We then drove further north through Israel’s wine country
towards Mount Bental. We loved the wine we had the night before at Moshbutz, so
we decided to tour some wineries. We found one winery: Ram.
Being new to the area and use to the US wineries, we were a
little skeptical about the size and decided not to stop.
We continued on to Mount Bental, which is on the Syrian
border. On our way we found a military outpost complete with tank storage.
This definitely added to the excitement of going to the
Syrian border.
Israel is very very hot!
Mount Bental is an old bunker, with a nice restaurant.
Damascus is a mere 60km away.
After we returned to Neve
Tzedek that evening, we walked along the beach walk to Yafo. Yafo is pretty
cool and groovy, there is a suspended tree that Scott likes to rock. I decided
to rock it with Makai.
It started swinging pretty significantly. Scott had never
seen it swing so much and we both worried that it was anchored into walls that
were pretty ancient. We decided to run away.
The next morning Dawn and I went for a bike ride along the
beach. They have corals with kiosks where you can rent bikes. It’s pretty cool.
We rented some bikes and just wandered around the beach for a few hours. I love
spending time with Dawn!
Israel is HOT!
Once Makai Atom woke up, Jana, Scott, Dawn and I went to the
beach and hung out. Good TIMES!
Day 4:
The next morning Dawn and I rented bikes and rode around the
beach again, waiting for Makai to wake up. After Maks woke up we drove to
Caesarea.
I was a little leery of going to Caesarea, thinking it was a
tourist thing to do and that Dawn and I would rather spend the day at the
beach. I’d rather be happy than right. So, we went to Caesarea with an open
mind. Caesarea was incredible. Herod began construction of Caesarea around 22
BC. A surprising amount of original structure remains. The area had been
exposed to many battles and millennia of exposure to the elements, yet most of
the foundation from the original construction still remains intact.
Israel is really really hot!
Israel has really really good food even at these touristy
spots. We had lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant. I had a bacon and parmesan
pizza – it was the best pizza I have ever had.
I also had lamb and veal cigars. OMG! Dawn had an awesome
salad with Zitar – her new favorite spice or something like that.
Caesara is cool and groovy, it is like walking through
history, the tile work and ruins are incredible.
Israel has the best food on the planet!
At Caesara we confirmed that there is a cultural aversion to
obeying signs and fencing. These things don’t really mean anything unless someone
yells at you.
Jana and Makai attempted to enter the Chariot arena in order
to climb on some sculpture. Needless to say they were chased away. Not because
they were going to climb on the sculptures, but because there was going to be a
chariot demonstration.
It was off to the coliseum where Jana and I performed for
Makai and Dawn. Afterwards I taught Makai how to hitchhike, but we were
unsuccessful. So, I taught him how to heckle people who denied you a ride.
Israel is HOT!
Israel has really really really good food!
Day 5:
It’s off to Masada and the Dead Sea. Mostly, a solo trip for Dawn and I. Our plan is to take Scott to work, then drive their car to Masada and the Dead Sea.
Since it is so hot in Israel, I am not sleeping well. While I appreciate Jana and Scott cranking their AC down to 20C that just isn’t comfortable for me, so, I am getting about 5 hours of sleep a night and waking up at 5:30 in the morning. Scott wakes up around 6:30 and we discuss the plan for going to Masada. He explains that we will go through two check points and essentially drive through two sections of the West Bank.
Being, sufficiently, brainwashed by western propaganda, I am a little concerned with this plan. I am thinking: “You want me to drive through ‘occupied’ territory?!? Through the west bank?!? Isn’t that the craziest thing a tourist can do?!?!” Scott assures me there is no problem and I respect his confidence.
Dawn get’s up around 6:45 and cuddles with me, asking for the plan of the Day. I explain that we will be driving through the west bank, and we will go through two check points. Dawn is not happy with this plan. I explain that she is a blonde haired blue eyed female and therefore of little value to the Palestinians – this did not win her confidence. So, I left it to Scott to explain to her while I performed my middle aged morning duties. When I returned she was Ok with the plan, but we were both still a little apprehensive.
In order to get to Scott’s office (in Jerusalem) from Tel Aviv, the fastest approach is through a small section of the west bank. In fact, along this section is the exit for Ramallah – the capital of Palestine!
There were details about this section that made you know that you were driving through the west bank (guard stations, walls, checkpoints) but the drive was so benign that I could not help the feeling that any fears or concerns were unfounded.
We dropped Scott off and then Dawn and I were solo driving from Jerusalem to Masada through more 45km of Palestine. The land through here was desolate. It is clear that Palestine is impoverished and suffers from a lack of any economy. Along the highway were numerous shacks that were barely held together.
I have always found beauty in the desert. This was a beautiful drive. Our drive takes us to more than 1300 Feet below sea level – Wow! We reach the base of Masada at about 10:30.
Israel is HOT! Very VERY VERY HOT!
We sunscreen up and contemplate for a couple of seconds whether to take the tram or hike up to Masada. It’s about 39C (102F) so we decide to tram it!
Masada is a marvel! So much of it remains to this day. It is
an impressive monument. All I know is: “It’s good to be the king!”
There is simply too much to write about Masada, and most of
it has already been written by resources much more qualified then I am.
The base area where we catch the tram is 237m below sea
level and the summit where the ruins of Masada are located is 33m above sea
level.
One thing I found amazing about Masada that probably is not
written about - was this guy:
It had to be close to 45C out there and he is in full garb! Holy Sweat! Dawn and I went through a full “Camel’s Back” bladder is 2 hours. I have no idea how this guy made it!
I think the stories of Hades come from the fact that Israel is so HOT! Israel is HOT!
Anyway, I recommend the Masada experience. It is an amazing palace and fortress.
We left Masada around 2:00 pm and proceeded to the Dead Sea. The access to the Dead Sea was on our way back to Jerusalem.
If you do one thing in your life: go to the Dead Sea! It is an amazing experience. I heard tales about how you float in the water, and how different it is. I had no idea, how different it is. I do not think it is possible to drown. The water is extremely salty and if you get, even the slightest amount in your eyes, it is extremely painful. I think Dawn could have stayed there for a year and never moved.
Ode to Joy:
Float Test:
We also found some nice mud, but as with all Israelis we had
to jump the fence and ignore the signs:
I wanted a challenge so I played with little Mak’s
bathtub toys:
Israel has really really good food.
Our culinary experiences in Israel were incredible, but I must say that the best meal we had was the Chicken Pho my sister made. It is second to none! It is the best Pho I have ever had, and I’ve had some good Pho. It took her all day to make since she makes the broth from scratch.
Day 6:
Jerusalem
My family is very open about their toilet/ water closet/ human waste – so, if you’re leery about this stuff, or feel that it is too much information … skip this next paragraph and photo. I know my family is bummed that I didn’t add more detail in previous summaries – but I figure not everyone is like us.
Begin body waste story …
I take medication to deal with my hypertension. This medication makes me go pee a lot and usually the timing is very inconvenient. As I described earlier, the fastest way to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv is through a small section of the west bank. While we were driving I felt a little urge building in bladders and knew it would be best to wait until we were through the west bank. Public urination is pretty common in Israel and so I wasn’t worried about pulling over letting go, I just didn’t want to pull over in the west bank, while it was safe yesterday, I still had some western propaganda based fears. I held it as long as I could, finally I could hold it no longer, but we were smack dab in the middle of the west bank. We pulled over I jumped out and let it go. My sister was impressed with the amount of liquid my bladder could hold it was a solid three minutes. I never in my entire life thought I would be in the west bank, now I’ve been there and peed on the side of the road.
Body waste story is over …
We went to Scott’s work to drop off Makai and the dog. Jana,
Dawn, and I caught a cab from there to get to old city. We were about 35
Shekels into the ride when we attempted to turn a corner, just to have the
police throw up a road block and deny us permission to pass. Our cabbie said sorry and there is nothing he
can do. So we got out and walked the rest of the way to the old city.
We were in the heart of the Orthodox section of town – which
is pretty trippy. Needless to say, Dawn
and Jana had to keep me reeled I kept wanting to sing Dylan’s “Leopard Skin
Pill Box Hat.” I know I shouldn't make fun of people. Usually, I keep things
like this inside and use my inner voice, like when I’m laughing at the Pope and
his crazy hat. But, a lack of alcohol brings out the immaturity in me.
Israel is HOT!
Jana and I would find shade where ever possible and try too
cool down. Since we were visiting some churches I had to wear pants. On hind
sight, I would have been better off wear shorts and using a sarong when
entering the churches, they just don’t want any knees exposed.
We finally made it to the old city: it is magnificent …
… and crowded.
It took us some time but we finally found St Helena’s Road which led us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There’s a lot to say about this sight, so I’d recommend that you check it out on Wikipedia. What I found most amazing are the carvings and graffiti, from pilgrims, decorating the pillars at the entrance to the church.
Dawn lit a candle at the tomb of Jesus, so, peeps – it should be an AWESOME SNOW YEAR! If you’re going to pray for something: pray for SNOW!
We made it to the Western Wall, which was very crowded as well. Since the actual wall was sexually segregated – we did not go down and check it out. Dawn and I spend too much time apart as it is – there is no reason to spend any time apart to check out a wall, even if it has historical significance.
The funny thing is that in Israel most of the water closets
are unisex. Except today at the Western Wall:
For some reason the inner city was closed off so we could
not access the Dome of the Rock. The only way we could see it was from the
roof of the Austrian Hospice.
Some kids followed us to the Hospice, and chatted up quite a
storm before asking us for money. I said, No. One of the kids started tearing
up and crying: clearly, an Oscar worthy performance.
I said, “You should move to India, you might make some money there.” He looked at me very confused then dried up pretty quickly and they both went on their merry way.
The Austrian Hospice was a diamond in the rough of this
city. It was so peaceful and tranquil. I was glad we were told to go there to
see the Dome.
We left the hospice. Dawn was on a mission to get a gift for her Mom and oldest sister. Jana and I could not keep up with her. Dawn scored and we left the historical city of old Jerusalem.
We looked for a cab outside of Jaffa gate, but could not find any. We started walking back in the direction the cab let us out earlier. On the way I noticed a white Mercedes, many of the cabs in Israel are white Mercedes. Jana pointed out that this car did not have any markings and probably was not a cab. I yelled, “Taxi!” And sure enough the driver looked up and nodded, indicating he was cab.
We went over there. He noticed me from yesterday, asking if I was at the Dead Sea and then I recognized him as a person who approached Dawn and I asking if we needed a taxi while we were at the Dead Sea. He pointed out that we did not need a Taxi yesterday, I countered with the fact that we needed one today.
We gave him direction to Scott’s work and he said it would cost 250 Shekels. Which is way too much, so, we got him down to 40USD, which was still too much but we were desperate. While in the Taxi I started to realize that this was a really bad idea … an unmarked car, a guy who knows we have cash, rookie mistake – but let’s ride it out – I make a lot of sounds when I get ready to fight. Maybe it’ll freak him out if I need to unleash my “Kong Pao Chicken”
We found his name was Sam and he got us to Scott’s work just fine. He was using a different exchange rate then google – so another debate ensued. Finally, we gave him what he wanted – but we were safe and back at Scott’s office.
Begin two more body waste stories (so, skip this if it’s TMI) …
We got up to Scott’s office. Scott was clearly focused on other things. We noticed a chair in the office entry that looked like someone had spilled a drink on it.
It turns out that Makai had fallen asleep in the chair and when Scott went to take him to a couch to sleep he noticed that little Maks had done his duty on the chair.
We wanted to give Scott a break from Makai and the Dog since he was busy talking to a patent attorney. We all went outside and threw the ball for Pali, we ended up back in the parking garage. While in the parking garage Jana had to go potty. She found a discrete corner in the garage and let go. There was some commotion then I noticed a co worker of Scott’s named Ronen walking from the general area that Jana was peeing.
Later a conversation between Jana and Scott went something like this:
Jana: “I didn’t think anyone used that elevator over there.”
Scott: “I think Ronen does.”
Jana: “Yeah, I know. He got a full shot of me peeing.”
Scott concluded with his patented chuckle.
End body waste stories …
Israel has AWESOME FOOD!
That night we had another great meal. I forgot the name of the place or what we had – but it was really good. By this point we were really dehydrated, hot, and dizzy from our experiences.
Day 8
Relaxing day at the beach …
… and a final meal in Israel for this trip. (That’s a pallea
made with squid ink – yummmm!)
It’s off to Germany – just Dawn and I. A romantic get away
for a few days in Germany’s wine country. Our flight leaves Tel Aviv at 4:30am,
Scott assures us that if we are there by 3:00am we’ll have no problem making
the flight. Well we were lucky. One of the young security girls checking our
passport initially could tell that we could use some help. She got us to front
of the line at all the baggage check stations, and walked us to the airline
check in. There is NO WAY we would have made our flight without our little
airport security angel. The lines at the baggage check stations were very long.
If we were to queue with the rest of the passengers we would have missed our
flight by an hour. As it was, we showed up to the gate with 5 minutes to spare
before boarding.
Germany Day 1: The land of the friendly, happy, party
people.
One thing I always notice when I go to Germany is how
helpful, friendly, and happy everyone is. The Germans always make you feel
welcome.
Our train is a half hour early, but we clue in and get on it. We run in to a problem when there are two stops with similar names. Wiesbaden Ost and Wiesbaden Hbf … we get off at Wiedspaden Ost.
It takes us about 30 second to realize our mistake, but the train has already departed. Since these regional trains are free – it’s no big deal, the next was there in five minutes. We made it to Wiesbaden Hbf where we boarded a “pay for” train which delivered us to Rudesheim – the heart of German wine country.
We are not huge fans of the German wines since they are predominantly Rieslings and other whites. But this area was super cool! While the food was not up to the Israeli standard the temperature and friendliness of the people made this a truly enjoyable and romantic stay.
After checking in we toured around Rudeshiem. Wine vendors, cafes, and hotels littered the downtown area. It was Saturday, so there were plenty of people enjoying the town. We had tasted some stuff that we thought was grape juice, thick and sweet. Dawn and I were convinced that there was no alcohol in the drink – so we blew it off to being grape juice. Turns out – it is 11%.
We had lunch at a local place across the street from our hotel. There was a band playing German folk songs. They eventually played "Edelwiess" – which put Dawn and I right in the mood.
Germany Day 2:
We woke up and caught an early tram ride to the summit of a
local peak. We took a small bottle of champagne along for the ride.
We summitted out and hiked to a lift that we could take down to Assmanshausen (The red wine city of the area). Fraulein Dawn Maria was singing in the forest.
… when we heard church bells, Fraulein Dawn Maria realized
she was late …
So she went running back to the abbey! I hope she made it!
We hiked along a path at the top of the vineyards. It was
pretty cool. We found some old ruins and some nice vantage points where we
could take in the views. We stumbled across an old man made tunnel.
This was pretty comical. I went around one side. Dawn did not see me and went looking for me. I did not see Dawn, who had made it to the other side without entering the tunnel. I could hear her like she was right next to me, so I thought she entered the tunnel. She was calling for me, so I entered the tunnel. I made it about five feet when I could no longer see, and started wondering how she made it any further. From my vantage I had no idea this was a tunnel, I thought it was a small nook. She kept calling for me so I thought she was stuck in the tunnel, I asked her how she made it any further. She responded, “What are you talking about?”
I said, “I can’t see anything it’s pitch black.”
She pointed out that I had a headlamp in my back pack. I used the head lamp and proceeded down the tunnel (which I did not know was a tunnel). I kept asking her, “How did you get so far?”
She continued to respond, “What are you talking about?”
I finally exited the tunnel and she was there at the exit. When I turned around I realized it was a long tunnel and I asked her how she got through. She pointed out that she thought I had walked around the tunnel and so she went looking for me, I wasn’t there but she could hear me. We had a good chuckle.
We continued walking along the trail and made it to a lift that took us down to the town of Assmanshausen.
It was noon and this town was in full party mode. We decided that we get our party side from the German heritage in both of us.
We were supposed to take a ferry back to Rudesheim, but Dawn and I opted to walk back along the vineyards.
When we returned to Rudesheim we went to the wine museum, which was located in an old castle.
That night we had another fabulous dinner and great wine.
Day 3 Germany:
We spent the day touring the Rhein via boat. This was a beautiful experience.
We saw many castles …
… and witnessed the harvesting of the vineyards by hand.
We returned to Rudesheim around 5:00pm. This was our last
night in this great town. We had another marvelous dinner – tomorrow is
Frankfurt then back to the USA.
Those are snails. I love snails! Dawn is absolutely beautiful! I’m a lucky guy!
Day 4 Germany:
Our goal today is to check out of our hotel in Rudesheim, buy some gifts, and make it to our hotel at the Frankfurt airport.
We get instructions that we should exit our train prior to the Frankfurt airport. Since this is not a popular US hotel (Marriott or Hilton): we trust these instructions believing this hotel will probably not have a shuttle service.
After we get off the train, we have no idea which direction to head. We find a very friendly local who doesn’t speak English but clearly gestures that we need to stay on our current road and head in a certain direction. We find a sign for the street our hotel is on, but it is confusing – indicating that we need to make a u-turn or possibly cross over a street. We find another local who does speak English and knows the hotel we are looking for. She tells us that we are over 2km from the Hotel. We tell her that’s not too far, even with all our luggage. So she points us in the right direction and we begin our hike. After about 1km we can see the air tower for the airport.
After an invigorating hike we reach our hotel, check in and
do the typical “hang out in the hotel the day before the flight routine”.
The next day we catch an early morning shuttle to the
airport.
Everything goes pretty smoothly with our check-in, we are
told that we will be leaving from the new terminal. After we get through
security, we look for a place to eat near our gate. The only thing we can find
is McDonald’s … so, we eat there. After
we finish eating we head to our gate. When we get there we find out: WE ARE
LATE TO THE PARTY!
Apparently, our flight is the first to depart the new terminal and in German style they are throwing a huge party. Booze, cake, orchestra, the works … Dawn and I were interviewed by N-TV a German affiliate of CNN. They asked what we noticed most about the new terminal. We responded with “Everyone is so happy!”
Overall Notes:
This was an awesome vacation!
We initially started searching for tickets on line. We wanted to visit Jana, Scott, and Makai for a week, and then spend some time on our own in another country near Israel – since we would be on that side of the world. Everything we were coming up with was turning out to be more then what we wanted to spend. We contacted Dawn’s sister Karen who is a travel agent. She got us our tickets and hotel stays to well within our budget. I recommend checking with her when you want to plan a vacation or a business trip.
THANKS KAREN! The vacation was flawless!
Israel:
For many people Israel is not on the top of the list of places to go for a vacation. Maybe, it doesn’t even make the list at all. It tends to conjure up images of a region that is constantly at war or religious pilgrimages. We went there with the intent of spending most of our time at the beach with Jana and her family. Religious sites are kind of scary to me. The mere thought of going to a church makes me tremble with discomfort. Other areas of interest (the Dead Sea, Masada, Golan Wine Country) all had images of danger zones. I am glad I was wrong about all of these issues.
While many people visiting these religious sites are pilgrims, these sites are worth the historic journey as well. They are beautiful and ornate. I may be a Secular Humanist but I can still admire and marvel at the passion of generations of pilgrims paying homage at these sites and the never faltering dedication of the caretakers.
If you do visit, you’ll need to realize that (for the most part) Israeli’s are very aggressive. Driving, Riding a bike, or Walking is like a constant game of Chicken. Use your horn A LOT! If you’re queued up in a line – then you’re not doing it right – because the Israelis don’t believe in queues or lines: you need to push to be noticed. Once they get to know you, or know that you are a friend they are very friendly and less aggressive – everyone at Scott’s office was great to meet and super friendly. Israeli’s also notice when someone needs help and helps them: like our little Airport Security Angel who got us to the front of every line in order to catch our flight and never once said, “Your brother in law should have had you here an hour ago!”
Another thing that I did not realize about Israel is how many Moshav’s there are. A Moshav is a cooperative settlement consisting of small separate farms. In most of the cases (all of the cases I know of) it is very communistic – while there are separate farms, everyone pools their resources together and the community as a whole benefits. Some of these Moshav’s went to extremes where after children reached a certain age they were housed in a communal area with the other children and literally all the parents did the parenting. Many of these Moshav’s have a waiting list of over 7 years to get in and be accepted. The Golan area consisted of several Moshav’s owning Wineries.
The food in Israel is incredible! This in itself is worth the journey. Some restaurants base their menu off the food available from the market that day – it is fresh! Seriously, if you have no interest in history or any other site seeing go to Israel just for the FOOD!
In the end, the most fun I had was making my sister laugh while we were playing with the various teeter totters in the playground. The kind of laugh where you can’t breathe but you can’t stop laughing, the kind of laugh you used to have when you were 10 years old.
This was the most time I’ve spent with Jana since 1981!
Germany:
Germany was a lot of fun! I had traveled here for work about a decade ago. The people always impressed me with their friendliness, charm, and pride in their cities and towns.
We got around mainly by train which was very easy and a great way to see the country side. Almost everyone we met spoke English – which was helpful for us – but we gave German our best try. I took four years of German in high school (25+ years ago) but never had to really use it – so, I didn’t remember anything.
We spent all of our time in the German wine country. When you think of wine, most people don’t think of Germany. We just wanted to go to Germany and Karen arranged for us to go to the wine country. This turned out great!
Most of the wine is white, but there are several vineyards that are breaking into the red wine market and they are going to do pretty well. The primary red is Spatburgunder commonly known in the US as Pinot Noir.
We visited a few towns along the Rhein and they are very festive. They presented you with many choices.
Germany is rich in history as well. In these towns many of the structures that are still standing and still in use were built prior to 1500AD! The castle which housed the wine museum was built in 938AD!
Dawn and I do not have watches but it was super easy to know the time, since each town had at least one tower that would chime every hour on the hour.
The restaurants here are not prepared for you to ask for food to go. They are expecting that you make an event of your dining experience and for you to stay 2 or more hours while dining. They don’t scold you, or confront you or anything like that – they just look at you in wonder if you leave early and ask for your remaining food to go. Then when they present your food wrapped in aluminum foil, they are very apologetic – explaining that they typically don’t prep food to go.
Booze, Beer, and Wine is much more available then water. You kind of get the feeling, they down play the whole water thing, you will need to constantly ask for water if you want it. They like their cigarettes here too – no such thing as the NO SMOKING section. They still have cigarette vending machines on most street corners. No need to card anyone, boozing and smoking are just part of the culture – but hey, they are a happy people.
While the landscape and history of the area are beautiful, the most impressive part of this trip was the friendliness of every one we met.
This was a great trip! Thanks to everyone: Jana, Scott, and Makai
for hosting in Israel. Karen for making it happen. Dawn for being the love of
my life!
This is the most time I’ve spent with Dawn since late 2008!
Thanks for asking us to guest blog!
Here’s a photo of my mom just for fun:
