The weekend was great! Adam's post has a great Richmond rundown (photos will be up soon). Damian arrived on Saturday afternoon. We checked out one of the special exhibits at the Holocaust Museum, and then met up with Adam and our friend from high school, Clint, for dinner. Clint's a New Yorker, but he's been in DC for the past three months playing Gildenstern (?) in the DC Shakespeare Company's production of "Hamlet." After dinner we went to see the play, which Damian really liked, and I liked as much as I can, considering that I don't much care for Shakespeare (or three hours of sitting). Then we all headed to U Street with various castmembers to hit up the gay sports bar, "Nellie's." On the 2:00am walk home from the metro, we also discovered that the N.Y. Deli was actually still open (it's been a challenge finding restuarants in Old Town that are open past 11:00pm). It was the grungiest, smokiest hole in the wall, but there was food. And, rowdy drunk 21-year olds. Overheard snippets of conversation: "I mean, I'm not racist, but..." (and then a lengthy discussion about Ethiopians). Also, the following exchange:

Girl: "He's got one of those things..."

Boy: "A bong?"

Girl: "No, it's not a bong...it's a..."

Boy: "A bong?"

Girl: "NO, it's a....oh, it's a steamroller. And it's rainbow. It's not rainbow because he's gay, but because he's an artist."

What's a steamroller? Anyway, Damian got up early this morning to go to yoga, and then we got lunch at our favorite Lebanese place, and then walked around Old Town a bit. It was a really nice visit, and a super weekend!

Only a few more days of Israel blogging, don't worry!

I'm so excited for this weekend, because Damian is coming to visit!!

Today started with another view of Jerusalem, this time from the Haas Promenade (hilltop opposite Mount Scopus). Phillip told us more stories from the 1948 War of Independence (when Israel lost the Old City) and the 1967 Six Day War (when Israel acquired the Old City). The Haas Promenade is supposedly where Abraham made his decision to sacrifice Isaac - the stone where he actually bound Isaac is located on the Temple Mount, under the Dome of the Rock. Guess who's allowed to visit? Only Muslims. Even though I've got a very clear and obvious bias in favor of Jewish rights in Israel, and admittedly know very little about Islam, it seems rather unfair to keep all non-Muslims from entering the Dome of the Rock. When Israel conquered the Old City in 1967, the leadership was determined to keep all holy sites open to anyone and everyone who wanted to visit them. Not just Jews. For some reason, which I'm still unclear about, the Muslims are allowed to decide who visits the Dome of the Rock (even though it's firmly within the boundries of the Old City), even though their holy mosque is the one next door to the Dome - the Al-Aqsa. Christians and Jews alike certainly have an interest in seeing the spot where G-d supposedly first appeared to Abraham (per my understanding).*

Our next stop was the City of David, where we splish-splashed through Hezekial's Tunnel (underground tunnels that used to bring water into Jerusalem). We were warned that the tunnels are very small, so anyone who had claustrophobia should probably avoid it (hey, where was the warning for people with fears of heights??). Everyone kept asking me if I was "going to be okay" in the tunnels. Which is a very silly question, as narrow underground tunnels are the EXACT OPPOSITE of heights. Furthermore, I happen to love tiny enclosed spaces. So, the tunnel was a high point for me. Being 5'2, I hardly had to duck at all.

After the tunnel, we went to the Old City via the Zion Gate. Phillip showed us all the bullet holes pockmarking the gate, as a result of the wars (Independece & Six Day).



The Zion Gate brings you in via the Armenian Quarter, which we passed through (seeing a great view of the Mount of Olives on the way) to get to the Jewish Quarter. The Jewish Quarter was tiny, and touristy, and looked quite old. In fact, none of it is older than 1967, because it was pretty much razed during the Independence War. Phillip gave us lots of shopping time, but things were very trinkety and I was tourist-shoppinged-out. Our last stop before a free evening was the Western Wall (a.k.a. Wailing Wall; Kotel). It's a very small strip of wall, with a larger men's side (the one closer to the Dome of the Rock, i.e. closer to the holy site) and a smaller women's side (made even smaller by the construction of the ramp going up to the Temple Mount).



People were grasping at the wall, crying and davening and singing, and I felt stupidly non-spiritual. Maybe it will come to me? I put a note in the wall for the rabbi (he had asked the kids at our synagogue to write notes, and then split them up between a few of us).

Adam and I spent our evening exploring Ben Yehuda Street. There are tons of restaurants, shops, and tourists (plus a bunch of youth hostels, which meant cheap internet cafes!).

*[non-journal note: A day or two later, I will learn that the Muslims contol the entire Temple Mount, and while all tourists are supposedly allowed to visit it - via Muslim-run tours - they forbid Jews to say any prayers there. Even just when walking around. Now, admittedly, this bit of information comes from Phillip, who sometimes calls Muslims "the enemy," so it could very well be an exaggeration/fabrication. He also said that while there are still remnants of the Second Temple on the Temple Mount, the Muslims have been systematically destroying them and tossing the remains in landfills. I just want to say, I don't have anything against Muslims, and I don't know enough about their religion/culture to give any of this a fair assessment. It's easy to get really angry when someone says "Jews can't visit their holiest site because of x group of people," but I've got to keep in mind that things are more complex than that, and it's a really bad idea to jump to conclusions & judgments.]

This was the longest day of my life. We woke up at 3:00am and left to pick up the kids at the ranch at 4:15. Breakfast was a wee cup of "instant" coffee at the hotel. But, for all the griping, we slogged up Masada and staked out a good spot on top of the bathhouse before dawn. We took the Roman ramp up, and it was pretty smooth going. The sunrise was really lovely, and so fast! I don't think I had ever seen a real sunrise before, and I didn't realize how quickly it comes up. We toured just a small portion of Masada (apparently there's a ton to see), and by 8:00am I realized the real reason we had gotten there so early. The heat was already unbearable. I watched new arrivals trekking up the mountain and felt a little sorry for them. The last thing we did before descending was go to the edge of Masada (basically a cliffside) and shout into the gorge created between Masada and a neighboring mountain. It creates this neat echo effect, and sounds like there's a whole army of people shouting back at you from the other mountain. I had a bit of a panic on the cliffside, as I'm pretty scared of heights. I'm okay when there's a barrier (solid and at least chest-high) between me and the drop-off, but here there was just a rickety bar (waist high). Unfortunately, this was just a foreshadowing of what was to come - the "snake path." I thought it was named for its inhabitants (snakes rank juuust above heights in my fear hierarchy), and was relieved to find out it's just really twisty and windy. My relief vanished when I saw that the path consisted of slippery pebbles and rocks, was about four feet wide, and had a terrifyingly steep drop-off on the side not bordered by mountain. No railings or anything. It took me and Adam about an hour to get down, me whimpering/crying the whole way down, and Adam patiently letting me grip his hand/arm with my clawing fingers. Keep in mind also that the sun was beating down on our side of the mountain for the duration of the descent. Next time I'll take the cable car!



We had a dreadfully crappy breakfast at the Masada guest house, and then headed to Ein Gedi. We hiked to a waterfall and it was really beautiful.



Our next stop was the Dead Sea; on our way, we stopped at the Ahava factory store, where they gave a "presentation" about their line of Dead Sea skin care products.* One of the women on the trip just had a beauty supply freakout and bought four gigundo bags' worth of Ahava stuff.

The Dead Sea was a pretty neat experience. As you may or may not know, the Dead Sea (actually a lake, I think) has a very high saline content - something like 8 times that of the ocean. Before we got off the bus, we were warned not to swallow the water or get it near any head orifice. Further, we were warned not to pee in it - apparently the sensation is excruciating. Floating in it was fun - it's a weird sensation, because when you walk through it, it feels all thick and syrupy and oily, and then when you bend down to get your shoulders in, all of a sudden you can't help but topple into floating. The first time I did this I was taken by surprise, and I splashed myself just a little on the lip. Oh my, did it burn. Also, I had some cuts on my feet from the snake path, and they burned like crazy. When I got out of the water, the cuts were all open and gross. The funnest thing about the Dead Sea is seeing people walk around covered in the mud that coats the bottom.

After the Dead Sea, we were off to Jerusalem. Phillip was all jacked up about our "first sight of Jerusalem." He kept telling us to think about how our ancestors would have felt, seeing the holy city. This made me feel a little crappy, as my ancestors are Catholic Italians. Nevertheless, Jerusalem was very beautiful from Mount Scopus (our first stop; also the location of Hebrew University and the Hadassah hospital) - I could see the walls of the Old City and the Dome of the Rock.

We were given a rare free evening, so Adam and I shook off the rest of the group and went to walk around Emek R'faim (sp?) street. We got dinner at an Asian restaurant (it was so awesome to eat something other than falafal and pita) and shopped a little, then crashed at our hotel.

*[non-journal note: I manage to go my whole life without listening to pitches for so-called miraculous beauty products, and then along comes July and I get not one but TWO pitches! Ahava & Arbonne (which Mel's friend is selling). It's a shame I'm not more interested in this stuff.]