July 1 - 3

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Today's the day we went off to Israel. Chris' dad, John dropped us off at the Eilat border, and I got questioned at security because of my surname, as they thought it sounded a bit suspiscious or whatever! Was a bit scary at the time and I was really weirded out as to why they wanted to know the first names of my Nonno and Nonna!! But anyway, not long after we got through and got in a taxi that took us to the bus station where we were going to catch a 5 hour long bus to Jerusalem. The bus ride was full and wasn't too bad, apart from this random guy sitting diagonally across from Shona and myself, and stared at us practically the WHOLE time. Even if we looked at him or made eye contact, he just sat there, staring at us. Creepo. Anyway, we got into Jerusalem (at Jaffa Gate) around 11pm and checked in to the Youth Hostel we were staying at. It was a bit dingy, and quite 'school camp' style, but was alright, as its all apart of the experience. The room looked like a cave! So that was kinda cool, except when Shona woke up the next day and found she had bits of ceiling that must have fallen into her hair!! Brendan went to bed, but the 3 of us were a bit hungry, so we went for a walk and found the only place open and had something little to eat, then headed back to the hostel to get to bed.

During the night, I had a little visitor in my bed. (I'm not sure if I have mentioned this already before, but in the Middle East, there are cats EVERYWHERE!!! yuck) so yes, in the middle of the night, a cat jumped up onto my bed, and wouldn't get off after Shona and I were kicking and pushing it off! We eventually got it off, but Shona couldn't get back to sleep because she was so worried the cat was going to jump up again and onto her bed.

The next morning we got up and found a place for breakfast, then headed off to the Holy Sepulchre. An old man, Marvin offered to be our guide, and at first we declined, then ended up saying yes and he took us around, showing us everything, so it was really quite good having him. We saw Jesus' tomb, and whatnot, but we found all the decorations and everything were way too overdone and everything. I also have pictures, and was quite surprised that we were allowed to photo in these places. Then we also went on to see the Dome of The Rock, The Western Wall and stumbled upon the Birthplace of The Virgin Mary!! All in all it was quite an eventful and tiring day, so we went to a rooftop restaurant (Papa Andrea's) and had some wine and nibblies as we looked out onto the whole of the Old City. It was AWESOME!

The next day we had to go to Ramalla (in Palestine) to get visas to get back into Jordan, which we didn't think about previously, so that was a bit of a pain. But anyway, we did that and then had to head back to Amman in time for Rula's wedding! We got in a cab (from somewhere I can't remember) and drove to Amman. We passed the dead sea, and the signs of -300m below sea level and everything, so that was pretty cool, and we were going to go back to go to the dead sea the next day (or 2).

We got into Amman and went to the Radisson where the wedding was being held and where we ended up staying the night which was very cool!! Shona, Chris, Eimear, Colleen and John went to the Wedding and Brendan and I just relaxed at the hotel, showering and getting ready as we decided we would all go out after the others got back from the wedding. I ended up getting bored drinking on my own as Brendan fell asleep, but the others came and joined me a couple of times. Then they all came up from the wedding and we went to some club called Myth. And that's about as far as I'm going to mention about that night! Hahaha. Was a fun night out on the town in Amman though.......................that is all I have to say!!

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Photos

Aqaba
View from Israel

Citadel Youth Hostel
Our cave room