Joan, Ed and Eric Journey Through Israel

Link to pictures

The trek home started well. Caught a taxi to the train station. Easy enough. Took the train to the airport. Went through the most lax security screening in recent memory.  We then flew 11 hours (tough) back to Newark, New Jersey.  Next, our flight from there to Charlotte was delayed. Then delayed again. Then it got canceled. Due to the glut of cancellations and rescheduling we couldn't get a flight home for a day or two and they weren't (United) going to give us any accomodations or vouchers.  The train couldn't get us home. So we ended up renting a car and driving all night to get home. I (Ed) am writing this from our rental car as we are still miles from home and have watched another sunrise.  Our "day" has been over 30 hours long.  We are extremely exhausted and crave nothing more than a shower and to put head to pillow.  North Carolina is looking good though.

Today was the last day of our adventure.  Hard to believe.  We are in Tel Aviv now which is a very modern city compared to all the other places we have passed through in Israel. We started off our day  by chilling in our hotel room followed by a quaint breakfast at the hotel.  Afterwards, we headed down to the Carmel Market which was quite a scene.  When you first enter, most of the vendors are selling junk. But once you get past them you find a smorgasbord of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, baked goods and other delicacies.  We decided to procure some fresh things for our lunch.  Had an excellent midday meal.  In the afternoon we took a local bus to the Eretz Israel Museum where we saw loads of fascinating artifacts from a variety of eras in history.  The late afternoon found us getting our feet wet in the Mediterranean Sea.  The surf and wind were quite fierce! For dinner we walked the boardwalk area until we found a good place to eat and watch the sun set over the sea.  Our celebrat

Forgot to mention that this was our first hotel with separate male and female dorms, so I was on my own for the night.  Our plan was to rise at 4:45am and be on the trail by 5 so that we could see the sunrise (one of my roommates was up at 3:50 and took an hour to get ready, I finally got up and was ready in 5 min.).  I was out waiting for the guys by 4:40 and we were on our way by 4:55 and after locating the trail were on our way. Ed started at a brisk pace, fastest Eric and I had seen him walk. The trail snaked up over 450 meters to the top of the Masada. We made it a good 10 minutes before the beautiful sunrise. We then explored the ruins of Herod's mountain top home before our descent and a hearty breakfast at the hostel. A 15 minutes drive north in our car and we were at the Ein Gedi National Park, a small oasis next to the Dead Sea. We hiked up to several small waterfalls and pools  and then headed higher as I climbed by hand and foot, and cables and hand holds to reach half

Our day began early (surprise) with a walk to the Mount of Olives.  There are numerous special sites along the way and we took in many of them. Some were unavailable to us for various (ridiculous) reasons. We did observe the Garden of Gethsemane which was very cool.  We then went back to our hostel to pick up our packs (so nice to walk the morning without full pack).  From there we went to the City of David National Park. We bought a pass early in our journey to allow us to go to all the National Parks but, lo and behold, our pass was not good at this one (thanks Israel). The park had an unusual underground waterway called Hezekiah's Tunnel which is something we wanted to do so we paid the admission.  The tunnel had water flowing through it that was mostly ankle deep but was 70 cm deep in a few parts. Flashlights were mandatory.  It was extremely narrow and very cramped.  It was 500 meters long and a sign said it would take 40 minutes to walk through. We did it in 20. A tasty lunch

We woke this morning in Jerusalem and realized our hostel's front door is just 10 feet away from the West Bank Chain Gate check point. Which means there are men with semi Automatic weapons right outside our door. I sat and watched them this morning as I drank a cup of coffee. We didn't have a set plan except to get to Bethleham via public transportation. We started out and came to the Western Wall and so we stopped for a bit to take it in. Then it was off to the bus and our timing was perfect for both legs of the trip. The ride was pleasant and we arrived just 1km from Manger square and many taxi drivers were waiting like vultures to drive us the distance. But of course we walked. We made it to the Church of the Nativity, but we felt quite unwelcome as we were constantly being told we couldn't go into places where others were and we were even told we couldn't stay for Mass. No room for us at the Inn. After lunch we were finally able to make it down to the Grotto, thanks