Back from the Holy Land

Israel was super hectic and jam packed, but fun overall. We visited a number of places including Jeruselum, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Caesarea, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and finally Eilat, a beach resort at the southern most tip of Israel next to the Red Sea. We're still pretty jet lagged from our trip, but we're doing our best to stay awake past 9pm. We ate way too much falafel, hummus and shwarma and we're happy to be home sleeping in our own bed and cooking our own meals.

Thurs/Fri Mar 22-23 - Travel: We flew Alitalia which was relatively uneventful. We had a stopover in Milan and the airport was not very exciting and overall the food on Alitalia was horrid.

Sat Mar 24 - Jerusalem: Jerusalem is a strangely disorienting place. There are so many holy sites and so many religions converging on one space. Then there are the contradictions between different interpretations so no one really knows what happened where and when. Thus, they call the mental insanity that ensues from this disorientation, Jerusalem Syndrome. We went to a bunch of holy sites including the wailing wall, the room where the last supper supposedly took place, King David's tomb, etc. I also bought a giant bagel from a street vendor. It was eight inches wide, that's how big. Not as tasty as an Iggy's bagel, but I was impressed by how ginormous the bagel was.

Sun Mar 25 - Jerusalem: We all suited up for a variety of business formal meetings. We visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where they confiscated our passports in exchange for visitor's badges. I even asked the guard, "Will I get my passport back when I leave?" She nodded yes and I felt pretty dumb for having asked. I mean, of course I was getting it back, how else would I leave the country? We then visited a street market where I bought some cookies that looked significantly tastier than they turned out to be. I did enjoy a small chocolate croissant that was surprisingly delicious. Next, we went over the the Orthodox Jewish quarter to look around and we were sorely disappointed. I guess we were unrealistically expecting the Amish. Basically, the folks in this neighborhood just dressed conservatively, but had cell phones, bought CDs, etc. Lastly, we went over to the Bank of Israel and heard from the govern er of the bank. Let's just say, I spent an hour digging my nails into my palms to stay awake and my hands hurt afterwards.