Israel by car, the Med by boat.

Road Trip in Israel - How American!

 After returning from Jordan, Sheerlie and I rented a car in Jerusalem and spent three days driving around Israel. We had a flexible sort of plan which was good, since our first stop, Ein Gedi, had flash flood warnings and we couldn't go. Instead we went and floated in the Dead Sea for about five minutes. I've been in the Dead Sea once before and although its extremely beautiful, the light hitting the water creates a unique color of blue as you are driving along Route 90, there is really no reason to go in it more than once. Yes, this is just my opinion, but the experience is simply that: an experience. You go in it to see what its like, not because it is pleasant. You get this great abdominal workout trying to hold your head up and protect your eyes from the stinging salt water that somehow splashes your face no matter how careful you are, so thats great, but then get out and check it off the list. So I've said before once was enough, and now I've been in twice. Hmm.

We hiked near Sde Boker, the place the Ben Gurion loved the most, and we saw his grave. We actually marched right by it because we were in a deep discussion about his philosophies and then I said "Well, I think I might have seen a tomb, I'm not sure", and it turns out we did walk right by it. We hiked back into Ein Odvat a little bit, which was very beautiful, and talked to some interesting people. That night we stayed in Beer Sheva with my friend from Taglit, Uri, and his brother. Also we visited Sheerlie's cousin who is a student there, so we hung out with two groups of good people. I asked her cousin's roommate if he had learned English in the UK since he had a small British accent but he told me that no, it was an adopted accent, because he liked it. He had me fooled. Uri and his brothers and friends were fun and musical, and sang us all the songs we requested. 

Heading North, we saw Netania (city that apparently has some crime problems but a good location), Qesaria (ruins of a port city), Haifa (again), Akko (really cool Arab port and market), and the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee, where Jesus walked on water. I only swam. Actually more like staggered into the water over really tricky rocks, fell over, and then scrambled out). We covered a lot of ground with our little car, and the only mishap was a flat tire. I stopped the car, announced I though it had a flat, and within minutes our friend Sergei had jumped out of the car, grabbed all the tools and was working on changing it. So it really was no big problem, and I have become good at navigating with directions in Hebrew.

CYPRUS - A little Cruise

BEFORE, Jordan and the road trip, I went on a small cruise on the Mediterranean to the island republic of Cyprus. It was a crazy little cruise ship with some, well, em.....interesting...people and we sort of had to create our own adventures. When we threw our clothes all around our tiny little cabin we would come back to find them perfectly folded, bras and hair ribbons included, which was amusing to say the least. I actually don't have that much to say about it because it seems like awhile ago, but in this picture I am sitting on the ruins of a castle, which is something I have done A LOT, A LOT, A LOT in the past three weeks. That tower is a pretty cool Roman Catholic Church in Larnaca, where we docked. This is the country where I first used the Euro, so thats exciting. In the top picture I am battling the wind happily on deck with Hannah and Molly, my fellow sailors.