After the Party's Over

This is my first post since you all left and I must say that Bonnie and I miss the friendship and stimulation of our 10 days together. But don't worry for a minute; we are persevering. On Sunday we met with a friend of a friend and went again to Machina Yehuda when it was not just before Shabbat; and then ate at Emek Refiam. Then we checked into the Christ Church Guesthouse just inside the Jaffa Gate. Rooms are clean and comfortable; bathroom is clean but not lovely; food is basic. The staff which are probably mostly volunteer lack personality. That says it all.

Tomorrow we head for Petra via Elat on the Egged bus, go over the border ourselves and will be met with a guide and driver set up by Da'at. We'll do the whirlwind tour of Aqaba, drive to Petra, sleep, wake up, do the ruins until about 2-3, drive to the border, go over, fly to Tel Aviv and then bus it back to Jerusalem. Believe it or not, I am looking forward to the long bus ride and being a captive audience. I can't go anyplace else and I can't do anything else.

Yesterday Bonnie did her maiden voyage driving in Israel for the first time. She did great. We were told that getting to the Dead Sea was "no problem, you can't miss it" and you really don't need a GPS. So me being me ( a little tight) took his word and I wrote down the very clear directions--"just follow this road to the end and turn right" and we were on our way. Things got a little strange when we found the separation barrier to our right and everyone looked Palestinian and we saw signs for Ramalla. So we did the first of many illegal U turns and got back to wherever and finally saw road signs for the Dead Sea.

It was quite an adventure and we had a great time. It was a day absent of political discourse until be passed many unauthorized Bedouin villages along the way. We were very proud of ourselves, knowing this fact.

Our first stop was Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Of course I got a picture of "the" cave. The stop was interesting, not exciting but is was a place I have wanted to go to for years so it was worth the trip for me. We then drove down to Masada, waved and turned around finally stopping at Mineral Beach on the Dead Sea for a float, a mud, and a bath in hot sulfur waters. Unfortunately for my Facebook fetish, I did not have my camera and could not get a picture of us mud-ed up.

After the trip we had a drink in the lounge of the King David Hotel and then ate dinner at the YMCA across the street.

Today we met Renee and she walked us through the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and then Bonnie and I spent the day in the Old City. We climbed the tower of the Church of the Redeemer for a 360 degree view of the Old City including a close up the Dome of the Rock. We followed Renee's advice and did some souvenir shopping at a store owned by Palestinian Christians who live in the Old City. They even offered us Turkish coffee which I could drink. I have been forcing myself to drink coffee when offered even though I don't like strong coffee. I am getting used to it.

One last thing today--we did the Tower of David Citadel and Museum of Jerusalem which was wonderful. Gave an in depth history of Jerusalem from a Jewish perspective from the Canaanite period to the present day, using the Bible as it source for historical details. Oh well, we all have our myths.

You can see if you have following my writings that this part of the trip is more concrete and less emotionally and intellectually challenging. But we are having fun.

L'hitraot