Golden Tulip Club Tiberias

... thing that stayed the same was the wall made of small stones in the waiting area and the window that overlooked the base. I look outside the window and I remembered exactly what it used to look like. I remembered how the soldiers used to hang out by the flag, chatting away.
It made me kinda sad to see it like this. It made me feel so old to remember something so clearly, like it was yesterday, and to see it gone.
Avshalom said to me "It's every soldier's dream to see his army ...

... skewers on the grill. Typically there are 2 skewers for each order.
We made our way out of Biet Sh'en and on to Tiberius to check in to our hotel the Astoria. It was very confusing making our way up the hillside in Tiberius to find our hotel. There were periodic small blue signs that provided direction to hotels in the various regions of what appeared as a relatively dirty, trafficy, small city. We checked into our hotel the Astoria ...

... least, get the fire going and sit around and talk. We made burgers and as soon as the raw meat came out of the cooler, a swarm of flies showed up. It was ridiculous! There we so many flies... we called them Zombie Flies! The burgers were delicious. Travis and Mike are amazing cooks. After a country shower, I sat by the fire and talked to Alan for a bit. Then we mellowed out to some DMB and talked about family and life. Around midnight, however, it got weird ...

... Jesus was the Messiah. The place had a beautiful stream with little waterfalls -- gorgeous. These are the headstreams of the Jordan River, with water/snow draining off Mt. Hermon (by the way, there's even a ski resort at Mt Hermon -- what a surprise!). In Caesarea Philippi, there was also an old pagan worship site, including niches carved into the cliff, for "Pan and the Dancing Goats" (huh?). This old ...

... class, we had always gone out to dinner together. They were very sad to see me go and even bought me an item that you place on your door at home for good luck. After spending a few days in Haifa, I am more than ready to return to the army training. In a way, it reminds me of a fraternity of brothers with whom you share incredible experiences and work together in pursuit of common goals. Except that here, if you do not listen to the commander (i.e. master), you get shot. Or just punished.

... of us. Nimrod *nd I *greed th*t I would come see him th*t night but *fter spending time with T*ny* *nd just he v*rious *ctivities of the d*y I w*s too kn*ckered to t*ke the bus to Jerus*lem. Inste*d we c*ught up * bit with everyone, then us 3 youngsters left. (Borik, Shimon *nd myself) We m*de * stop over *t "The Musici*n's" house first. This Musici*n w*s more t*lented th*t Colin I'd s*y. He took * h*nd s*w *nd m*de rem*rk*ble music from it. Then he gr*bbed *n *ccordion, *nd pl*yed ...

... guard who checked passports on the bus basically started laughing at us before sending us walking back to the checkpoint for the stamp, which was kind of funny. It's doubtful our mistake would have gone over so well back on the more-secure Israeli side. All in all, a nice relaxing time in Jordan. I definitely want to see Petra on another visit, one of the wonders of the world, probably on the same trip to Eilat down south. And perhaps I'll try Amman another time as well.

... and a dairy meal for dinner. Lunch is copious and pretty good. Lunch is absorbed, inhaled, and generally gulped down pretty quickly. The diggers observe two hours of "quiet time" from about 2:15 to 4:15. This allows those who want to take a nap to do so. As the dig has progressed, most of us began taking naps several times a week, if not every day. At 4:15 there is pottery washing. We come to the processing area, fill buckets with clean water ...

... tunnel that developed along a fissure in the center of a ravine. The ravine has no upper drainage & is closed in on all sides. The cave is tunnel shaped. It was very pretty, but not as big as we thought it would be. So, driving right along, we see the Yehiam Fortress National Park. The date of when it was built is not ...

... new building we had seen from the road. It turns out to be the new student union. The guard probably did not understand English too well and we wanted to be in the right place so badly that we believed him. We find a very nice woman, originally from Philadelphia who offers to help. She is amazed that we had ended up where we are. When we tell her we are lost, she responds, "No you're not. You are home." By now it is well past the ...