All the other Israel bits, plus Jordan!

After a lovely couple of days in J-lem as described by Mike, we headed to Tel Aviv to meet up with my parents (yay!). We checked in, asked for a lunch recommendation which we could not find, then got lunch over by the fun artist market. We got back to the hotel to find that my parents were just by looking for us and were apparently at the place we neglected to find (which by the way was apparently delicious). Long story short, WE FOUND THEM! YAY! They invited us to come to their closing dinner with their group so we could meet all their new friends. Dinner was tres chic and it was great to meet all their peeps and get lots of feedback on their general adorability (sometimes you think it’s like babies, you always think your parents are the cutest, but now we know, they are objectively cute ;) After an evening of sitting on our beds catching up and showing off each of the treasures that we had picked up, we got ready for TUTTLE ADVENTURE 2010!


In the morning we got our rental car (my dad and I were the drivers, good times!) and headed south. We grabbed lunch in Be’er Sheva and introduced my parents to the joys of Yotvata chocolate milk (for the uninitiated it is the best chocolate milk in the world made by a kibbutz in the south). We stopped for a quick glance at the Maktesh Ramon (giant crater-y thing), gorgeous, then we drove through it (long, but pretty). Eventually making it to Eilat. Our first night we stayed at the Eilat YHA which as it turns out is gorgeous and cheap. We tossed down our stuff and went for a dip in the Red Sea (you know us, we try out as many bodies of water as possible). Although the water was a little trashy (booo) it was refreshing. The next morning we were picked up early for our trip to Jordan! None of us knew what to expect, but we hoped for the best… The border crossing took a while, but that was to be expected (while we waited my father bought a kefiyah  he looked so legit). Then we hopped on a bus where we heard about Petra & Jordan as we drove. The majority of the group was on the one day tour (in my opinion hardly worth it… so much travel for so little time at Petra). It was then that our NEW camera decided it didn’t want to be used anymore and developed a ‘sensor’ issue. All of a sudden there was a dark smudge over a piece of our lens…. Which apparently happens really rarely with point and shoots (we are just soooo lucky) it’s covered by the warranty, but not until we get home to mail it in… so my generous mother lent us her camera for the remainder. Anywho, on to Petra!

Petra is gorgeous. It is an amazing combination because the natural setting is pretty phenomenal, the stone is a million colors and textures. Then, the Nabbateans carved these incredible tombs into them, blending human creation with incredible natural beauty. In other words, it rocked. You enter through this 1.2 km canyon break (let me tell you, really the only bad thing, you descend almost 2 km into Petra, which means when you are done it’s 2 km UP to get out. Mean Nabbateans.) When you get to the end of the Siq all of a sudden you turn a corner and there it is…. The Treasury. Otherwise known as the cool-ass place at the beginning of the last Indiana Jones movie… It Is spectacular. The funniest part? These enormous and gorgeous carvings… have nothing inside. They are tombs, so like the Treasury is 3 or 4 stories tall, they excavated more than 250 tons of rock to carve it, and there is like a little room with 7 graves inside. It was all about the façade. We hiked around with our crazy-ass guide for a couple of hours (who never could give us a good explanation of when lunch was…) He eventually left us at lunch, and took the rest of the group back to drive back to Israel. We hiked on (well, my parents hung out, Mike and I hiked) another 800 stairs (poor call us) up to the Monastery. It is the largest building in Petra, and it was magnificent, but phew. Quite a hike. We were dog tired by the time we left, but determined to come back for Petra by Night. We had an amazing driver (Yusef) who told us funny stories (what’s the best kind of car… a DONKEY, fuel is cheap and it can go anywhere) dropped us off at our Bedouin tent and picked us up later for PbyN. The Bedouin tent was awesome, more like a Bedouin hotel (my dad couldn’t stop talking it up) and it had the best bathroom I’ve seen in Jordan. It was lovely and peaceful and the guys who run it were very nice. My dad got a great kefiah tying lesson from one of the old guys the next day.

We did Petra by Night, which was cool. It would have been cooler with about 400 less people, and a number fewer idiots. It’s a candle-light walk down the Siq ending with tea and Bedouin music by the treasury. They ask people to walk without flashlights and without taking photos so people can walk in peace by night vision, which is lovely (granted, it could use a little more light, but Jordan is just working out their tourist industry) but dumbasses couldn’t stop taking pictures, even when people were performing. I yelled at one guy, who’s wife explained that they weren’t coming during the day (terrible call, you really can’t see it at night). And I think my dad was close to bludgeoning a few people. But it was pretty and peaceful all the same.

The following morning I realized I had the craziest blisters ever (to be fair, we probably walked about 7 miles in crazy heat) including one I called the alien because it was about the size of the toe it was on… Anywho, it was a low walking day for me. We took a Jeep tour (really the back of a truck) through Wadi Rum, which is gorgeous. We had an amazing driver named Mohammed (who’s dad is mostly retired but has a bunch of camels that roam free in Wadi Rum, apparently he is quite the camel tracker) and it was a super fun day. We ended back in Eilat at the pool.

The next morning we drove up to the dead sea where everyone got to float (even my mom who says she sinks in the ocean). After picture taking it was up to the mud pools! We covered ourselves head to toe (I’m not going to lie, I put some in my hair because they said it was good, and not only were there rocks in my hair for days, it was like straw!), took more pictures, then headed to our Masada HI Hostel. Note to anyone heading that way, that hostel is gorgeous, and the pool is lovely!

That morning, Masada for sunrise. My feet had healed enough, but boy were we unprepared for the heat! It was probably 90 degrees at 4:30 when we started, and no breeze. At one point we almost lost my mom (I think she was just way overheated, and she’s in the best shape of any of us), but after some first aid from my dad in the form of a wet handkerchief and my explanation that on the Amazing Race Family Edition no one finishes unless everyone crosses the finish line, we all made it to the top with about 5 minutes to spare! It was a spectacular sunrise, and my mom and I had a fun time taking the cable car down :)

You’ve already heard our Jerusalem adventures, and that was the end of our time in Israel and with my parents. Thanks guys for the super funnest week ever. (Yup mommy, that grammar is for you!)

Israel/Jordan Picture Bonanza!

Men's side of the wall

Us rockin' J-lem

Me in the shuk

3 Tuttles in Eilat

Mike & my dad classing up the Jordanian border

The Treasury at Petra

me, my mom and a cool looking dude, I don't know if he worked there or just lurked

If you look carefully you can see the Monastery in our sunglasses

Or you could just look at this picture

Us with our Bedouin Tent Friends

Our 'jeep' (truckbed) tour of Wadi Rum w/ two Canadians

Mohammed's dad's camels. Wadi Rum.

Bedouin Mid-afternoon tea  break!

Masada at Sunrise

Jerusalem of Gold

The last time I was in Jerusalem was on my Birthright trip in 1999-2000. Given the political realities back then and the fact that we were on an organized tour, our movement around the city was a bit proscribed. No Arab Quarter in the Old City, no East Jerusalem, no Temple Mount.

Considering that before Debbie and I even made it to our hostel this time, we'd already passed through Jordan, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, I could just tell that this trip would be a bit different!

Seriously though, I've gotta say...being able to just hang out in and wander through Jerusalem was amazing. We spent our first few days getting lost in the Old City, passing through the Christian, Armenian, Arab, and Jewish quarters (and visiting the Western Wall each time!).

We went into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which neither of us had ever been to...and which it turns out is kind of important in Christinaity, as it is considered by many to be the place where Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. How often do you get to wander into a place like that?!



We did a "shopping tour" of all the places where Debbie bought things when she was in Israel in 2006 (and even bought more stuff from some of those places). We ate the most delicious rugelach in the world at Marzipan bakery in the Mahane Yehudah market. We had hummus and falafel and pizza and bagels...and we learned that Israeli breakfasts are more than enough for two people to share and come with a delicious cheese that I'm obsessed with but don't know the name of. We also learned that Israeli iced coffee is like a slushee, and if you want iced coffee American style, you need to ask for "cold coffee" (I stuck with the slushee stuff!).

Most importantly (and fun!), we got to see some old friends, including my friend Rina Cohen and her family, who kindly hosted us for an amazing Shabbat meal; Debbie's classmate from graduate school Shoshana and her fiance Asaf, who cooked us a delicious dinner at their apartment and with whom we discussed Middle East politics while smoking a hookah (flavored tabacco in a water pipe) on their terrace overlooking the hills of Jerusalem; and my friend Gabe, one of my closest friends growing up, and his beautiful family, with whom we had a picnic in the rose garden near the Knesset...the first time I'd seen Gabe since he moved to Israel about 10 years ago!



We returned to Jerusalem for two nights with Debbie's parents at the end of our Israel jaunt, where we continued to shop and explore new aspects of the city, including the Temple Mount and the tunnels along the Western Wall.

Let me tell you: this was fascinating! I'm still blown away by what we saw and learned, particularly on the tunnel tour, so I feel a need to share. If you're not interested in a little history/religion/mythology, feel free to stop reading. Otherwise, fasten your seat belt...

So, I've always known that when Jews outside of Israel pray, we're supposed to face Jerusalem. And it makes sense to me that within Jerusalem, Jews pray facing the Western Wall. But the question was posed to us on this tour: where are you supposed to face when you're at the wall? Related to this, why do Jews pray to the Western Wall at all? I always assumed that it's because it's the only part of the Second Temple (destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD) remaining. This, it turns out, is incorrect. In actuality, all four walls still exist! And what we see of the Western Wall today is only the exposed part of the wall...on the tunnel tour you walk the entire length of the wall, and see parts of it that are in even better condition than what is outside.

So it turns out that back when the First Temple stood on the mount, there was inner sanctuary that held the Ark of the Covenant (of Raiders of the Lost Ark fame), which housed the ten commandments tablets given to Moses and was also said to be G-d's dwelling place. This room, referred to as the Holy of Holies, could only be entered by the high priest on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Incidentally, the Ark was removed from the sanctuary around the destruction of the First Temple, and no one's quite sure what happened to it.

But the Holy of Holies continued to sit atop a special place: the peak of Mount Moriah, over which the Temple Mount was built. This spot apparently plays a special role in the Old Testament as the place where Abraham binds Isaac to sacrifice him to G-d and where Jacob dreams of angels going up and down a ladder to heaven, among other famous stories. It is also said to be the point where G-d started the creation of the universe. The peak is referred to as the Foundation Stone, and unbeknownst to me, it is basically considered the holiest place in Judaism. It is also considered by Muslims to be the point from which Mohammed ascended to heaven.

So the reason Jews pray to the Western Wall is actually that of the four walls of the temple, it's the closest one to the location of the Foundation Stone! And many Jews praying at the wall will actually angle themselves to the left so that they're facing the Foundation Stone. You can actually reach a point that is directly opposite it on the tunnel tour...this is considered the closest point to the Foundation Stone, the nearest one can get to the holiest of places.

What's equally interesting is that the Foundation Stone still exists and can be reached by some today! Where is it, you might ask? Ever seen that big shiny dome in the middle of Jerusalem, right above the Western Wall? That's called the Dome of the Rock, and it's actually a shrine (not a mosque) to the Foundation Stone, built right atop it and with the peak of Mount Moriah poking through the floor in the center of the building! Not that we got to see that...the Dome of the Rock (now you know what the Rock is, by the way) is off-limits to non-Muslims except on special occassions. Besides, in Jewish tradition we're apparently not considered pure enough to be in such a holy place. The chief rabbi of Israel even warns Jews that we're not pure enough to be on the Temple Mount at all, but oh well...

Anyway, the Foundation Stone, which I had never heard of before, turns out to be the holiest place in the Jewish religion. Is that some Indiana Jones, Da Vinci code kind of stuff, or what?!

Shalom from Israel!

Sorry for the radio silence, oh avid readers of the blog. We'll give you a full account of our Israeli (and Jordanian) adventures in the days to come, but rest assured that we are having a great time! We're with Debbie's parents right now, touring around the country in a rental car. We've already been in Tel Aviv, Eilat, Petra, the Dead Sea, and Masada (which we climb to see the sunrise in a mere 6 hours...I should really go to sleep). After this we head to Jerusalem for three days before Jackie and Michael return to Santa Cruz and we travel on to Istanbul!

Suffice it to say that I've already gotten to do a number of things that I didn't do on my last trip here, such as sleep in a Bedouin tent (awesome!), swim in the dead sea (awesome!) and cover myself in dead sea mud (awesome!). We're having an awesome time. But we've had very little internet access. So with that...

We're in Israel!

Well, after a 20-hour journey, we made it to Jerusalem! Our flight out of Bangkok was delayed two hours, so we didn't wind up leaving until 2am (but luckily they gave us snack coupons with which we were able to buy two DQ Blizzards and Burger King fries!).

We landed in Amman at about 6:30am this morning, then took a taxi to the King Hussein Bridge, one of three border crossings between Jordan and Israel. Why didn't we fly directly into Israel, you ask? The answer is that it was too many legs on our around-the-world tickets, and would have cost us $500 each to purchase otherwise. So, instead we found ourselves in a taxi to the border (and almost died on the way when we nearly had a head-on collission with a car going the WRONG WAY, FULL SPEED on the highway).

The border crossing is, as you might expect, rather intense. Let's just say it's only about 45 kilometers between Amman and Jerusalem, but it took us about 4 hours to cross. The taxi dropped us off at Jordanian immigration, where we waited on a line to have our passports stamped so we could leave. When they took our passports to stamp, they gave us vague instructions to go sit down somewhere. After 15 uncertain minutes, we gathered that we could get on the bus that takes you across the bridge to the Israeli side of the border. Finally, just before the bus pulled out, an immigration official got on and gave us our passports back. Why they do it that way, I have no idea. They didn't even stamp the passport...just a card that they took from us at a checkpoint 1 minute later.

The bus stops at one Jordanian checkpoint, then an Israeli checkpoint, before arriving at the Israeli immigration center. There we waited on five or six lines, had our passports checked a billion times, watched as Palestinians and Jordanians were grilled by immigration officials (our grilling was much less intense...consisted only of "How long are you staying" and "Is this your first time in Israel"), saw 17 and 18 year olds holding machine guns, and finally emerged in Israel! We then took a sherut (shared taxi) to the Damascus Gate, where we found a taxi to take us to our hostel.

Our first order of business after checking in to the hostel? Bagels! Not only that, but Holy Bagels :)

And with that, we're going to brush our teeth, shower, and nap. Shabbat Shalom everyone!