Hotel Arcadia Jerusalem

... imagine how such different religion can co-exist in such a small area. <br> <br>It seems to me that people tend to stay in their little quarter to minimize <br>confrontation here. I feel privileged to be an observer which allows me to <br>wander from one religious quarter to another without fear of hostility and truly <br>appreciate the diversity of culture and religion that tries to live together is <br>such tight space.

... As for Simchat Torah, the singing and dancing was spirited, albeit less intense than Kol Rina. And Aimee danced with the Torah, and had an Aliya (in which she was called up to bless the Torah reading at another all woman's congregation taking place in the same building). As for me, I had two group Aliyot &#8211; one as someone who had celebrated a family Simcha (joyous occasion) in the last year (Aimee&#8217;s brother Daniel&#8217;s wedding) and one as a visitor to the congregation. I ...

... At this, they all started speaking together in Fusha, making things slightly easier to understand except that they would all burst out laughing after every sentence, saying it sounded so funny!<br><br>I has a funny experience on my way to her house, actually. I was waiting at the bus stop, passing the time by sketching the street in my book. A policeman came up to me and. In broken English, asked what I was doing. I told him that I was drawing a picture and he asked why. Just ...

... the City of David tour, we were the only ones, so she said that 3 would be enough and she would call the guide to come right away. While we waited I ventured into the Christ Church museum next door and had the most amazing talk with a Messianic Israeli woman from the museum. She explained to me the vision of some English Anglicans at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a few of which were Jews. How in 1809 they had founded the ...

... my bag isnt too heavy so it was all fine.<br><br>After getting a little bit lost I asked a policeman who wasnt much help and then I stumbled accross her road, found her address, knocked on the door and some American dude answered the door! - I got the wrong house.<br><br>Im pretty sure it was Olias mistake though, I was at 15a she lives at 15 - the only prob is I do not know what an A in hebrew loks like!<br><br>Anyway, after a phonecall ...

... indeed--but we intend to go back, if only so we can shop (i.e. bargain, haggle) at leisure: I can get some sandals and Kevin can get a bit of the original crown of thorns (or some such) for his parents, who are quite religious.<br><br>But the day was not done yet! We flagged a taxi to take us out of town to see my college friend David, who I had not seen since 1989 and who invited us to his home in a quiet religious community for the Shavuot holiday meal (and to ...

... City and the New. When Nimrod was telling me about the Old City and protecting and the life in the old city I couldn't fully comprehend what he meant by it. As we drove through teh gates and through teh city itself I was in absolute awe! There were roads, cobble stone roads, and shops, and people walking the "old streets!" It literally was an old city !!! The wall that stood was the last wall that the Romans did not destroy and it protected the temple and the city . As ...

... bus stops along the way and picks up more people, a couple end up sitting in the stairwell at the back all the trip, they were on standby too. Soon we are in Eilat, we are asked by taxi drivers if we want one to Tabba border. We wait for the bus which takes us through the town and then right out to the border. We walk through departure, get our passport paper stamped and pay 84 shekels. Walk a short way to Egypt's arrival border. We pass an extremely ...

... told Brendan he was about to take me to my 19th country on this trip - Palestine! He wasn't happy. After catching a short bus to (the safer areas of) the West Bank, we hitchhiked to the yeshiva, and I don't recall seeing any Palestinians throughout the journey.<br><br>The yeshiva has a huge hall where hundreds of people have their own desks, studying or praying all at once in an atmosphere very conducive for doing so. Although they're Bnei Akiva modern ...

... throat of the residents here. A couple of hours into the trip we stop at a small village just south of Nablus that is famous for its sweets. Tea, Coke and a panoply of homemade pastry that would make a Frenchman blush. It has been four days since I left the US, so I figured it was time to call home and let my wife know I had arrived safely. It was no mean feat to make my cell phone operational at $3/min. so I used it sparingly. I had made a connection for ...