I'm going to throw a wrench in the time-space continuum here and jump up to the present for this update. I figure people will be wondering how Anna's visit went, so rather than writing too much about things that happened a month ago that people don't really care about, Anna and I will tell you how our week went... then it will be back to things that happened a month ago that you no longer care about.
We will still probably write too much though.
Pictures of the visit are going up as you read... full albums of the first couple days are already available, I will alert you when more pictures are added to the album.
Anna arrived on Saturday, November 20th around late morning. Being a good boyfriend and all I took the taxi (no buses on Shabbat) down to the airport on the early side to make sure I would meet her off the plane. About 45 minutes after I expected her to walk off I was getting a little concerned. Turns out we missed each other somehow as she was exiting. No idea how. Good start to the visit though.
After that things went much more smoothly. We walked around Tel Aviv, which is a fairly modern, big city, with shopping and a beach. Anna didn't really like it. Not.
Anna: "Oh. Em. Gee. Tel Aviv."
It agreed with her. Our Hostel was on Ben Yehuda street which is full of shopping. Most were closed on Shabbat but Anna did her fair share of window shopping and made us stay in Tel Aviv on Sunday to go back for the real deal.
Still on Saturday, we went down to the beach so Anna could get her first ever contact with the Mediterranean Sea!!
Adrenaline pumping through her veins due to her recent arrival in Israel, Anna managed to stay up to 11 or 12 (a rare occurrence on this trip), and we stopped at a beach side bar before getting some much needed sleep.
As I mentioned, Anna wanted to stay in Tel Aviv on Sunday for awhile because the shops had reopened. It was a close contest, but in the competition for our favorite shop, Anna's trip to the bead store lost out to our mutual enjoyment of I Love Cupcakes. Yes, it exists.
We did a little more exploring Tel Aviv by day, revisited the beach...
... and finally went up to Haifa. Settling with all our stuff, Anna unpacked while I smugly sat on my Ace in the Hole. My secret surprise. The thing that changes the nature of entire trips. What Anna didn't know is that I had tickets tooooooo.... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One!!!!
(insert Anna jumping around like a little girl)
The smartest thing I did here was not tell her what we were doing until we had already left for the movie, because as she put it: "I would have dressed up!!!!!"
The next day my afternoon class was canceled so we hopped on a short train and visited the ancient city of Akko (or Acre for you Westerners).
Anna's review of Akko: "AAAkkkoooooo mmmmm. The history geek in me was very giddy. Lot of cats though. Touristy Turkish bath was my favorite part (tour, not a functional one). I felt like I had gone back through time. Actually my favorite part was the Citadel."
There you have it. We both loved it, it was very scenic, and there were many layers of history including ancient Arab civilizations, Crusaders, Templars, you name it.
We had a disagreement with some employees that led to our confinement to the dungeons...
The next day Anna joined me in my afternoon class, Rabbinic Literature, and multiple times she commented / answered questions to the teacher's delight and her embarrassment. "I was just in class mode." This was one of those days where she fell asleep at 8. Burned off too much energy in class we think. More likely, the energy burned probably came from her preparing an entire makeshift Thanksgiving feast with the ingredients Mom sent over. Armed with only a hot plate and a toaster oven, she managed to satisfy the ravenous hunger of 5 college boys yearning for an American taste of home on the holidays. Twas yummy.
Wednesday she took an afternoon nap, and despite feeling oddly nauseous (I think she ate too much Thanksgiving Stove Top Stuffing while cooking), she managed to struggle through a bus ride so that we could visit the beautiful Baha'i Gardens before she left. One of the landmarks of Haifa, and the major global center for the Baha'i faith, these exquisitely maintained gardens are enormous and a can't miss attraction. We visited all 3 levels thanks to a friendly taxi driver.
The street at the bottom is the German colony, a fun place to eat, especially since when it gets dark the Gardens get beautifully lit up. Anna brought us to a Tappas restaurant (my first), and after some yummy Chorizos I didn't question her choices on where to eat for the rest of the trip.
Back on campus we took a long walk back so I could show Anna a great scenic overlook of the area below Haifa, courtesy of a building roof that sticks out off the hill.
All too quickly we had to say goodbye to Haifa, and we packed up all our stuff and hopped on a 2 hour bus to Jerusalem. Before we did this I had to take my Hebrew midterm. How unfair that I had to be studying for that the one week Anna visits. Not to worry... I didn't loose too much time prepping for it... hehe.
We got to Jerusalem mid afternoonish, and with a full agenda of things to see, we wanted to knock off one item on our todo list with the remaining daylight. So of course the first thing Anna got to do on her first ever trip to Jerusalem was Yad Vashem (Holocaust museum and memorial). Uplifting. Given that she cries at credit card commercials, this was... well ya you get it.
Despite the content, we both actually really enjoyed the complex and found it to be very well done. The layout was very intuitive, the material was informative and touching, and it was a good ratio of learning to crying. (Anna: "hey! I wasn't too bad....")
Not wanting the first day to be a to much of a downer, we were looking for something cheerful to do, and as if by divine intervention (cue light from above), my Aunt Norma called and asked if we wanted to meet her for dinner.
Free dinner? Stephen's wallet jumped for joy.
Joking aside, we had a very nice dinner... I had never met Norma (my great aunt), and she brought her granddaughter, Netta, who is studying for her masters in archeology, so Anna didn't have much trouble making conversation... Common interest or something. Despite Anna's suspicions about going to an Italian restaurant in the German Colony in Israel, the meals were very good, not to mention dessert. Chocolate souffle and tiramisu. MMMMmmmm. We really enjoyed talking to Aunt Norma and Netta, hearing about their lives in Israel, and eating some good food of course.
Friday was a jampacked day, which meant starting bright and early to get everything done. After meeting my friend Mike and his sister (also named Rachel) the night before (his family was visiting Israel as well), we ran into them again this morning at the City of David, and later in the Old City.
City of David is the ancient biblical city that David built (super old, 3000 years or something I think), including possible remains of his palace, just discovered...
... and water tunnels (Hezekiah's Tunnels) that those old people used to divert water into the city.
Anna: "Hands down favorite thing on any vacation ever."
Bold statement, Anna. It was very cool though. They let you walk through by yourself in the pitch black (mandatory flashlight costs 4 shekels), and you are wading through water the entire way. The water is mostly ankle to mid calf deep, but at the beginning for a couple minutes it was up to my mid-thigh. I had to hold up my shorts and everything. I think it went up to Anna's armpits or something. I couldn't see. It probably took us 30 something minutes to walk through. SO COOL.
Please note: the writing of this post was just interrupted as we arrived at the airport. Anna was "successfully dropped off", and despite receiving a 5 out of 6 from the initial security check (before even checking in) and earning an extra baggage check, I did manage to see her through the check in and left her in the regular post-check in security line. The rest of the post will continue with a more somber tone. Also no more contributions from Anna.
Now with feet all squeaky clean and the like, we crossed the street to enter the Old City. The City of David is right across from the entrance to the Western Wall, so Anna was getting a dramatic entrance. Yes that also means that her first time going into the Old City was through the Dung Gate. Yes she made some sort of lame comment about this. We are mature.
Anna loved the Old City of course. We did some shopping in the Jewish Quarter (Happy Chanukah),
visited some of the shops in the Muslim bazaar (the farther in you go the more bizarre it gets), and we saw the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to balance out the Jewishness of the Wall. And cool graffiti.
The Old City makes for a tiring day. Anna fell asleep at like 9 again. To be fair it was Shabbat and the city was more or less closed down by Friday night so we didn't miss much. I think I fell asleep too.
Saturday we got up a couple hours later, maybe around 9 or 9:30, to head to the Israel Museum. Our friendly hotel owner (I think we agreed he was probably the best hotel owner ever... very nice and funny... in fact, he deserves a sidebar for a second here...
Here was a critical encounter in our vacation:
Anna: "Where is the best falafel?"
Awesome Hotel Owner: "Falafel?"
Anna: "Yes."
AHO: "Go outside and go down Ben Yehuda (there is a Ben Yehuda Street in practically every city). Go to Mr. Moshiko's. Ask for a Lafa bread, a little spicy, not too hot!, and the salad on it. Little tehina and *insert slurping noise*."
Anna & Stephen: "OK!"
He was correct. It's actually just Moshiko's, no Mr., but Best Falafel Eva. I am so hungry thinking about it right now. Lafa bread is more tortillaish in shape, rather than a pita, except it is thicker and nummier. Almost like Naan bread. And the falafel and ingredients were to dieee for. I think Anna ate here 3 different times in our time in Jerusalem. Oh man... I'm taking the bus back next weekend... resuming...)
warned us that the museum had been redone and you could easily spend the whole day there. He was very right. After spending multiple hours in just the archeology wing of the new part, we were already depleted. There were at least a couple more full wings for things like art and such, but we simply could not do these. Gives us a reason to go back I guess.
Part of the reason we had to stop in the new part was because if you go to the museum and miss the older exhibits then you fail.
First we saw the giant model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period (1st couple centuries BCE - 70 CE). Very cool. Then we went to the Shrine of the Book, which is probably the biggest attraction here. It houses the Aleppo Codex, which was pretty much the oldest and authoritative copy of the Hebrew Bible (I think it was dated about 1000, so it is about 1000 years old). I say it was the oldest because about 60 years ago the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, and these predated it by 1000 years... so these babies are 2000+ years old... and they are in this exhibit as well. The roof is made to look like the jars they were discovered in, and inside the main room you feel like you are in one of the clay jars with the scrolls... and a bunch of tourists.
After spending at least 4 hours total in this museum (and gift shop... Happy Chanukah again), Anna decided she wanted to squeeze in a visit to the Mount of Olives, the mountain adjacent to the main hills of the more central parts of Jerusalem. It contains many ooollddd Jewish graves, as well as some Muslim and Christian ones, has the Church of the Ascension, Virgin Mary's tomb, and a killer view from the top. We did our best to see things even though stuff was closing down. We walked by most of the sites, even the beautiful Mary Magdelene church, we got a good view from the top, saw Virgin Mary's tomb, and to cap it all we TOTALLY rode a camel on top!!! Hehe yay camel!
Notice the view in the background. See the gold dome of the Dome of the Rock? Mount of Olives has a great view of the Temple Mount.
Graves.
Dome.
Thus concluded a great visit from Anna (from my perspective), and a great trip to Israel (from Anna's perspective). In fact, she's not here anymore...
Anna: "Israel was the best vacation of my life. Everybody should go. I loved every second. I wish I could speak Hebrew fluently like Stephen. Also Stephen knew exactly what he was doing at all times and never got lost. These are also reasons why this trip was by far the best thing I have ever done ever. I love cupcakes."
Aww thanks for that Anna, I liked the trip too.
Although I should mention it wasn't quite over. We had tried to visit the Temple Mount Saturday morning only to be informed that it was strangely closed on Saturday, despite us reading it should have been open. So we woke up at 7am to visit it Sunday morning and then rushed back to you know make the flight and everything. No biggie.
This was awesome as well. The Dome of the Rock is so beautiful, and it was crazy to think that 2000 years ago there was a giant Jewish temple here as well. The mount itself is pretty much original so the ground is the same... the mosque and Dome are a little more recent... but still old.
I hesitate to include this, but I know Anna will get mad if I don't... although I like to think I know what I am doing after all this time here, I still get my pride handed to me on a silver platter once in awhile. Today it was a lesson in "modesty". Apparently even shorts that go to your knees are not "modest" by Islamic standards, and so upon arriving on the Temple Mount, I was informed that I was inappropriately dressed. You know me... always dressing risque and the likes.
Solution? I got sent over to this guy who sells these pieces of fabric to people like me. I asked how much... 50 shekels. 50 shekels???? I got him to give it to me for 40... but needless to say, classic lesson in supply and demand here. The econ major inside me is still reeling from the blow.
Also, it was basically a makeshift skirt. So Anna laughed at me the whole time while I was walking around in this corny skirt, and triumphing in the fact that for once she was the more appropriately dressed / prepared. I think it might have been a message from above that I was violating my Jewish contract or something. Either from that or the Israeli government. Something like that.
I Lose.
Anna Wins. There I said it.
Worth the trouble though:
We rushed back, made a bunch of busses and connections, and long story short Anna should be on a plane right now returning to the good ol US of A.
Sooo Anna, thanks for organizing / paying / sacrificing weeks of sleep schedule to come visit!! (and Papa & Nanna Cleary of course) I'm sad to see her go, and the trip flew by for both of us I think, but I guess on the plus side I'll be able to see all my friends again, and I should be able to slow down my money spending to about 1/3 of the rate of the last week. Yikes. Plus even though I have to say goodbye, I know a lot of people at home are glad to be getting her back, so it's all good. Enjoy the month or whatever crazy long winter break she has now! I'll just be over here slavin away at the books... don't mind me...
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