Tadmor Hotel Herzlia

Insanity at the starting point in Modi'in at the Azrieli Mall with over 600 riders setting out for Jerusalem. My strongest day of riding for sure. 3 friends from Israel joined me today, great to see them. And we rode a route that I have now ridden a number of times, so no surprises today. Ramat Raziel is a very steep hill, but we were easily up to the challenge today. Only 78 k so pretty ...

... come as no surprise that rolling into work at noon and piloting a 22 million dollar jet over the Rocky Mountains bound for the California coast is not exactly "hard work." Where was Danny during all of this you ask? Smoking hash in his living room, of course. After work we sat in the living room with a few other volunteers, ate, talked, read and watched Israeli Survivor while Danny translated.
The next morning my alarm clock went off near ...

... affected me, except the political circus we were smack in the middle of.

We arrived at Rafah around 10 am, entertaining ourselves with the Egyptian police who were escorting us from Arish to Rafah, and the children of the nut and fruit vendors. When it was clear we were not going to be let in, it was decided not to camp out in front of the border gate as planned so as to minimize any negative message or image to the Egyptian authorities. All I could think ...

... la gent jove), i la majoria ni porten kippa. Per la tarda visito el port de Jaffa que no esta malament pero a on hi trobo a faltar una mica de vida de carrer real entre tanta galeria, joieria i tenda d'artista bohemi que intenta vendre qualsevol cosa. Tambe faig una excursio de dia a Akko de la qual n'he sentit a parlar molt be. Jo personalment trobo la visita forca correcte, pero tampoc res d'especial. Tal vegada sigui pel mercat caracter ...

... well off, I envy his simple life - one of his daughters (and granddaughters) lives with him, while another daughter lives with her family in a house they built in his backyard. He hadn't left Israel for over 50 years since arriving from Romania after World War II, so my grandparents convinced him to come to Sydney for my Bar Mitzvah - he's since been back three more times, and calls us every few weeks to say he's found Israeli girlfriends for Brendan and I.

After ...

Top Ten Moments in Israel and Jordan: 1. Walking up and down the Old City streets till we know them by heart (Jerusalem). 2. Buy something from one of the Flea Market shopkeepers and suddenly they become a real person. I became friends with the fig guy and the one I bought my Israel picture from. 3. Visiting Temple Mount. Awesome! 4. African tour groups shopping in the Old City. They really load up! Seem ...

The flight was easy ridin'. I saw Matrix 3, sprawled along the empty three-seater, and as Beckoff a.k.a. Mayank a.k.a. Jos-B said, I thoroughly enjoyed my Trans-Atlantic siesta dreaming of quesadillas and hummus. Customs only gave me a 3-month student visa for now, so I thought about whipping out my shiny new Mexican passport to tack three more on. Once past there, I recognized the David Ben-Gurion Airport from my last visit with Jay on ...

... with Rent-a-Guide Israel "Biblical Highlights of the North."  They picked me up at the Dan Panorama hotel at 745am (they were about 15 minutes late).  It is about a 2 hour bus ride to Nazareth, our first stop.  We stopped twice on the way for water and bathroom.  Our guide Moshe strongly encouraged everyone to drink a lot of water because it was so hot.  I learned that Nazareth is the largest Palestinian city in Israel.  It ...

Bridget writes... We have reached the end of the rally having sailed 1000 miles, visiting 6 countries, numerous coach tours and have made lots of new friends. The time has gone so quickly and I can't believe it has come to an end. We have done so much I don't know where to begin!! When the rally went to Egypt, Peter and I decided to leave the boat in Ashkelon, Israel and travel over land to Jordan. We hired a car with an American couple ...

... of pay for teaching (which I had lowered from the English to the Israeli going rate) before I met them rather than letting them suggest it. Never the less I was paid and treated well, and had learnt my lesson for next time. In Israel always negotiate boldly. I spent Shabbat with Avia in Tel Aviv. We spent most of the day sitting at a cafe on the beach. They have these low plastic chairs you can just sink into while you enjoy your coffee. We ...