March 2019

March 2019

Israel

1- F- Israel- Haifa- We went to the Church of the Annunciation, home of Mary.  When this church was built in 1968, hundreds of countries sent mosaics of the Madonna and Child to adorn the walls of the church and the courtyard.  They were beautiful and unique. After lunch, we met with a rabbi who practises Kabbalah, a mystical form of Judaism. We stayed in a kibbutz and started the Sabbath with a Shabbot dinner.

2- SA- Israel- Golan Heights and Safed- we went off to the Valley of Tears and the Syrian border. We had lunch with a Druze woman.  This sect of people are refugees and a cross between the Syrians and Israelis.  They are neither Jewish or Muslim and don't have a true homeland.

3- SU- Israel-we visited Capernaum and the Mount of the Beatitudes. We took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee.  We saw the 2000 year old Jesus boat which was recently found by two brothers who were in search of finding a great treasure and they certainly did find something great.

4- M- Israel- The day started at the Holocaust Museum.  I spent my time watching videos that highlighted the survivors. We then wandered over to the Children's Memorial site which took us through a dark pathway, lit by reflections of thousands of flickering candles.  As we stumbled in the dark, a woman read the names of the half million children who died in the camps. Her voice was alluring and haunting at the same time.  We moved on to meet a survivor of the Holocaust.  She was about 80 years old and never went to a concentration camp but she was hidden during the war by Christian neighbors and spent the rest of her childhood in disturbed chaos.  After lunch, we headed over to the hospital where Marc Chagall designed stain glassed windows to honor biblical life.  We made a quick stop at the market and found all kinds of sweet treats.  We had dinner with an Ultra Orthodox family.  Some of my travel mates seemed annoyed at the views of this family.  I found the Americans to be an embarrassment.

5- TU- Israel- Jerusalem- it is the 14th anniversary of my father's death.  That's hard to believe.  Where did he go. I spent the day in Jerusalem.  We started at the West Wall and found our way to the Weeping Wall. Hundreds of people were praying with all their might and just as many tourists were trying to catch the perfect photo of this moment.  We explored the wall tunnels and then made our way to the beautiful Holy Sepulchre Church. We also saw the Jewish Quarters, the Mount of Olives, and the Arab and Christian quarters.  It was a long day and the rain didn't help.  I was tired when we finally got back to our hotel.

Tel Aviv

6- W- Israel- we first stopped at a building to get an aerial view of the city and Mount Olive.  Across the street was an archaeological dig going on so we went over and watched this very tedious work. Then we were off to the art museum where there is a large scale representing of the City of David. It was interesting but I have reached my capacity for all stories related to the bible, Jesus, Herod, David, Abraham and all those other fictional characters that I don't remember anymore. We got to see the Dead Sea Scrolls.

7- TH- Israel- Jerusalem- we started the day with a presentation from a Palestinian woman.  She was excellent. No one in Israel has true freedom.  Everyone is limited to where they can travel, who they can marry, how they can vote, legal documents and what religion they can practice. Then we drove an hour to a national park filled with all sorts of ancient caves. My favorite was the Bell Cave because it didn't have a million step, steep steps.  For lunch, we went to a factory that made stuffed vegetable,  The owner is a Muslim woman who makes Kosher food.  It was delicious.  We got back to the hotel by 4 and Peter, Caroline and I met up later for ice cream.  It was a pleasant day.


8- F- Israel-  I am taking the day off.  Everyone is taking an optional tour to Herod. But I stayed behind and slept in late and had a late breakfast.  I wandered around the neighborhood and then met up with the group to go back to the Western Wall for Shabot. I saw lots of great Shabot mink hats.

9- SA- Israel- Jerusalem/Dead Sea- We spent in morning in Jerusalem at the Church of All Nations, had our final view of the old city and then made our way to the Dead Sea. We made a few stops along the way to see yet more ancient ruins.  But I want really that interested as I just wanted to get to the sea and float.  But we got in too late to float today. So I will have to wait patiently until tomorrow. Can't wait

10- SU- Israel- Dead Sea- we had a three hour jeep tour through the Jordan Desert and I loved every minute of it. Every turn took us to a beautiful site.

11- M- Israel-

12- TU- Israel- Tel Aviv- we visited a gallery run by an eccentric 83 year old, renown artist.

13- W- Israel- Tel Aviv- Its the last day of the trip for those who are finishing the tour in Israel; six people go home tomorrow.  The other seven go off to the Palestine Territories and I can't wait. This morning, we went to a high end market but we had just eaten so it was a bit of a waste of tie.  We had free afternoon so Peter and I wandered down to the beach and found a place to sit in the shade and drink a passion fruit margarita.  Later we had a farewell dinner at a restaurant along the beach.  It was a lazy day.

14- TH- Israel- Palestine Territories- Bethlehem- half of our group left to go home today.  We seem incomplete without them.  It's raining like crazy and we left at 830 to make our way to the forbidden territory of Palestine. We are quickly learning that this issue of two states is a more complicated idea than any of us understand.  We visited a church, mosque and synagogue and there are visitation limitations for all of the Palestinians. I wonder if they will ever reach a resolution.

15- F- Israel- Palestine Territories- Bethlehem- we started our day with a visit to an American Jew who is now living in a settlement section of Palestine. He is an Orthodox Jew but we never really got in to a discussion on his religion because he spoke mostly about the stubbornness of the Palestinians.  In his opinion, they need to surrender because the Jews were here first.

16- SA- Israel- Jericho- we had lunch with a Greek Orthodox family. All of the children are highly motivated to earn college degrees. One daughter is currently teaching math at the local school.  She refers to herself as a Palestinian, first and foremost.

17- SU- Israel- Palestine Territories- Jericho-

18- M- Israel/ Palestine Territories- we are all a bit ready to get home.  A month of intense sightseeing is exhausting. I thought we were going to have a whole day to ourselves but that didn't happen.  We started with a visit to a site of magnificent mosaics but we didn't get to see anything as the site in under excavation and everything is covered up until November.  Then we took a cable car up to the top of a mountain for what has been rated as the #1 site on Trip adviser.  An ancient monastery looked over the valley.  It was beautiful but the hike up was too difficult due to lack of interest and apathy for biblical antiquity.

19- TU- Israel/USA- it was a day of travel.  I was up at 1AM to start my journey home and then I got to my apartment by 6PM, almost 24 hours later.  I was tired. And I felt disoriented once I made it home.

20- W- PA- I slept all damn day.  I was tired. I did get up late morning and ran out for breakfast and then it was back to bed until dinner when I met up with Debbie, Dom and Jon to run to Bar Avalon for mussels.

21- TH- PA- I'm still tired but I had to get up before noon to go to the dentist and spend yet another $1000 on my damn root canal problem.  In the evening, several of us met in the lounge to watch the Villanova game.  However, Debbie served too many martinis to others and to herself so we listened to her concert of songs. It was fun.

22- F- PA- I still am not feeling up to par.  I picked up a bug on the plane and I can't seem to shake a sore throat and congestion.  I have no energy. I wandered down to the lounge and caught up on the gossip and bickering that when on while I was gone.

23- SA- PA- I am still trying together back in to my grove now that I'm back home.  I spent the afternoon in the lounge, chatting everyone up and then we watched the dreadful Villanova basketball game.  With their miserable loss come the close of the basketball season for me.

24- SU- PA/DE-- I had another damn Haiti meeting which I swore I wouldn't attend again.  But I did.  But I also told the group that I was finished with all of this work.  And then I ran off to have dinner with William.

25- M- PA- I went to the movies STYX, the story of a woman who encounters a refugee boat, sinking in the middle of the ocean.  The movie was powerful but I didn't have any time to think about it because my damn, new crown cracked on my damaged tooth and then I had to go back to the damn dentist.  This is the 6th visit to the dentist for this damn tooth.

26- TU- PA-  I took my car in for its yearly inspection.  The mechanic told me it would cost $105.  That was laughable.  An hour later he called me and I needed two new tires, wipes, some brake tune up and an oil change.  At the end of the day, it costs me $386. I took Phylis and Steve out to dinner as a thank you to Steve for taking me to and from the airport recently.

27- W- PA- I got my damn hair cut today.  I meant to get it cut over a month ago, before I went on my trip but I ran out of time.  So now, my hair weighed a ton.  I feel light-headed with all of this missing hair. I had dinner with KF, it was fun to catch up with her. it's been four years since Rick Chamberlain died.  That's hard to believe.

28- TH- PA- it was the Phillies' opening game for the season so we had a party here at the apartment to celebrate.  I wandered off later to the Sterling Pig Brewery for a flight of beer,  And then I came back to the lounge and hung with others.

29- F- PA- I went birding today.  I drove up to Middle Creek Wildlife Center.  I was there in January, in search of snow geese but I was too early.  I looked at people's posting on FB of the geese and I thought i had better get there before ti was too late and, in fact, it was too late.  But I did get to see oaks up close and personal.

30- SA- PA- OMG, my fucking temporary cap fell off today.  This is the second cap replacement in a week.  FUCK!!!  On another note, it was a beautiful day today. It was warm and sunny and a perfect day to sit outside all afternoon and chat up my neighbors which is exactly what I did. Then I ran off to the Uptown Theatre to usher for Dirty, Rotten Scroundels.

31- SU- PA- I was supposed to go to the theater today with Sue Descano but she is having home problems and sleep problems and can't get out from under either one of these messes.  So she exchange the tickets for some time in April.  Can't wait.  And since it was rainy and cold today, I spent the day in bed, listening to podcasts.  The sun came out around 3 PM so I got up and got back in to life.