Journey to Jerusalem

This afternoon I met up with the group from Arkansas and we headed toward Jerusalem! What a joy to hear that good ole Southern drawl! Our tour guide took us on a brief journey to a high point near the Hebrew University where we could see the desert and mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. On the other side of the university, we stopped again to get some photo moments of Jerusalem.

After a really wonderful buffet dinner, the travelers are all down for the night (I think) in preparation for a full day of traveling and sightseeing tomorrow. On top of their really long journey, Israel is doing their time change tonight for daylight savings time (I guess it's by the Hebrew calendar?). So we'll all lose an hour of sleep between now and our 6:00 am wake-up call!

I can hardly wait to "breathe in" the atmosphere of Bethlehem and the other sights we will see tomorrow. Picture to come then!

Tel Aviv Travels

I'd been in Israel just over 24 hours, and already I knew I wanted to come back! I spent an hour or so this morning walking the beach in Tel Aviv, then headed to the famous Carmel outdoor market just up the street to walk amongst the people before checking out of the hotel and heading to Ben Gurion airport to meet up with the tour group from Arkansas. The sea was beautiful, the atmosphere in the shops and streets invigorating.

Tel Aviv is one place I'd like to visit again and get to know better!