Harmony Jerusalem

... like being in a Church - it was in a sort of downstairs cavern with every inch decorated with elaborate, mainly religious objects. The Armenians converted to Christianity before the Romans and have been established in the city since around the fourth century. <br><br>To understand Jeruselum today, you need to understand the beliefs of the Jewish people and their deep attachment to the land on which the city is built. Jewish legend and the Old ...

... 8221; stuff as well. Our best blower, Adin, had a strong preference for one of the shofars and we went with his choice. Both boys then chose a personal Torah for themselves &#8211; Ashkenazi in Adin&#8217;s case and Sephardi in Ezra&#8217;s &#8211; we paid after getting a small discount on our purchases and headed back out onto the street. <br><br>We then made our way slowly along Mea She&#8217;arim Street back towards Ethiopia Street and our car. Everywhere men and ...

... from the megaphone. I think they still actually use a megaphone or something equally as ******. It's always garbled, pretty, but still garbled. Even in Cairo!<br>So we leave the restaurant and head to the beach. The sun is setting. Mom and Einav go for a bit of a swim but I stay back because I didn't have my bikini on and my undies didn't look as bikini-like as theirs did. That's o.k, I've never been much of an ocean swimmer anyway.<br>I was enjoying sitting on the rocks and watching ...

... from a map and asking "tomb?&#8221; and pointing, we found it. The garden tomb is in a very peaceful, lush park right in the middle of one of the dirtiest and hectic parts of the city that I have yet experienced. Sarah had been there before, so since we were limited in time, we did the park in reverse. We went straight to the tomb and then make our way to the observation point of Golgotha. Actually the traditional site from ...

... and then get some food. I read in Frommer&#8217;s about two restaurants in the old city. One was the Armenian Tavern that seems very close to us. It ended up only a two minute walk and was excellent. Mid-priced, we descended a flight of steps to enter a grotto full of Armenian religious antiques and jewelry. It was like eating in a museum. Excellent succulent lamb kabobs&#8230;and another Goldstar. This time I did remember ...

... in my life, but also because looking back, I think this is when the ten of us bonded within our tzevet.<br>2) Sde Boker desert base: Shooting my M-16, the first time I had fired a weapon in my life and which had been more exhilarating than I had initially anticipated.<br>3) Field Week in the Negev Desert: Learning combat training skills intensively in the open desert. Incredibly challenging, incredibly rewarding, and the best week of the course.<br>4) Ja'ara Gadna base: shooting the ...

... br> <br><br> <br><br> <br><br> <br><br> <br><br> <br><br> <br><br> All of the city tours were also closed that day, which was a complete disappointment. However, there was a REALLY smart Romanian kid in our group, Bogdon, who said he would take us on a tour of the city. So, once the Pope cleared out, we were on our way - first stop, the Church of ...

... s a lot! First, we go into the Holocaust Historical museum. Which is the main part of the Yad Vashem. I wish I could have taken pictures it was so amazing. It started out about the start of the Holocaust and what lead up to it. Then we saw the Concentraition camps and ghettos, then it moved onto the Liberation and the Starting of Israel. It was so sad! There were TVs that had interviews of Holocaust survivors, one women was in Ukraine, Ukraine and ...

Interesting to say the least. Just after our swim, I knew the Bethany site was in close proximity, I therefore suggested it to Vaggelis who, not so eagerly, still accepted we make a stop there. Again, public transportation is almost non existent for this site as well, so unless you want to ride bicycles as some tourists we saw did, and they didn't look very happy pedaling in the heat, you are better off just renting a taxi. The entire trip from 10.00am from the hotel, an ...