Mount Zion Jerusalem

Not a good night's sleep. We've had the barking dogs at Shacharut and last night we had people loudly talking as they clopped down the hall outside our room. The couple next door had loud sex that we couldn't tune out. There was the group of guys singing loudly on the other side of the pool. A baby cried in one of the rooms. Thoughts from the John Denver song came to mind: "out of place" and "out of sync". We are glad to be leaving the Hotel Agamim on this holiday weekend in Eilat. We didn't ...

Chagit, Avi's cousin, is our tour guide at Yad Vashem today. She is a religious woman with six children, who not only cares for their kids, but works here at Yad Vashem. We don't know how she does it. We have been to the Holocaust Memorial in Washington D.C. and to the small dramatic memorial here in Miami Beach. Nevertheless, returning to Yad Vashem after thirty-seven years was sobering. The memorial is in a new facility and the architects have merged form and symbolism in a creative, elegan...

We are looking forward to our day with Madeleine Lavine, our private guide for today. Although we have walked through sections of the Old City, visiting the Western Wall and the Tower of David Museum, Jerusalem seems like a big elephant that you try to wrap your arms around but it's impossible to do; it's a lot like an onion in that as you peel, you realize how many layers there are. We anticipate a more intimate look and new perspectives. Among Madeleine's first questions was if we had any p...

Today is about modern Israel as we learn about present day law at the Knesset, and about justice at the Supreme Court. The hotel concierge has called both in advance to get the English speaking tour times and we learned, despite what the Knesset website states, no reservations are necessary. You are just supposed to arrive 15 minutes before for a check of passports and for security check. We take a taxi well in advance of the tour time, allowing time for the unexpected so we can still be on t...

Today is our 37th wedding anniversary! Four days after our marriage, we were on a plane to Israel and here we are again! We have changed and so has Israel. We have enjoyed this trip so much that we doubt it will take another thirty-seven years for us to return. Today is to be a slow, relaxing pace. We start the day with an activity that we both really enjoy, listening to live music. Madeleine Lavine (our private guide on Wednesday) in an email prior to our trip had suggested the Ticho House o...

This is the rest day we had planned for Eilat. We sleep late and wake up exhausted! We feel like we just need a quiet day to sit on our terrace and do whatever. I want to read and Harvey wants to play his guitar. After breakfast, we putz (technical term for not doing much) around a bit and take a nap. We wake up and stroll over to Lavan at the Cinemateque for a light lunch. We are lucky to get a table for Saturday lunch, as evidently it is best to have a reservation. Back at our room, we putz...

You would think by now that we have had enough of archaeological sites, but since we really enjoy visiting these sites, we have arranged to join the Dig for a Day program offered by Archaeological Seminars (www.archesem.com). It seems like an interesting experience to learn first hand about the process that has uncovered so many of the ancient sites we have enjoyed visiting! We are renting a car from Eldan today and taking this opportunity to see some of the countryside west of Jerusalem befo...

Harvey is now a pro driving in Israel and weaves the car from the free parking lot of the Mount Zion Hotel (another benefit of the hotel), over to King David Street to return the Eldan car. The same agent who checked us out yesterday greets us upon our return. The other agent told us that she had yelled at him after we left the other day. Friendly people. It's good to start your day with smiles from the people you meet! Today's focus is the Western Wall and the Southern Wall of the Temple Mou...

As we walk into breakfast, someone asks us for our room number. The manager walks up and says that we have been here for a week and they should recognize us by now. The wait staff at breakfast are friendly. We appreciate how good they are at their jobs, because if we make a second trip to the plentiful and varied buffet, we can be assured when we return to our table that all the dishes will have been taken away and there will be plenty of room for our new plates. They are always there with re...

Harvey wakes me up at 5:30 AM so we can go on our terrace to see what is happening for Shavu'ot. On all the streets leading to the Old City, streams of people in small groups are making their way in that direction. This is clearly an important day for many people. We decide not to go, and instead talk about feeling like an insider or an outsider. When we are born, we are an "insider" in our family. With an extended family of aunts and uncles, you can feel like an insider. But yet you can also...