everything done. I ask to keep the laptop adapter until we leave, and it’s ok with Eran. I take pictures of people at CST, and at the end of the day, while waiting for some printouts, some of the guys talk about whether or not Sadam will bomb them. They reminisce about 1991, and one of them said it was “fun” to go into the sealed room with all the food and a TV, and do nothing until the danger of being gassed was passed! Eran assures his friends: “Believe me, it’s NOT going to happen!”. But I can see the fear in Greg’s eyes. After saying goodbyes, I walk back to the hotel. Vonnie and I eat in the restaurant, and then walk again down to the commercial area for ice cream cones.
Friday, February 6
Wake-up call at 6:30am so we can meet the bus at 7:00. A bit too much, really. We will be going to Jerusalem today. It’s going to be mild today, but hazy. I hope we get to see the landscape. The bus is about 10 minutes late, but off we go, headed towards Tel Aviv, where we will actually start the tour. We stop at one or two other Hotels down the beach from us (still in Herzliya) before leaving. We arrive at the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station at about 7:30am. Not much traffic, since this is the day before Shabbat. Tel Aviv is a modern city, with apartment buildings everywhere, plus numerous Palm trees. The overpasses along the major roads have advertisements — makes the bridges look a little bit overweight. Moving south from Herzliya (pronounced HERZ-UL-EE-YA) along the coast, there is a section of undeveloped land for about a mile or so, and then North Tel Aviv, full of high rise apartment buildings, followed by another undeveloped area for half a mile or so, and then Tel Aviv itself. At the bus station we hang around for a few minutes, when this United Tour guy tells all of us standing around: “The tour to Jerusalem. BE BACK HERE AT 8:00!!”, gesturing strenuously towards the ground. We wondered what we were getting into. By this time, we had about 20 minutes, so we went into the bus/train terminal and bought a sweet roll and drink, paying with a twenty dollar bill, and getting change in Shekels (New Israel Shekels – – NIS). The exchange rate was $1 = NIS 3.40. We sat outside while I ate and Vonnie dealt with a stray cat. (Incidentally, Israel is flooded with stray cats). There were teenage soldiers — both boys and girls — with Uzi’s, waiting for a bus or train to take them to their post for the day. Back to the tour place (with a minute or two to go), and into the bus. We sit towards the back — a mistake. It’s bumpy, and you can’t see as well as when you’re up front. We head on out, after our tour guide made quite sure that the right people were on the tour. He has a list which he checks very carefully. His eyesight for reading is not good — he holds the list a couple of inches from his eyes. Security is taken very seriously. We are finally on our way. The guide gets on the “PA” and introduces “my colleague” (i.e., the driver) as “Elyusha the Great”, and himself as “Alberto the Little”. To jump right to the end: Alberto is one of the most colorful and memorable persons we have ever met! He tells us a little about the tour, and prefaces it by “and with the help of God, we will…”. He assures us that the rain will hold off — he was up at 4:00am, and prayed thusly. Alberto lives in Haifa: look on your map to see his commute to work! As we leave the built-up area around Tel Aviv and into open areas, two things become apparent: (1) we see the lushness of the immediate area, with crops, greenery, trees everywhere (desert blossoming like a rose?); and (2) we are heading east towards mountains. As we begin our ascent towards Jerusalem (Alberto says: JAY-RU-SAH-LEM, with each syllable separately emphasized), it is pointed out that the highway has become the boundary between Israel on the right and “what the Media calls the West Bank” on the left. Alberto NEVER says “West Bank”, always “what the Media calls the West Bank…”. As we continue to climb, an ancient fortress is pointed out, and then as the pass narrows down, we see some abandoned vehicles from the 1967 War, part of the battle to reach Jerusalem. The rugged landscape reminds one of Southern California –semi arid, and very rocky. Alberto points out the trees, and tells us that since the founding of the Nation of Israel in 1948, over 200 million trees have been planted in Israel. About 45 minutes out of Tel Aviv, and Alberto says we are going to a rest stop for 20 minutes, no more. It is a theme rest stop: “Elvis Presley”, complete with a white statue! I thought we had left tacky in the States, but Noooooo. Actually it wasn’t THAT bad, plus snack food is known to dull one’s senses to tacky. Back on the bus after 20 minutes — this is the last time that an Alberto time- estimate was on target; we learned that “we will be there in 5 minutes” meant 15, at least. We continue to climb, but now we begin to see large housing developments, often occurring at the tops of the hills. Big drop-offs. It’s rugged terrain. And then around a corner: JAY-RU-SAH-LEM! “Oh-la-la-la-la” says Alberto. Actually, this is West Jerusalem, a totally modern city, and basically Jewish. All buildings are stone-faced. Nothing made of wood, except doors and decorations. We drive by the Knesset, and by Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, and we stop at a hotel or two to pick up some more tour-ists. Then on to the “Old City”, East Jerusalem. We leave Israeli control and pass into Arab-dominated land. We drive right by the Temple Mount, head down the hill into the Kidron Valley, and then up the other side onto the Mount of Olives. This portion of the Kidron Valley is covered with tombstones — something about a belief that it’s good to be buried near where the Last Judgment will take place. We climb part-way up the Mount of Olives, and head towards a scenic overlook where we will be able to get out and take pictures and actually look back at the Old City. Alberto warns us in no uncertain terms that the Palestinians we will encounter at this overlook are THIEVES. Watch your wallet, your camera. Don’t buy anything from them! With this warning, we gingerly step out, and are immediately besieged by Palestinian youth — right in our faces — selling us postcards, jewelry, etc. There are several camels here, with some tough looking older men hanging around. Adrenaline time. Difficult under these circumstances to soak it in where we are and what we’re looking at. This is JAY-RU-SAH-LEM! The actual Mount of Olives. But we are semi-focused on a cultural shock situation. With everyone back in the bus (Alberto always counts heads before we move on), we go back down to the Kidron and up the other side to the Old City. The bus is parked, and we all get out for a four-hour walking tour of the Old City. Stamina is going to be a factor here, I think. We walk around on top of some of the walls, and the location of the Pool of Siloam is pointed out partway down the Valley. An apostle Peter location is pointed out (where he heard the cock crow?), and then we move into the living areas. We start out in the Jewish Quarter. It is mostly restored, built in modern times, but in the same style as the ancient portions. There are archeological artifacts from Biblical times, but also from the Byzantine era and the time of the Crusades. We are led to a building where we climb to the second story. This is the “Upper Room”. Vonnie is not so sure, but it could be — if it isn’t the ACTUAL room, it is surely an exact type of the Upper Room. Alberto calls it the most important Holy site in all of Christianity, because it represents both the Last Supper and also the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. I am beginning to think that Alberto, while being an Israeli, is not Jewish. I don’t know. I DO notice that when he talks about Moslem things, he says “they say…” for example, where Mohammed ascended to heaven, etc. But when he talks about a Christian site, he states things as fact: “This is where Jesu Christ…”. We next visit David’s Tomb. Vonnie is again skeptical, but the Jews in the area take it quite seriously. We men are obliged to put on (cardboard) Hats before we go in to look at the tomb. In an adjoining room, a Rabbi is lecturing five or so other men. After leaving David’s tomb, we go around a corner or three, and then we are at the Temple Mount area, at a Plaza on the edge of the Jewish Quarter, with the Western (i.e., Wailing) Wall ahead of us. Alberto provides some historical information, and then gives us 20 minutes to go to the Wall to look or pray, etc. The women are on the right and the men on the left — segregated. Again, the men have to wear Hats, so I pick up another cardboard one. It’s windy, so I have to constantly hold it in place, with my camera in my other hand. (Why didn’t I bring my camera strap?!). I would like this to be meaningful, but there’s a lot to contend with. What am I supposed to do? Will I feel awkward? Will the Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who crowd around resent my presence? I don’t know how or why to bow as they do when they pray. So I sit down on a chair for a minute to sort things out. A Jewish man dressed in black with a long beard and a brimmed hat motions me to come sit by him at a kind of desk area. He rips off a piece of paper and tells me to write down my name and my wife’s and children’s and my father and mother’s names. He helps to embolden my resolve, so I do what he says, and then I get up to “go to the wall”, but he then holds out his hand and says something about support for something or other. I grab some coins from my pocket and as they are departing into his hands I estimate about 15 shekels (4 or 5 dollars). So at the wall, I feel a little bit “used”, but I ask God to help make this meaningful. I stuff the paper in a crack in the wall, put one hand on the wall (remember, my camera), and ask God to help me (and my family) to love Him with all our hearts, mind, soul and strength, and our neighbor (including my recent Jewish bearded acquaintance) as ourselves. Back to the group, with Alberto giving more good information. Of course, the overriding feature of the Temple Mount is the fact the Jewish Temple is not there — it’s the Dome of the Rock Mosque, the third most Holy site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The Jewish Temple has been gone for 1930 years. You simply can’t have two buildings in one location, so this is an intractable situation. Two religions fanatically laying claim to the identical plot of land. As we leave the Plaza, we go by an excavated area which reveals a series of columns below us. Alberto tells us that this was once a great Roman boulevard, 55 feet wide and a mile or more long. This is 30 or more feet below the level where we are standing. “Levels of antiquity”, Alberto says. We leave the Temple Mount area and head into the Armenian Quarter. As with the Jewish Quarter, everything is absolutely in order — clean, no litter, and no sense of danger. Only narrow streets for walking (no vehicles). Soon, however, we enter the Moslem Arab Quarter. Everything changes at once: noise, clutter, litter, markets. Alberto warns us to stay together — it’s a labyrinth — and we will be making many turns. Before we plunge ahead, we climb some stairs for a view from the roofs — they’re flat. We see how close we are now to the Dome of the Rock, with the Mount of Olives as a backdrop. Some little Arab kids pretend to harass us (they’re practicing!), and they carry cigarettes in their hands. Then it’s back down into the narrow streets. Alberto tells us not to buy things here; I don’t think he wants us to get into negotiations with the Arabs. There are many, many shops, sounds, smells, sensations. At one point, we head down a corridor towards some steps up to the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock. It is the Moslem Holy day, so we can’t get close, nor hinder the Arab worshipers. Alberto directs us up the steps for a look, but tells us that the Arab police at the top of the stairs are angry with us. We are to stay to the left and take a quick glance, and come back down the steps. During this exercise, I pass a rather formidable Arab man sitting at a table with some friends, and our eyes meet — he, glaring. I move ahead a bit, and then stupidly look back. He continues to glare at me with what I can only describe as a menacing look. Chilling. I was glad to leave that corridor. Zig, zag, zag, zig, and now we are in the Christian Arab Quarter. Not much difference appearance-wise, but we are now on the Via Dolorosa. We follow the various Stations of the Cross, and at about Station 11, we are at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As with the Wailing Wall, there is just too much input (and maybe too much imagination — are these REALLY the locations and artifacts?). This church is built supposedly over Golgotha, and it also supposedly houses the tomb where Jesus was laid. Three Christian groups have a piece of the action here: Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic. Every hour or so, they lead a little procession with incense to cleanse the area. Once again, some difficulty in imagining the starkness of this area 2000 years ago, amid the crowds, the icons, the decorations and the perhaps invented artifacts. However, I wouldn’t have missed any of this for any reason. Leaving the Church we head to the Jaffa gate, and suddenly there is our bus. A place to sit!! We climb in, are counted, and head to the Israel Museum for a restaurant, rest rooms, and a one-hour break. The Museum is actually closed, but not the restaurant. We eat, talk, re-coup, take a few more pictures, and then it’s back to the bus for the ride to Bethlehem. Alberto would often say: “And now my colleague will drive…” — he included him in the process. On Sunday, Alberto will occasionally get quite frustrated with his “colleague”, but that’s getting ahead of the story. We head south along the ridge, with hills everywhere and almost wall to wall housing. At the border between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, we pass through a military checkpoint, and Alberto informs us that we are leaving Israel for what the Media calls the West Bank. We will be under Palestinian rule. As soon as we pass into Bethlehem, he starts talking about Rachel’s tomb, coming up on the right. He says since this is a Jewish Holy site, it is still controlled by the Israeli’s as an enclave within the Palestinian-controlled town of Bethlehem, and there will be soldiers there to protect it. Soon, we see the barbed wire and the soldiers, and it seemed a little bit tense. Sure enough, 24 hours later, there was a Palestinian uprising right here, with a mob of youths attacking the soldiers (teenage Jewish kids with Uzi’s!), and the soldiers firing rubber bullets into the crowd, injuring 14. We continue along the ridge, seeing large drop-offs, and Mosques and houses everywhere. To the left is the Judean desert; however, due to the haze, there are no glimpses of the Dead Sea, some 20 or 30 miles to the east. At one point, Alberto waves at some Palestinian police who obviously know him. We pull up to a sizable gift shop, and Alberto tells us that there are really good prices here, and we have 20 minutes to shop. We all go in and try to locate items to purchase for Eric, Courtney, etc., and we take much longer than 20 minutes, but that’s ok because other tour members are still in here, but then, oops, no one from our tour is visible. We quickly make our purchases and emerge, only to see our bus parked further on down the road. As I panic and prepare to run after it, we see bus driver re-entering the shop, looking for us. They’re extremely watchful of their “charges”. At least Alberto didn’t seem upset. We soon arrive at the Church of the Nativity, and park alongside another 15 or 20 tour buses. As we walk towards the entrance, we are assaulted by Palestinians selling post-cards, jewelry, etc. and they are very aggressive. This one older guy singles me out and gets in my face as I am walking towards the church. He holds out some cheap jewelry and starts offering at lower and lower prices. I STUPIDLY pull out my wallet, feeling sorry for the guy. I have a 20 shekel bill from which I want change for one necklace. He grabs it and instead of change gives me an additional necklace. So I now am the proud owner of what Vonnie tells me are two incredibly cheap necklaces, all for $6.00. Into the church — actually adjoining churches, all connected. The first one is Orthodox, and has some walls from Byzantine times and some from the Crusades, and others more modern. We walk down below into the grotto which is purported to be the stable where Jesus was born. There are 3 or 4 other tour groups crowded in. Even lower is supposedly the manger where baby Jesus was laid. A one point, Vonnie asks Alberto how they know that this was REALLY the cave where Jesus was born, and Alberto says that there are many books written which say all kinds of things and she can read them, or she can believe — and he pats his heart to emphasize his faith. I think Alberto is Catholic. Then one of the obviously Christian groups starts singing “Away in a Manger”. It was the closest thing to a moment of transcendence during the hustle and bustle of today’s tour. We explore further the grotto surrounding the actual (purported) birth site — there are several little chapels adjoining, all under ground. We then climb up and enter the Catholic church. We look around a little more, leave and head back towards the bus. My Palestinian “friend” begins to accost me again, and I say “no, I already got something from you”. He quickly remembers and leave me to chase others. Safely back to the bus, as I’m heading up the stairs, I buy another set of linked postcards from a young Palestinian for 1 shekel (about $0.30). As dusk begins to descend we drive back through the checkpoint into Jerusalem, drop off our Jerusalem tour-ists, and head back down the mountain pass towards Tel Aviv. An amazing day! A few more JAY-RU-SA-LEM’s and oh-la-la-la’s from Alberto, along with him occasionally breaking into song — he has a voice you’d pay to hear — and we’re back at the Tel Aviv bus station. We get into another tour bus to be shuttled back to Herzliya, say goodbye to Alberto, and arrive at our hotel 30 minutes later to the crashing of waves and the sense of awe as to what we have experienced.
Saturday, February 7
Today, our tour will be to the Galilee, but we also have a big decision. Our plane reservations are for 11:25pm tonight, but I am pushing to extend our stay for another day so we can take the Sunday tour to Masada, Jericho, and the Dead Sea. It means another $120 for the hotel, an unknown fee to TWA, plus the cost of the tour for the two of us ($138), and we are dead tired. So when we return tonight, we will have an hour or two to decide, since the return flight to the States leaves from Tel Aviv at 11:25pm. We arise at 6:15am. The weather looks threatening — we hope it doesn’t rain. I am first down in the lobby, and notice a couple waiting also for the tour, so we strike up a conversation. They are from Connecticut, and he works for Pratt-Whitney, working for 5 or 6 weeks on the engines of the El Al 747’s. 7:00 o’clock comes and goes with no bus. At about 7:15, I see a United Tours bus come by, but it doesn’t stop — just heads down toward the other hotels. Are we going to miss the tour? The hotel receptionist gets on the phone — of course we don’t know what she is saying — it’s all in Hebrew, but she assures us that the bus will be back in 5 minutes. Twenty minutes and several phone calls later, still no bus. But finally it arrives. Note that we will be heading south 20 minutes to the Tel Aviv bus station, only to get on our tour and pass right back through Herzliya. At the bus station, no Alberto (he is off, today), but our tour guide is Moshi — and he is clearly Jewish. Very up-beat and confident. Today’s tour group is a little smaller, maybe 15 people. In addition to our Connecticut friends, there is a couple from Austria, a couple (not married) from England, and a kind of lonely-looking American man. It turns out that this guy is a courier for the US Government, with this job taking him to 15 countries in about 5 weeks. We find out the next day (getting ahead of my story) that the English guy is almost assuredly a member of the London Symphony Orchestra, on tour in Israel. Finally, throughout the day, Moshi will keep up constant chatter with the Austrian couple — he is fluent in German, as well as five other languages. These guides are amazing! We leave Tel Aviv, and head north, passing through Herzliya and on up towards Haifa. We stop at Netanya to pick up a Mexican family, and soon after turn inland away from the coast. Moshi the guide points out the Sharon Valley to our right, actually a few feet below sea level. He tells of the mosquito infested swamps that were here at the turn of the century when Jews began returning to Palestine, and how over that time they have transformed the area into highly productive agriculture. We see orange groves, olive tree groves, Almond trees, all kinds of crops — again, the desert blossoming like a rose! As we move further inland, more and more of the towns become Arab. We begin to see flocks of sheep on the hillsides, with Arab shepherds nearby. Moshi tells us that Jews build their communities at the tops of hills, while Arabs build near the bottom — it happens all over Israel. After a bit of a mountain pass we enter what Moshi calls the plane of Jezreel, that we know as the Valley of Armageddon. It is very flat and vast, lush with crops. Up ahead we begin to see the Galilean hills — mountains really — to our left, and the Samaritan mountains to our right. Soon, ahead of us is a uniquely round-shaped mountain — Mount Tabor. Moshi tells us that this is where Christians believe the Transfiguration of Jesus took place. There is no question but that this mountain IS striking looking – really unique. We turn to the north and reach the foot of the Galilean hills. We start up many, many switchbacks, climbing to Nazareth. Looking back, the Valley of Armageddon stretches for a very long distance. Nazareth is divided into two towns — lower Nazareth is Arab, and upper Nazareth is Jewish. It is very congested. We pass by a church/relief building — it belongs to…the Church of the Nazarene! We stop nearby at a gift shop for shopping, rest rooms, and coffee and a wonderful philo-rolled pastry. We even got seconds! We then left the bus for a two-hour walking tour of lower Nazareth. As we wind through the streets, we see Arab people, shops, etc., but we are still in Israel, not the West Bank, so it doesn’t seem quite as menacing to me. We end up at the Church of the Annunciation, where (supposedly) the angel Gabriel announced to Mary the things that were to happen. I say supposedly, not because I don’t believe that Mary received the announcement, I’m just not sure how they know it was right at this spot in this part of Nazareth! Oh well, why NOT here? The church itself is quite modern, with a dome representing an upside-down lily. We leave this church — Vonnie finds another kitty — and we move on to St. Joseph’s church. There are a few Monks around, and it is all quite pleasant. We head back to the bus, and then drive up to upper Nazareth — much more “western”, with car dealerships, and many more apartments. Moshi tells us that Jews tend to live in apartments, while Arabs tend to have detached homes. There seems to be construction everywhere, in both lower and upper Nazareth. But economically there is no question where the wealth is. This is true throughout Israel. Not that Israeli Arabs are destitute — no comparison with the Palestinian Arabs, who ARE poor. We leave Nazareth heading towards the Sea of Galilee — up and down hills, and seeing housing everywhere: on the tops of hills, in the valleys — densely populated. We drive through Cana of Galilee, and then climb up another pass, and begin our descent to the Sea of Galilee. It is simply beautiful, although quite hazy and clouds threatening — no rain…yet. As we continue to descend, the mountains now are no longer populated, but they are very green, with almost no trees on the slopes. We begin to see more and more Palm trees by the road. At the shores of the Sea, we are about 300 feet below sea level, and in a tropical area. We drive pass groves of banana trees and date farms with their groves of Palm trees, heading towards the ancient ruins of the town of Capernaum. We pass by the spot which Moshi tells us is where the Sermon on the Mount was delivered, and also the areas where the miracle of the loaves and fishes took place. It would be helpful at this point to be really totally on top of all the scriptures pertaining to activities around the Sea of Galilee. At Capernaum, we get out of the bus, and walk into the park where the ruins are maintained. It starts to rain and drizzle. Moshi explains various items: this is Peter’s house, over there are ongoing archeological digs and reconstruction. We enter what Moshi claims is the oldest Synagogue in Israel — quite a bit of it still intact. Did Jesus teach here? Under some trees, the rain really comes down. I am very glad that my umbrella is safe and dry at our hotel back in Herzliya! It’s back to the bus for the ride down to Tiberias for lunch, followed by a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. The sky brightens a bit. Across the Sea, we can see the Golan heights, draped in the clouds. Tiberias is a beautiful tropical resort town — lush Palm trees and other foliage. We have lunch, and then out to the boat for our ride. There is now some blue sky. The temperature is in the high 60’s, but there is quite a breeze on the Sea. After about 45 minutes, we return to the dock and our bus. As we are about to get in, a beautiful peacock walks by with its tail fully spread, and we grab our cameras to record. We leave Tiberias and drive south along the shore until we come to the spillway that marks the exit of the Jordan River from the Sea. We drive for about a mile along the Jordan — not very impressive looking here — and stop at a site with a gift shop and an outdoor baptismal area in the Jordan, all enclosed in overhanging trees. There are twenty or so people wading in the water, many with clerical or baptismal dress, with people pouring water over one another. It does not seems overly meaningful to many, and once again I ache for a more transcendent experience. Note incidentally, that Jesus’ baptism was much further south, in the desert near the Dead Sea, not here in the Galilee. Back in the bus, and it’s back toward “home”. As we re-enter the Valley of Armageddon, it is now raining quite strongly. We ask if we can be dropped of on the way in Herzliya, so we don’t have to go into Tel Aviv only to return. Moshi agrees. However, this process takes time, and the English guy begins to get a little upset, something about being late to his “gig”. We found out the next day about the London Symphony Orchestra, with the strong suspicion that he was a player. Once at the hotel, we now begin to debate in earnest as to whether to stay on for another night and the Masada tour. We try to reach TWA: if they decide to charge us $150 more per ticket, that would be too much and we would have to leave. It takes over an hour to get through to TWA. They say they have to look at the ticket to be sure, but that it will probably be $50 per person. We also reach Courtney at home and she assures us that all is well and urges us to stay. So we decide to stay!
Sunday, February 8
Up at 6:15am again, this time to pack. We really are leaving tonight. We leave our luggage at the reception desk in the hotel. All week, Gita and last night Geli have been most helpful and gracious. Our Connecticut friends are also waiting, and at about 7:15am our bus arrives. It’s back to Tel Aviv again. We get there at around 7:50am. Being the first day of the work week, there are now large groups of the teenagers (both boys and girls) dressed in fatigues with their Uzi’s, waiting for their buses to take them to “work”. I just have time to buy a roll of film before we leave. Once again, it’s Alberto! It’s off again to JAY-RU-SAH-LEM! “With the help of God”, as Alberto says. “Alberto the Little”, he calls himself. He tells us that his colleague is the second best driver in his company. The best driver had an accident yesterday! It turns out that Alberto came from a Spanish area of Morocco. He is fluent in six languages. He mispronounces English words in a most delightful manner. He has kind of a hispanic, Jewish accent. “Ladiez an’ gentlmn…”. He is very knowledgeable. We climb back up to Jerusalem, no stopping today for Elvis, and arrive at a Hotel which is the headquarters for United Tours, and where we will change buses. We go in to get some coffee and pastries. “Ten minutes!” asserts Alberto. We leave 30 minutes later. There is a tall thin gray-haired Englishman on our tour, friendly, and quite refined. We had seen him talking back at the bus station with the English woman from yesterday’s tour — clearly they knew one another. He says he’s not feeling well, and may have to leave early. As we pass into the old city, we come to an intersection where Alberto yells at his “colleague” to drive more aggressively, and we end up nearly hitting a street sign. Alberto has to get out of the bus to pull back to sign so we can pass. Alberto laughs deeply at his “colleague’s” problems several times during the day. Leaving the Old City, we begin the long descent down from Jerusalem into the Judean desert towards Jericho and the Dead Sea area. As the road snakes around, we begin to see Bedouin (Nomad) settlements — temporary shacks, sheep on the hillsides, sometimes a camel, men with headgear and robes, and also an occasional TV antenna on a shack. Alberto assures us that they wish to live this way — they’ve done so for centuries. At the bottom of the descent, we are in desert. The Jordan frontier is just ahead, Jericho is to our left, and the Dead Sea off to our right (south). We turn right, and soon we are at the shores of the Dead Sea — the lowest point on the surface of the earth. Stark Judean Mountains to our right — no vegetation at all — with occasional dry river beds cut through the mountains. To our left across the Dead Sea are the mountains of Moab (in the country of Jordan), where Moses had his view of the promised land, and then died. The surroundings remind me of some of the landscape near the Grand Canyon, except here there is nothing green, except for an occasional Oasis, or a Kibbutz where they have somehow piped in water. The day is overcast, with a temperature in the low 70’s. Can’t ask for better temperature in the desert. At some point we begin to see caves to our right, up in the mountains — we are passing through Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found in 1947. We wind along the Sea, heading south through this stark landscape. At one point, however, there is a sizable stand of Palm trees. It’s a date farm, run by an Israeli kibbutz. They’ve somehow harnessed the scarce water — to turn the desert into something fertile. We finally reach Masada. It is a bluff rising above the desert floor about 1000 feet in height, and at the top was built a fortress by Herod the Great. He intended it as a location for a possible government-in-exile, should that be necessary. It had an elaborate series of cisterns to hold water, and could be stocked with enough food to last 20 years. However, Herod died in 4 B.C. and never used it. Later, during the siege of Jerusalem in 66 – 70 A.D., it was occupied by 1000 Jewish zealots, who vowed never to give in to the Romans. In about 71 A.D. the siege of Masada began, and the Jews held off thousands of Roman soldiers for three years. It was impossible to mount an attack. Finally, the Romans took Jewish slaves and built a huge ramp (out of rock and soil) up to the top, allowing their war machines to make an ascent. Finally the day came for the assault. However, when the Romans reached the top, everyone was dead. There had been a mass suicide — with the Jewish zealots choosing self-inflicted death over capture and slavery by the Romans. Today, all Israeli soldiers, when they are inducted into the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) come to Masada for a ceremony, where they vow: “Masada – never again”. At the base of Masada there are two important things: (1) a cable car to take us up — a climb would take 2 or 3 hours — and, (2) a gift shop with a restaurant and restrooms. Alberto said “20 minutes” but it turned out to be more like 45 minutes. There were many cosmetic products for sale, citing the beneficial aspects of the soil around the Dead Sea. More purchases and long lines at the checkout counter and where is Alberto? We leave the loot in the bus, and climb up to the cable car entrance, and ride up to near the top. A spectacular view of the desert and the Dead Sea. There are still 80 steps remaining to get to the top, although they are building another cable car which will make the trip all the way. We spend the next two hours walking around Masada, with Alberto giving forth on all the interesting history. All the time there is this wonderful desert setting. During our stay on top, there were even a few drops of rain. In the desert. People had told us that “it never rains at Masada”. The most amazing thing to me about Masada is how they got the water up there, and where they got it from — basically from flash floods from the Judean mountains which were captured in giant cisterns at the bottom, with the water then painstakingly carried up to the upper cisterns. Talk about thumbing your nose at something, they actually had a swimming pool (i.e., a bath) at the top. That’s how much water they stored. I’m sure the swimming pool was Herod’s idea, and not the Jews’. Remember, this is stark desert. After leaving Masada, we headed north towards Jericho. Along the way we stopped at the En Gedi Spa, located on the former shores of the Dead Sea — the actual shore has now receded nearly a mile away. Alberto told us that we had two hours exactly — we would be leaving at 3:45pm. During that time we could take baths in the mineral waters, cover ourselves with volcanic mud (it will take 20 years off your life, says Alberto), and float in the Dead Sea. We can also eat at the restaurant. Only, Alberto warns, don’t stand around trying to decide what to do — be decisive and do things! We eat. And get to know the Connecticut couple a little better. They attend a large independent church near Manchester, and are very active in worldwide ministries of benevolence — sending food, medical supplies, etc., with church members going along to videotape the delivery of the goods, to prove they actually get into the hands of the needy people. After eating, the tall English guy comes by and asks if I would tell Alberto that he is taking another tour bus back to Jerusalem. He says he plays in the London Symphony Orchestra, and they have a concert tonight in Tel Aviv. So he leaves. The four of us go down to the Dead Sea shoreline. Even though I don’t have a bathing suit, I want to at least wade into it. I do so, and do NOT walk on the water. There ARE a few people effortlessly floating on the water, however. There is a tram that takes us down there, but it takes its time about picking us up, so we walk back to the Spa. We are the last persons onto the bus. I tell Alberto about the Englishman. He is not that happy about him leaving. They take security very seriously. We drive back by a camping area where we see lots of youth with back packs. We also drive over the dry river bed of the River Kidron. So it winds down from Jerusalem though the Judean mountains down to the Dead Sea. We continue on north, and reach the turnoff to Jericho. Once more warnings from Alberto about our entering a dangerous area. Jericho is the oldest city on earth, some 9,000 years old — Vonnie was especially thrilled to be here. It is now a dusty poor city of 14,000 Palestinians, without much commerce. We stop at a gift shop where the Palestinians obviously know and welcome Alberto and his tours. We look around the shop — one of the Palestinians in the shop bangs two glass goblets together to prove how tough they are — and on my climb back into the bus, a Palestinian guy offers me a “silver” bracelet at first for 30 shekels, and as I turn my back, he ultimately comes down to three shekels. I pay. We leave Jericho as dusk come on, climbing, climbing up to Jerusalem. We are at 1200 ft. below sea level, and Jerusalem is at 2500 ft. above, so it’s a big climb in about 15 miles. And Jesus and many others walked? No. They climbed! to Jerusalem. Back to the hotel in Jerusalem to drop some people off, then via some back roads down to the west towards Tel Aviv. At some curbside in Tel Aviv we meet another bus (they use cellular phones for coordination) for our trip back to Herzliya. We bid farewell (forever?) to Alberto. Upon arrival at our hotel, we have about 90 minutes before we need to get our taxi to the airport. We talk a final walk down to the commercial area for a slice of pizza and an ice cream cone, and then a final walk along the waves of the Mediterranean. Into the hotel to bid warm farewells to our Connecticut friends and to Gita. Then into the taxi for the ride to Tel Aviv and Shannon (Ireland) and New York Kennedy and Boston.
Our travel plans:
01/30/98 Lv Boston 6:00pm TWA 7725
Ar New York/Kennedy 7:15p
Lv New York/Kennedy 10:00p TWA 884
01/31/98 Ar Tel Aviv 3:20p
Okeanos Apartment Hotel Client/Server Technology, Ltd.
50 Ramat Yam, P.O. Box 12175
Herzliya Pituah, ISRAEL Herzliya 46766 ISRAEL
011-972-9-959-9888 011-972-9-952-5900
011-972-9-950-6411 fax 011-972-9-952-5959
02/07/98 Lv Tel Aviv 11:25p TWA 883
02/08/98 Ar New York/Kennedy 6:00a
Lv New York/Kennedy 7:35a TWA 7702
Ar Boston 8:45a
Possibly stay one more day, leaving on 02/08/98.