Four Points Paradise Jerusalem

... to the other side'. In that split second, I felt their pain.

We were both disappointed not to be able to visit Yad Vashem (the holocaust museum) as it was the Sabbath. And for some odd reason, I was just blown away to have SHEKELS in my hand and purse! It was quite a reality check to be using the same type of currency as Biblical times. It was refreshing to see a sign on the door to the Garden Tomb (at Golgotha - the skull cave) that ...

Alors je me suis dit, tiens, si j'allais me reposer en Israël dis donc???

C’est vrai ça, après un semestre en Ethiopie, un mois entier a raconter ma vie en long, en large et en travers, a passer entretien sur entretien, il était temps de prendre un peu de repos non? Et quoi de plus alléchant que la perspective d’un pays en guerre en plein cagnard?

Donc me voila partie pour un autre voyage en solo que, honnêtement, j’espère bien être le ...

... als "illegal" eingestuft wurde und damit internationales Recht verletzt. Eine UN-Resolution scheiterte aber am Veto der USA und Enthaltungen diverser anderer Mitglieder des Sicherheitsrates, darunter Grossbritannien und Deutschland.

Den Rest unserer Tour verbrachten wir an Teilen der Mauer in Bethlehem, die an vielen Stellen aeusserst kreativ mit Graffiti dekoriert ist, der Geburtskirche, die laut Katholiken, Griechisch-Orthodoxen und Armenisch ...

... walking backwards out of respect for Jewish people. Truly believing that God is totally interested in the position of my heart not my clothes. The teaching of Yeshua clearly exhibits Jesus’ lack of tolerance for those who were so religious on the outside that they did not need a Messiah. That their salvation was obtainable in their own observance of the law. This was the only group of people Yeshua showed no tolerance for. And yes ...

Å komme inn i Israel ble en tidskonsumerende affære. Dels på grunn av lange køer og trege sikkerhetssjekker, men ikke minst på grunn av våre syriske visaer og stempler i passet. Dette falt tydelig ikke i god jord i et land som er omringet av aktuelle og potensielle fiender, og hvor grensen mellom paranoia og rasjonell sikkerhetsvurdering er flytende. Konsekvensen av vår eventyrlyst ble derfor noe som kan kvalifiseres som avhør fra tre forskjellige poster i grenseslusa. Da vi ...

... the water in my mouth and nose (I won't tell you how I did that) - it was so salty it burned! In fact, every orifice I own burned! (Sorry, that might be too much information). ;-) The three of us just stayed in about 5-10 minutes - that's about all we could take. But at least I'm glad I had the experience of floating in the saltiest body of water on earth in the lowest place on earth! We headed on back to Jerusalem for the evening.

... monk this afternoon, a friend of a friend. It was just wonderful to get to know him and life for the small Armenian community that live secluded behind the walls of this "convent." Tomorrow will be our last day out of the city. We're heading to the desert: Masada and the Dead Sea. It should be an interesting day. Pray that my mouth recovers quickly and stops giving me trouble!

... a bush and went in, stubbing my toes on the rocks. Man that was a weird feeling. So surreal. You couldn't try and sink even if you wanted to. Nice to lie there and float reading a book and having the obligatory photos taken. Could have stayed there for ages. Taxi driver joined us, no trunks so he just stripped down to his kegs. Then climbed back up the embankment to shower under the spring. Lovely stuff. Really warm and gets off the salt layer ...

... of Birthright with those of my cousins. For instance, about seven in the group had gotten separated in Hezekiel's water tunnels without a flashlight and navigated the rest of the subterranean knee-high deep water tunnel in complete darkness, all the while chanting "Imhotep...Imhotep (from The Mummy movie)." Funny ****. They also stayed at a Bedouin camp during a sand storm. They say the sun looked completely white, completely circular, and that when they got ...

... a place that is impossible to sink due to its extremely high salt content. You can float effortlessly in the water which is a very strange feeling indeed.


So 5 days have already passed and I feel like I have seen so little, so I will end up staying quite a while longer than originally planned. I apologise for the extremely large number of photos of this entry, but this will pretty much be all the photos I will be posting of Jerusalem so consider this a "super entry".