How McDonalds Happens in Isreal

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Trip Start Oct 20, 2008 Previous
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  Jerusalem, Israel
Sunday, November 30, 2008

HAPPY BELATED THANKSGIVING!!

Tonight is our last night in Jerusalem and it has been such an interesting and great experience.

Run down of activities:
1. Old City of Jerusalem: So old, historic, spirtual, and touching. Mix of Muslim quarter, Christian Quarter, Jewish Quarter.
2. Walking A LOT around Jerusalem: avg. of 5 mi a day, from 9am-5pm
3. Holocaust Museum, Isreali Museum: Learned a lot about history.
4. Masada, by the Dead Sea: Ruins high up on a mountain top, overlooking the Dead Sea.

Interesting notes:
1. Ern caught my bug and has been fighting off a cold.
2. Really good falafels, hummus, pita from every street corner (yummy)
3. Armed guards, soldiers EVERYWHERE: As we walk through Jerusalem we are lulled into a sense of security since so many soldiers, off duty and on duty are about carrying thier very large machine guns. The young ladies carry handguns as I have not seen any females with an equal size machine gun. We saw a gaggle of young children out on a field trip being followed by thier armed guard, yes, it was a machine gun

View of the Western Wall in Jerusalem

. Flying into Isreal from Turkey, we experienced the tightest security yet. In Turkey, the Tel Aviv flight had a seperate check in kiosk where you were questioned in detail regarding your trip and occupation. In Isreal, post-office, supermarket, land marks, bus station, you are seareched, your possessions are searched and you go through the metal detector, no exception. But it is done so matter of factly that Ernie and I are quite accustomed to it, much like everyone else. Its strange when you think of it, but we feel quite safe here. Jerusalem is great and is very easy to travel in. Public transportation is great, public restrooms are super clean and readily available, and food is great.
4. Best fresh gooey, warm chocolate rugula EVER from Marzipan, drool.... (thanks for heads up, Beth).
5. They do not kid when EVERYTHING is closed on Shabat (Saturday). If you are caught unprepared (as we were on Friday night) you go without food, but as we wandered about on Saturday we were able to find a few places open closer to the Old City. Also that is how McDonald's happens to us in Jerusalem. For the first time ever, Ernie and I ate at a McDonald's together...I have to admit, I was a bit tickled that Ernie was forced to eat there....but as I ate there I noticed several things. There were no cheeseburgers. It was a kosher McD. The burgers were tastier, relatively speaking (thats saying a lot), with more veggies on it. The fries, we tried both the wedge fries and the regular fries. First off, the fries were of normal potato length. Ever notice that the fries at McD's are abnormally long? Are there natural potatoes that big/long? In any case, the fries here were less salty and definitely more potatoey tasting. Just my observations. Oh, and also, Ernie had a pita burger. He wasn't crazy about it.

Well, we are off for a 10 day tour of Jordan. We know very little about Jordan, but we are very excited to embark on this new adventure. Doubtful we will be able to access internet there, so please be patient and we'll  post as soon as we can.

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Place (in church) where Jesus was crucified	Typical Jerusalem Old City street	The Garden of Gethsemane	Dome on the Rock
Really good Israeli food	Tomb of Jesus	Masada fortress overlooking Dead Sea

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