Israel

I just got back from Israel and had so much fun. We saw all different parts of the country in such a short period of time-10 days. I extended my stay an extra three days in Ramot, North Jerusalem. I felt really safe when I was there, safer than I feel in my own neighborhood. However the situation with Gaza was tense and at first I thought I was crazy to even go to Israel. It's still on the travel warning list for places not to go to. The plane ride took 10 hours on a direct flight and 12 hours on the way back. My favorite part of the trip was being in Jerusalem at the Wailing Wall on Shabbat. I found the whole experience very spiritually moving and as corny as it sounds reconnected with my Jewish roots. The wall is smaller than it looks in pictures. We went to the wall twice and during the second time there was a beautiful rainbow over Jerusalem after it rained. We really lucked out on the weather because it only rained once.

We started our trip in Haifa and visited a high school connected with the Boston-Haifa connection, an exchange program between these two places. Afterwards we visited the lovely Bahai gardens, a holy site for the Bahai faith.

Then we went to the sea of Galilee. Afterwards we went to the Negev desert. After, we went to Eilat.


We hiked Masada at sunrise. We swam in the Dead Sea which is shrinking every year and will be gone in the next 100-200 years.

We went to Zvat, a holy place for those studying the Cabbalah. We talked to an artist there who used the expression awesomely awesomely awesoomme! to describe the Jewish traditions.

On Monday, we went to Tel Aviv. The Mediterranean was so vibrantly blue.


We stayed in Jerusalem the longest, 4 nights, and spent time in the archaelogical sites. We walked on the ramparts of the old city and had time to do some shopping.
We had the opportunity to meet 8 Israeli soldiers on the trip.



The next day we stayed in the Bedouin tents and rode camels. The desert was so quiet and serene at night. The endless expanse of sand and sky was hauntingly beautiful.



Next we went to the Golan heights.

I extended my stay an extra 3 days in North Jerusalem. I had so much fun!!

I can't wait to go back!