Jersulem June 6

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June 6 Our First Day in Jerusalem

We arrived in Tel Aviv right on time at 9:45 AM. Getting off the plane and through customs and getting your baggage can be daunting for the unprepared.
Every airport has their own rules and means to govern passport control. If you make a misstep, you can be delayed for hours. It takes preparation, planning, and paying attention to the signs and directions provided to guide you smoothly through passport control. Here is what you need to know.
First, your flight has 250 to 300 plus people on the plane, all of which are heading to the same place. You do not want to be in the middle of that crowd.
Getting off the plane is your first project. I make sure I have limited carry on baggage unless I can be assured I can get ALL my luggage as carry on. So planning here is critical.
If you have both carry on and checked luggage, your first project is managing your carry on.
When the pilot announces you are getting ready to land, hit the restroom. Having an empty bladder is a great time saver.
Next gather all your carry on items and have them handy for a quick grab and go. Leave your overhead carry on in the overhead until you are landed, out of your seat, and in the aisle ready to move out.
Once you get off the plane, your goal is to find and be prepared for passport control. Be sure you still have six months of life on your passport expiration before your departure. Many countries require this. If you don't, you will be delayed, so keep your passport current so you are ready to go when the travel itch happens.
Once off the plane, do not delay. Head right to passport control. The entire herd of passengers is heading that way, so step lively and make your way briskly because, if you get there late, it can take an hour or more to get through.
Isreal has a unique entry that I have never seen before.
During your very long walk to passport control, you pass some kiosk like machines along the path. I saw some people stopping at them and many passing them by. I decided to stop and see what these were.
It seems that Israel has a unique entry portal where you scan your passport yourself at the kiosk. It takes your picrture and returns a blue form. Unfortunately, no one tells you what to do with the blue card, so I held on to it....Glad I did.
Once you scan your passport, you are ushered into a hall through a gate where you scan your blue card and enter customs. Many people passed by the kiosks and did not have the requisite blue card so they lost valuable time, having to go back and scan their passports.
The final step is the customs officer check in. Our flight was full ,nearly 400 passengers, and they only had ONE officer in the 39 booths! Fortunately, we knew most of the drill. We had our blue card, our passports, and were quickly allowed to pass into Israel.
Baggage claim was also very quick. By the time we got through passport control, our bags were already on the carrier along with hundreds of other bags. One exciting experince was the speed of the luggage carousel. It was the fasted round and round I had ever seen. By the time I spotted my bag, it was 10 feet down the track with me chasing it. I wrestled our two bags off the track and headed to our waiting Trafalgar driver for the 45 minute drive to Jerusalem. I like to use the FREE airport transfers offered by Trafalgar, our tour company. It saves time and money and they are always helpful in getting acclimated to the locale.
We arrived at the Dan Panorama Hotel, which is located a short 10 minute walk to the old city.
Our room was ready so we headed upstairs, dropped the bags, and headed out into the 82 degree heat to find lunch and explore the ancient city.
We were a little tired but we were in JERUSALEM, the most sacred and holy city on earth, so we pushed on.
The walk lead us past some wonderful art galleries and fine shops and shopping centers. Our first goal was an ATM.
If you have followed along before, I always suggest you use a BANK ATM and not any ATM you find on the street. Private ATM's are unregulated so they have high fees and terrible exchange rates. Bank ATM's have low fees and enforced exchange rates so they are the best way to get local currency.
We found a bank ATM and headed toward the Joffe gate into the old Jerusalem.
It was eveything we imagined. The sites, the sounds, the smells were stimulating. The city is truly old; everything is made of sandstone so it is all one color. The only color difference is new stones are light brown while old stones are darker with sigfificant wear.
There are shopping stalls everywhere. The locals have a great way to pull you in! They say "Hi", "Come in", "Look see what you like." If you stop, you are hooked.
They have a way if talking to you, getting to know you, handing you an item, and then talking you into buying something. Cathy was snagged by a jeweler whose hand made stone works came from the "same mines used by King Solomon." Well, it was a good story and he did beautiful work. Cathy has a new set of earrings he made right in front of her.
We traveled up one alley down another, up hills, down hills, and negotiated ancient slick stone steps in every direction till we arrived at the Wailing Wall.
This is the last remaining wall from the days when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. It is one of the most holy relics for Jews world wide. Men and women do not mix at the Wall; instead, men pray to the left and women to the right.
I walked up to the wall and put my hand on something which many around the world wish they could do. It was a personal experience, even for one lapsed Catholic.
It was getting hotter and hotter. We decided to catch a cab back to the hotel for a much needed nap and shower!
After our break, we headed out to dinner. We were not really hungry, so we were looking for an oudoor cafe near the hotel. We headed out and crossed two streets and saw 6 older AmericanTourists walking along the sidewalk, appearing to have come out of a local restaurant. We stopped and chatted awhile. We learned they were travelers who had met on a Viking Cruise and were so well suited they decided to do Israel together on a Orbit 1 tour! They were from New York, Long Island infact, so we had an immediate connection.
We chatted a bit and discussed the merits of the resturant they just left.
Somehow, we misinterpreted what their reccomendation was. We thought they suggested a local pizza joint two doors down called Papa Johns. They said the pizza was "OK" but they had beer and wine as well as salads, pasta and pizza. Seemed ideal.
Well, it turned out it was not the restaurant two doors down they were describing! WE, however, went to Papa Johns. The pizza was OK but there were no salads or beer or wine. Well, next time we need to pay better attention.
It's getting near 10 PM in Jerusalem and we are up early tomorrow. Our plan includes a bus tour of the entire area on one of those hop on, hop off busses and, of course, the tour Under the Wailing Wall.

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