Monday 21 June Yesterday, our last full day in Jerusalem, was another exciting and adventure-filled day. I had phoned from Australia and pre-booked a 10 am three hour English tour at The City of David, but of course the GPS couldn’t locate any place by that name, so we used the tourist map of Jerusalem to try to find our way there, and of course got lost, and landed up in a Moslem area in very narrow single lane alley which was blocked by a parked car, and had to reverse back up it, convinced we would scrape the hire car in the process. Thankfully Russel negotiated it successfully, although we had both broken into a sweat at the thought of being stuck in that particular location! I was convinced we would now miss the tour ... read more

Saturday 19 June If I forget thee oh Jerusalem... What can I say except that I had forgotten so much! This is my third visit to Jerusalem - I stayed here on Ulpan for three months when I was sixteen, way back in 1983, so I guess it’s no surprise that my memories are rather hazy. My second visit was a day trip from Tel Aviv when Russel and I visited with a 5 month old Ryan in 1997. I remember walking through the Old City to the Kotel but not much else, and even that is foggy. Oh for a photographic memory! I am already sad at the thought of losing these new memories. I hope that by writing this blog and reliving them as I do so, I will be able to capture and ... read more

Thursday 17 June Rosh Ha-Nikra was an amazing experience and a big hit with the boys. Right on the border with Lebanon, with a military base blocking off the road that presumably at one time was a border crossing, it doesn’t look like much of a tourist site on arrival. We parked the car after surviving an hour long trip from Haifa with bickering boys in the back seat, and walked up the hill towards the military base to pose for photos in front of the wall mural depicting arrows pointing north to Lebanon and south to Jerusalem. We also surreptitiously photographed the sign on the fence of the military base which proclaimed that photography was forbidden. We then went to purchase our tickets and entered the cable car to make our way down the cliff ... read more

Sunday, 13 June 2010 We started planning our trip a year ago, when we learned that my husband Russel’s niece would be getting married next Wednesday in Haifa, Israel. As soon as we were able, we booked five tickets to Tel Aviv, and returning with stops in London and Bangkok, using frequent flyer miles - we saw it as a very good sign that we could book all the flights we required, on the exact dates that we wanted, for all five of us. Over the ensuing months we researched accommodation options for the six destinations we had decided on: Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, London, Paris and just to finish on a note of rest and relaxation, Club Med in Phuket. Which is why I am currently sitting on an aeroplane for the final two hours ... read more