Montefiore Jerusalem

... in the church, and were again ready to pursue more harpatkot. Along the way Ezra innocently asked if there were any &#8220;skunks&#8221; in the monastery. No skunks as far as we know, though there is a population of silent Trappist monks who make wine, liquor, and olive oil. <br><br>With limited time before a supper invitation in Rana&#8217;ana, we went to Yad LaShiryon. Lots of tanks for the boys &#8211; and us - to climb on and explore, from the handful of tiny little ...

... tenminste - wel prima. Al word je in de orthodoxe delen wel een beetje raar aangekeken met je obscene blote armen. <br><br>Wat ik ook nog niet genoemd heb, is dat de oude stad een ontzettend verwarrend doolhof is. Kaart lezen heeft weinig zin in de krappe, benouwde straatjes. Daarom was het ook verrassend dat we vrijwel meteen tegen een paar soldaten aanliepen, die ons tegenhielden. Stonden we per ongeluk voor de ingang van de Al Aqsa moskee! Zo ...

... knowing that most of the other tourists would only be stopping for an hour or so to see the Church, get back on the bus and return to Israel, possible being told that it would be dangerous to walk around, none the wiser to the life of the Palestinian people. <br><br>The following day we went to Hebron. There was a striking difference immediately; in Bethlehem, no one looked twice at a group of internationals but here the locals could barely believe we were visiting. Within minutes some ...

... We sat down on a small inside theater with a archeological remains in front of us and watched a film that told a plausible story of the family of the High Priest in 60AD as the Romans took and raised Jerusalem. This act in history was quite accurately prophesied by Yeshua in Luke 19: 41-44. Now that we were here in the Jewish quarter we had to shop for souvenirs in Sarah&#8217;s favorite shop and buy some candy from our friend ...

... Touristen in Israel angeht, so sind sie in Jerusalem selber ganz klar in der Ueberzahl. An manchen Ecken hoert man sogar mehr Englisch als Hebraeisch! Und wehe, man faengt ein Gespraech mit ihnen an, denn frueher oder spaeter fangen sie immer von Gott an und ob man denn selber schon zum Glauben gefunden hat und so weiter. Sagt man nein, wird man sie so schnell nicht wieder los...<br><br>Was fuer ein Glueck, dass es NewEurope gibt, denn die bringen einem auch zum Oelberg, ohne ihre ...

... and want different things for the country, as evidenced by the schism between red and blue states), the openness and friendliness of young people to foreigners (which I experienced many times, most notably in salsa class and at the Dead Sea music concert), etc. <br><br>But then I realize that if I had been Israeli, I would have never gotten to experience many of the amazing and rewarding moments in my life: travel soccer and Little ...

... and cars and taxis showing no lenience and honking often, making left-hand turns, blocking oncoming traffic (probably because no one would ever let them in willingly). Finally, we escaped to just normally busy streets to the far end of the city and our destination: Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial. The museum movingly told the story of the rise of Nazism and the destruction of European Jewry, blending artifacts and multimedia displays with ...

... Christ Church Guest House is lovely. It's very much a guest house with simple, small rooms. But it's a beautiful place, and the rooms have everything one would need. I trust I'll sleep okay; the bed looks reasonably comfortable. I'll definitely wear my ear plugs here, though. The Muslim call to prayer has been going on for a good 20 minutes now. Well, tomorrow morning it's back on the bus to see Bethlehem.

... you eat there, you must make your own challah. Quite a few Aussies joined me for the weekly challah-baking ritual &#8211; Dovi and Janine Diamond, Jason Manne, Jon-Jon Levy and Bren&#8217;s Melbourne friend Gabe Baker. Gabe&#8217;s dad Mark wrote a book that I recently read, "The Fiftieth Gate", and he was amazed that I probably knew more about his family than he did! We were joined by three cute South African girls who were the quintessential JAPs, and will be ...

... to go to the Dome of the Rock area. We cannot entry into the mosque, it has been closed to the public since 2000. So we look around the mosque and the grounds and then leave. We did meet up with the 3 as we were leaving. We then go to the tourist centre to find out where the Dead Sea scrolls are, we find out this area of the museum is closed for renovations. We go back to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and look ...