Herods Palace Hotel Eilat

... a bit and Wayne wandered around taking photos of the cute desert birds flying nearby. There was no one nearby and no one passed us in the hour we were there. It was so quiet with just a gentle breeze now and then. It was very cool out of the sun and pleasant. After his snooze we were off in the truck again and drove more into the desert. This is the area made famous by T.E Lawrence or better known as Lawrence of Arabia who lived here in the 1920’ ...

... who was on her way home from Jerusalem. But we did stroll through a residential neighborhood to Rabin Square, a large plaza next to City Hall, where concerts and demonstrations take place. In fact, it was there on Nov. 4, 1995, that Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated after a massive peace rally, thus the square now bears his name. With the help of a nice young Israeli woman, we found the modest memorial to Rabin, whereupon she bid us farewell and ...

... Wir muessen hier raus. Zedane hat bewiesen, dass er keine Probleme damit hat, sie oder Mehdi in den Knast zu stecken, und ich hab kein Bock darauf, in seinem kleinen Spielchen mitzuspielen. Darueber hinaus ist es nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis er mich auch auf den Kiecker hat, da ich mich mit Emily sehr gut verstehe und er mit Sicherheit (bald) eine Ahnung davon hat, dass ich ihr alles stecke, was er mir im Vertrauen sagt. Ich haette auch kein Problem damit, hier ...

... so did most of my exploring on my own so at the time wasn't quite sure what I was looking at, although I recognised the outdoor theatre. I have since found out that besides the tombs and theatre there were houses and government buildings, a paved street with the bases of columns along one side. In the Urn Chamber the ceiling and walls were striking being in different coloured sandstone rock. I must have walked and climbed up and down ...

... encourage the ladies to join in.
A few smoke apple-flavoured "hubbly-bubblies," the tall glass containers, water filling the base, fueled by hot coals applied at the top. I try a Turkish coffee which looks and tastes like sludge.
Earlier, we viewed the impressive rock formation that gave title to Lawrence's book, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Peter O'Toole was a great choice to play Lawrence. His angular face and flaming eyes embodied the spiritual ...

... play with it like it was a toy, I lost it. I told her her questions were stupid and irrelevant and to give me back my camera. I was really wishing that they would get hit and the Americans would pull out their help. Anyway, enough moaning. Jerusalem, as seen through the eyes of a Catholic (me) was truly awesome. Walking through the Mount of Olives, and all the churches that they had was pretty amazing. The country overall is much richer than it's ...

... dinner, some went to walk in the desert while others went back to join in on the Bedouin dancing. I opted for the dancing. I got pulled in to try the debke again. Usually, the men and women have their own separate debke line. However, for this dance they were combined. I found myself linked with a young Jordanian guy who was patiently trying to teach me the right steps. We carried on a short conversation, half in Arabic, half in English in regards to where I'm from, etcetera ...

... upcoming holiday weekend? Once again, we're glad, even with the air conditioning issue that we had our private room! Shor did not get a good night's sleep. One tent near him had a party going on. The other one had an amorous couple. Shor had heard from the tour office and someone told him that our tour is for 1 1/2 hours. I shrug my shoulders with determination that there is no way that this is going to spoil an experience that I am so looking ...

... d seen them pretty much every day. But today was special as some of them were actually standing on the branches up in an acacia tree! They are truly avid climbers. We then hiked and climbed through the eerie narrow Red Canyon. The atmosphere was transformed by Israeli student groups singing deep within the tight chasms with their chants resonating off the canyon walls. The Red Canyon is a particularly narrow squeeze in the course of a wadi. It ...

... at that point wondering what I had brought my family to, and thinking about just how much research I had done into by Eilat as our airport destination! As is my wont, I took comfort only from the fact that the rest of the queue, which was primarily made up of Jewish people was just looking rather bored by the whole affair. The queue snaked on in a shuffling fashion and we eventually got to the front where you were assigned to one of 6 interrogators positioned at lecterns ...