Tiberias Hostel

... over the ruins of Peter' house and lots of ruins including a synagogue where it is very probable that Jesus read and taught at. It is here that there is a fantastic stone star of David. Addison had an interesting discussion with a Franciscan monk who we met in a solitary garden at a seaside open air chapel. At the intersection of 92 and 869 Txzomet Ma’aleh Gama we stopped for lunch at a little BBQ ...

... br>I am actually tingling with excitement.

There is something about this country that defies description. My dear friend Hope calls it her spiritual homeland. Homeland is the key word. Despite the language difficulties, I feel at home here. The experience at the Kotel was almost spiritual. I deposited my little note in a crack in the wall and said a silent prayer at the Western Wall in the ...

... es oft ein hoefliches "Do you speak English?", um mich in meiner Umgebung als Tourist zu outen und dem indirekt erwuenschten Militaerdienst zu entledigen. Waer wahrscheinlich eh nix fuer mich!

Donnerstag war dann ganz klar der beste Tag bisher in Israel, denn das gesamte Personal des Fauzis - 16 an der Zahl - ging von morgens bis in den spaeten Nachmittag hinein auf Betriebsausflug! Dabei war der ersten Teil noch relativ oede, auch wenn es mit den Ruinen ...

... to land at Eilat), giving a sense of what a small place Israel is. Kevin got some local cherries from a Druze vendor at the lookout, and we headed back to the Y on the shores of the Kinneret.

We wanted nothing more than to jump into the Kinneret and cool off, which we did, sort of. We went into the lake for a little bit, but as hot as we were, it was pretty cold. Instead we sat in a bowl-like warm spring among the rocks on the shore, looking out ...

... Glueck?) keine, dafuer einen Schalter zum Geldwechseln mit einem erbaermlichen Wechselkurs. Das einzige in meinem kleinen Rucksack, was sich zum Wechseln lohnte, war ein 20-Dollar-Schein, fuer den ich 12 Dinar bekam. Dazu noch 1,50 Dinar fuer den Bus zur israelischen Seite der Grenze (keine hundert Meter...), und ich war endlich aus Jordanien raus. Meine Stimmung besserte sich aber keinesfalls, denn ich war aufs Schlimmste gefasst. Die Geschichten von israelischen ...

... of the Cosmos right now, which among other things, deals with space and time and relativity and all that stuff. It describes how, though negligible by the standards of everyday life, time slows down when an object speeds up (to put it simply)--more so when talking about light-speed travel. Anyway, I feel like that theory could be modified to include that time travels faster when living abroad for one year after graduating from college and preparing for medical school.

I got to see Haifa, Akko, and Nazareth courtesy of a whirl-wind tour by Eli, Osnat and their 2 lovely daughters . The highlight of Haifa was the panoramic view above the Bahai Temple . Akko (Acre), the ancient port of the Crusaders, has some ancient ruins and clear blue skies .

... the bones collected and placed in small stone boxes the length of the longest leg bones. Several are on display and it was quite interesting to see them. Then we continued on down the hill to the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before being arrested, and where Judas, betraying Him with a kiss, led the Roman soldiers. There are Olive trees in the garden which may be as old as 2000 years. That means they might have been there when Jesus was betrayed ...

... to the ceremony. It was a very moving ceremony. On the morning of 5/7, Evette & I took a taxi to Har Herzl, the national military cemetery. A couple of blocks before reaching Har Herzl, traffic was stopped - the taxi had to take a major detour & dropped us off with thousands of others to walk across the street & ...

... we would stop and ask. Today, neither of us wanted to do that. It was at this point, we both realize that it is time for a break and that we need to just rest and relax today. At Bar'am National Park, we are greeted by a small kitten that is loudly meowing and following us! We both seem to be more interested in the kitten than the ancient ruins. It is interesting to note that communicating with a cat is similar to communicating with ...