Kedem Towers Jerusalem

... like they were battle scars, Israel is paranoid regarding anything to do with Palestine. I get a mean looking lady at passport control, thin, young, piercing eyes with eyebrows like huge hedgehogs, jeez get some tweezers girl, seriously. Why are you here? Tourism. Do you know anyone in Israel? No. Do you have any Weapons? Surprisingly no. Excuse me? No, I have no weapons. Where are you staying? In a hotel ...

... game kinda place to keep the girls occupied. I get into it and start playing a few games myself.
Then I bought....MAKEUP! Crazy! My cousin Rinat is a makeup freak and I actually sat at her vanity table that morning and put some on. It's been a long time since I properly put on makeup.
I thought I should really buy some since I lent out most of it to my friend back in Canada who lives in Vancouver so I dunno when I'll be seeing my stuff again. I'm comin to get my stuff Lea!
Now ...

... to get there. So we headed out towards Jericho and took Highway 90 south to Ein Gedi. I have to say the Dead Sea was everything I thought it would be. That was the first time in my life that I've ever gotten to float flat on my back. normally I float like a rock. A large heavy Titanic-shaped rock... Seriously, if I try to float flat on my back, my legs start sinking first and they pull me at an angle under the water. Oh and the Dead Sea is a lot ...

... und selb** niemand v**letzen. Zur Zeiten d** Zweiten Intifada waren es sogar drei Mal so viele Truppen... 1500.

Jetzt stellt sich selbstv**staendlich jed** die Frage: Warum ausg**echnet Hebron? Kann man das nicht auch mitten in d** Pampa machen, wie es die restlichen Siedl** auch tun? Die Antwort dafu** ist recht simpel: Hebron ist d** Ort, an dem angeblich Abraham, d** Stammvat** d** drei groessten monotheistischen Religionen Judentum, Christentum und Islam, begraben ...

... ancient cities, of which I know nothing, to visit first. In the end, I picked Jerusalem off the unquestionable logic that the bus driver looked nicer than the one for Tel Aviv. At 7am I was dropped outside the Jaffa Gate, with no way of navigating the ancient, winding streets behind it, no notion of what it might look like, and no reservations.

But things have a way of working out. Somehow I found myself checked into a hostel and wandering ...

... Jordanian settlements just on the other side of the River. We didn't quite go to the Dead Sea this day, but we could see it in front of us as we turned west to drive to Jerusalem. On the way up to Jerusalem, we passed by a lot of little Bedouin communities along the highway. These were just crummy little shanties that rivaled what you might see looking across the border from El Paso. Kinda sad that people have to live ...

We started today at the Citadel of David. This fortress sits right at the Jaffa Gate directly across the street from Christ Church. In fact, many archeologists apparently believe that Herod's garden that was adjacent to this Citadel in Jesus' day was on the Christ Church property. From up on the ramparts, one has a superb view to the west of New Jerusalem and to the east of the old city. The contrast is just wonderful. We spent the morning in the museum ...

... the Sol Y Mar in Safaga only on a smaller scale. We enjoy our meal, but there are a group of men behind us smoking. On our way out we ask about the smoking and are told the area to the right is non smoking and they realize that in Europe they do not have smoking in restaurants, but it is different here. We say we understand (Egypt is a land of smokers.) We ask at the reception if I can have the mattress replaced and they say yes, tomorrow. The animation ...

... including the Mount of Olives

* The Armenian, Christian and Muslim quarters, or what Lauren collectively calls "The Arab Quarter". Quote of the day came from her when some Germans in our group wouldn't shup up: "Germans in the Arab Quarter, is there anyone I'd like to kill more?"

* In the Muslim Quarter, we walked through narrow alleyways and souk markets, where the shopkeepers put aside all politics for a buck - I saw one shop ...

... the whole experience, but in a place like that, what can you expect? nevertheless, I got to see some holy sites from different religions as well as some really beautiful secular architecture. So to escape the crowds and the storekeepers trying to sell tourist junk and the guides offering tours I did not want to do, I left the Old City and went for the Mount of Olives and a stroll through the shopping area in the city center.