http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Middle East , Israel , Jerusalem District , Jerusalem en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:07:26 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:07:26 UTC Denkwrdiges FreitagserlebnisOkay Flge nach Israel sind was ganz besonderes. Ganz klar. Am Anfang war noch alles ganz einfach. Wir trafen uns in Tegel tranken Kaffee aen Burger kamen zu spt die Zuordnung der einzelnen Ttigkeit auf die Personen sei hierbei dem werten Leser berlassen und alles war ganz normal. Auch der Flug mal davon abgesehen dass die Toiletten im Israelischen Luftr http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-349458.html I forgot I need to make a correction. The Druze community is not Qiryat at Carmel it is Dalyat al Carmel. Sorry about thatBut it's still Shalom from JerusalemWe Rob Susie and Ron and I have been fun and easy traveling buddies continue to meet wonderful and interesting people. At dinner we visited with an elderly couple who took the 20 minute ride on the city bus just to have a hamburger http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-347926.html Shabbat Shalom We just finished our Shabbat with 18 believers and one from Baha'i faith. Of the believers 4 from VancouverWA 2 from Salem Or. 2 from Portland OR. 2 from Sequim WA 3 from Port Angeles Wa 2 from Great Britain 1 from New Zealand and 2 from Yerushalayim. We had a wonderfull study in the Scriptures and fellowship over a meal. I find it interesting that once again we find ourselv http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-347594.html Day 9 Museum and lunch and shopping. Others into Egypt http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-347546.html Day 8 Today was huge for me. We started with the Via dela rosa at 500 am. We ended at the tomb the church of the Holy sepulcher. We celebrated Mass at the tomb... It was amazing I can't imagine what it was like for our priests. Amazing. Then Fresh bread from the localsCoffee Wonderful. The wailing wall moved me the women there were crying I couldn't help but think of the loved o http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-347542.html Day 7 http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-347540.html Day 6 http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-347536.html Day 5 http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-347533.html Day 4 on our way to Jerusalem http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-347530.html Shabbat shalom First I have a correction. I wrote in my previous entry that we were visiting Hevron and saw the Hezbollah nest. Hezbollah is based in Lebanon and is also very against Israel. What we saw was HAMAS' terror nest. Hamas is based right here in Israel and concentrated in Hevron. My apologies. Hamas is not any better than the other. They are both antiZion antiIsrael antiJe http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-347225.html Here are more pictures..... http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-346977.html Blogging has proven to be a bit difficult expensive to purchase time or too little time or too tired to do itWe're back in Jerusalem after taking a two day jaunt up to Qiryat al Carmel Safed and Hebron. It's been quite a time. It's hard again to put into words the things we've seen. Qiryat al Carmel is a Druze community. They are officially recognized as a separate religious entity with http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-346925.html Greetings and salutations dear friends and familyMany of you have been on our minds and hearts and we just haven't had the greatest opportunities to get to the computer. This evening we have decided to lay low and try to rest a bit and to get a blog entry in so you know we're still kickin' Where to start up again...We have had a most amazing time the last week of the Tour. We rubbed sho http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-346911.html Today is Wednesday November 12 2008. We attended the Israeli Prime Ministers Conference. Dignitaries Delegations Business people Professors from all over the world were here even Benjamin Netanyahu spoke.Please picture if you will we are here in Jerusalem the Center of the World a Land which everyone is focused upon has an opinion about andor fighting over. And here I was little http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-344612.html Oh Boy where do I start How can I put into words all we have seen and experienced Today is November 11 2008. Wersquove arrived back at our starting point at the Mt. Zion Hotel after spending one night at the Dead Sea.Yesterday we left Jerusalem in bullet proof buses used for taking children to school. We were going to be crossing the Green Line into the ldquodisputed territoriesrdqu http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-344611.html Shalom from Isra'el and the City of the Great KingMitchel and Mom went to the busy and wellknown places today called the Shuk pronounced shook and Ben Yahudah street. The shuk is full of open markettype sales. Most of it is fresh things like fish whole or pieced in barrels of ice to buy for dinner or fruits and vegetables galore. I am sorry that I didn't have the camera with me http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-344438.html The Pacific Princess pulled into Ashdod Israel on a bright and warm morning. The port is an industrial center and our dock included things like a new railcar for Jerusalemrsquos soon to be light rail line and about a million containers.Everyone in the group had signed up for the shore excursion to Jerusalem and all 30 of us assembled on the dock eager to begin a day of discovery. We had a yo http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-344432.html BARUCH HASHEM BLESS THE NAMEThere are not words to communicate what we have been experiencing in The Land in the days we have been here. As many of you know we are here on a tour that has tremendous significance both in the political arena and more importantly in the spiritual. We are watching hearing meeting and living Hisstory unfolding and finalizing as never before and never w http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-344316.html Shalom and bocher tov Ron here. Today we find ourselves up at the break of dawn in the city of Yerushalyim. We are going to the Prime Ministers conference here and the conference people are giving us VIP treatment. They are sending their own buses to pick up our delegation of around 6070. The jewish people are so very excited to find that B'nai Ephraim is here. Yesterday we were at the Dead S http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-344257.html Today is November 9. Its sunrise 5 AM and quiet now that the Muslims have finished their morning prayers. Theyrsquove awakened me every morning in a disturbing way so Irsquom unable to go back to sleep.We arrived at the Mt. Zion Hotel in Jerusalem two days ago on Friday. It is a beautiful stone building with a history dating back to the 1800rsquos. A former hospital it was completely http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-344125.html WOW We were a bit surprised in Atlanta when our plane had to be pulled off the flying line because it had a fuel leak that couldn't be located. About three hours after our original departure time we began our journey to Tel Aviv. We had a different plane that performed marvelously. Mitchel has declared that he loves flying We were safely delivered in Tel Aviv to 71 degree temperatures at 84 http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-342333.html Can you believe it What a trip. After 11 hours flying we arrived in Frankfurt pooped and happy to have made it. We and our group of 11 people thought it'd be fun to spend our 13 hour layover yes that's 13 hours seeing a bit of downtown Frankfurt. We gathered ourselves together and hiked through the terminal looking for info on what to see and how to see it. After learning that all the info http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-342332.html Distinctive New FriendshipsThis past Shabbos I was in Tel Aviv. Holy cow it rocked my socks off which as we know is a difficult task. This leads me to a pretty formal conclusion about the rest of my life. I am inevitably growing up to be my father. Checklist of characteristics that resemble your fathera You have been told from a very young age ldquoYou look just like your father.rdquo b http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-328945.html Had a better nights sleep last night just the cockerel kept me awake this time.After the habituals ventured out into the chaos of the muslim quarted to do some more sightseeing over night it had been raining and the streets became a river of mud the muslim quarteer is very dirty rubbish everywhere but with the arrival of the rains it was far worse.Later that night I was wandering round and a http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-328104.html I woke up this morning to the sounds of Ernests alarm I don't know why he had set his alarm he wasn't going to do anythingAfter breakfast went for another dip int the dead sea and then got on a bus to Jerusalem which cost 33 sheckels it took around 2 hours.On arriving at the old city I initially had a look round at the Lutheran hospice but it didn't have any dorms so settled on the Hebron Ho http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-327849.html Today we were up with the dawn passing through security and before we knew it we were standing on the Temple Mount.In the sky above our heads 3000 years ago a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night indicated the presence of Jehovah. Under the Golden Dome lies the peak of Mount Moriah the rock where the Ark of the Covenant lay within the Most Holy where Abraham likely bound I http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-326775.html Jewish Tradition states that when Messiah comes he will enter Jerusalem through the Golden Gate. So the Muslims blocked the gate and planted a graveyard in front of it preventing the Messiah from crossing impure ground if he tries to access the temple mount. When asked about it our Jewish guide shrugged his shoulders If Messiah comes he will just resurrect those people anyway. I thought http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-326364.html It is impossible to express the feelings associated with walking these streets. I stood on Mount Zion. Here Abraham met Melchizedek probably aka Shem the son of Noah. Here the Jebusites held out against King Saul but King David conquered the city made it his capital and built his palace. From this hill he looked down onto Bathsheba's rooftop. I visited Hezekiah's tunnel and the Pool o http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-326034.html If there were one city with more history I would love for someone to tell me. After my time in Eilat I was ready to venture north to see the heart of Israel Jerusalem. While Eilat was fun relaxing and full of great jazz it lacked the cultural element for which I came to Israel. Also I was a bit worn out from staying up past 300 AM every night the last shows at the jazz festival started at http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-325287.html Arrived in Israel yesterday its like going back in time in someways but overlaid with a modern city. Hired a car and drove from the airport to Jerusalem on the other side of the road and managed to find the hotel somehow. It is like there are no road rules here or at least no one uses them Chaos The car horn is like another word in the Hebrew language and used more frequently. The old city a http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/Jerusalem-District/Jerusalem/blog-325140.html