Israel: Day 7

Day 7 was my last day in Israel.

It was a pretty low key day. We met one of the festival organizers for lunch in the New City at a kosher restaurant called Rimon (pronounce Ramone...as in Joey. lol!). The restaurant had two sides: one milk and one meat! We sat on the milk side. I needed a coffee. I ordered Sole with Mushrooms, Fries and a Salad. It was good!

After lunch we grabbed a cab to Tel Aviv and bid Jerusalem good-bye.

"good-bye!"

In Tel Aviv we stayed at a hip art gallery/hotel in a cool residential area. The staff were all very smart, fun, cool people my age! 

The lobby of the hotel

The rest of the lobby

The hotel had happy hour from 5-6 pm and they had free champagne and kosher cookies! So of course we went down for a drink! :) 

Where we sat and had champagne

One of the girls: Renana and I really hit it off. I gave her my email address and blog address. I really hope she writes me. She's into vintage and history and art. She dances the Charleston and was teaching me some Lindy Hop steps in the lobby! lol! 

I could live Tel Aviv. And I was only there for 12 hours! lol! I've already got friends! :)

Graham's room where I crashed for 5 hours! 

I slept on a cot in here

I really wish I could have spent more time there. Tel Aviv was AMAZING! We had the most delicious meal at a cafe around the corner. Western food, not kosher.  

I had seafood linguine and a glass of red wine for dinner.

For desert I had a pear and almond cream tart with chantily cream and a cappuccino. And the waiter brought us each a glass of free port! Very good with desert!

I was pretty tired at the end of the day, I was feeling emotional about leaving after having such a great evening. But I was also a bit homesick and eager to get on the plane to start heading home. There were dogs EVERYWHERE, all kind,s and it made me miss Dave. 

 

The next morning I got up at 4:30am and left for the airport at 5:10am to start the trek home. 

This is the Airbus 380 I took from Paris to Montreal

It was such an amazing trip! I saw and did things that I will never forget! If I had the chance I would go back. 

Lisa.xo 

Israel: Days 5 & 6

I realized I have to share the rest of my trip with you!

We had our opening performance on our 5th day in Jerusalem. It nearly sold out! We were so afraid we would have a tiny audience. And they LOVED it! So many audience members stayed to talk to the actors. It was just what they needed. We also had several Canadians in the audience. So cool. 

We also did some more sight seeing before our performance that day. We drove to the top of the Mount of Olives. Saw The Church of the Ascension that is said Jesus ascended to Heaven from. We couldn't go in, but I took a few photos of the outside. That was neat. 

Church of the Ascension

The best part of the day and now a super close second to The Dead Sea was visiting the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of all Nations where it is said that Jesus and his disciples prayed before the night of his crucifixion.The church is stunningly beautiful and the outside courtyard's trees are said to be 2000+ years old: the silent witnesses to Judas' betrayal of Jesus. 

Garden of Gethsemane next to the Church of All Nations

Inside the Church of All Nations

I am not a religious person, but there was something quite remarkable about this place. It is the holiest place I have ever felt and been in my entire life. Thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. Sitting in that church filled me with something and I cried. I just couldn't help myself. I don't know what it was...I just don't know...That is a very special place on earth. 

We also walked around the Old City some more.

We visited the Austrian Hospice, had apple strudel and coffee. Yum!!! Maybe the best coffee I've ever had. 

The floor in the Austrian Hospice

Inside the Austrian Hospice restaurant

And I saw the Wailing Wall. I have to say I was a little under-whelmed. 

The Wailing Wall

It was so touristy. Maybe it's because I'm not Jewish...but it was just a little un-impressive...oh well...Gotta see that Wailing Wall if you visit Jerusalem right?  

Passover and Easter made the city CRAZY! It took us almost 2 hours to return our rental car. So many closed streets right now and they change every hour! Religion rules over everything here. It's nuts. We were so glad to get rid of that car...

The next day Graham and I visited The Dome of the Rock in the Muslim quarter in the Old City. Getting there was a bit of a chore. We only knew one way in and had to walk through the courtyard by the Wailing Wall to get in. Because of Passover there were thousands of Jews praying. It was shoulder to shoulder people. 

We walked through that crowd...ugh.

Graham was hesitating...but I said: "We walked all this way to see the Dome. We're pushing through this crowd". So I grabbed his hand, held my purse tight to my body, hugged the we made our way through the crowd. 

As Graham and I walked into the muslim quarter there were some men sitting there. They asked me to cover up. I asked if I should cover my head or my arms, they said arms. Graham asked if he should take off his hat. They said: "We don't care, do what you want" lol! That says so much doesn't it?!

 There were a lot of places we couldn't stand or touch or go into in this section of the Old City. And there were a lot of guards with guns walking around, it was a bit unsettling.

Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount

Non-Muslims are only allowed in the Muslim quarter in the morning from 8-11am. It was very beautiful. More Byzantinian archetecture. Although the Dome has undergone several upgrades over the last few millennia...I just don't the know the details. It beautiful though.

The muslim quarter was so much quieter than the Wailing Wall. Fewer people. We could hear the Jewish prayers being broadcast...Jerusalem...where so many religions collide...it's just so strange and surreal. 

 

That night we had another performance. We had another great show! 

The Boys hard at work! 

It was the best show the guys have had yet! One of the young (my age maybe) Israeli ushers told me with tears in his eyes that he sympathized with the Gentile character and assured me that all Israelis did not hate Palestinians. I was speechless. We also had many former Winnipeggers who now call Israel their home in the audience! One family drove over an hour into Jerusalem to see the show! What a small world we live in! :)

After the show we went to the American Colony Hotel for drinks and some food. Beautiful hotel! One of the nicest in Jerusalem apparently. I had local beer, two Tom Collins and Shrimp Falafel with Tahini! OMG! So good! Trying to think how to replicate the shrimp at home. 

Cellar Bar in the American Colony Hotel

I had one more day in Israel. I'll share it with you in the next few days! Then it's back to our regularly scheduled program! 

Lisa.xo

Israel: What I Wore

Today I thought I'd post something a little different from my trip in Israel.

I managed to take outfit photos on one day of my trip. It was so hot in the afternoons there, it was so nice to have a week of easy summer dressing!  Now I'm back to spring coats and scarves I can't wait till the weather warms up in Winnipeg.

Turquoise Necklace: Bought in Jerusalem in the Old City

Bow Tee, Green Skinny Belt, Blue Flats: Joe Fresh

Green Silk Skirt: Jacob

Lisa.xo

Israel: Day 4

Here's how we spent our Saturday in Israel. Day Trip!

We rented a car on Friday so we could do a day trip to The Dead Sea and Jericho. 

Arne (one of the actors) has a terrible sense of direction, Graham (the other actor) is ok. So I wielded the map and navigated while Arne drove. Arne is a good driver despite his terrible sense of direction, so between the three of us we eventually make it to our destination in Jerusalem with the car! lol!
Driving to The Dead Sea was easy, just one highway to follow!

A sight on the side of the road on the way to the Dead Sea.

It was an incredible day. One I won't ever forget! The Dead Sea was so amazing! It felt so tropical in some ways, palm trees, beautiful blue blue water, flowers, sand...Only it's in the middle of the desert. I saw the shores of Jordan that day too, on the other side of the Dead Sea of course! ;)

And the mud at the Dead Sea! It was so neat! Gummy and cool, the sand exfoliated a bit. After I let the mud dry and rinsed it off my skin felt incredible! Never softer! 

And floating in the Dead Sea was so cool! To just lie there and float. Relaxing. But if you turned onto your stomach for some reason your body would want to go into the water head first. Which is bad! ...the water tasted awful. I didn't get a big mouthful, just a drop in my mouth. So so so salty. At this point Swimming in the Dead Sea was the highlight of the trip. One of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. 

Then we drove to Jericho. What a cool city. It's the oldest city in the world. 

Market Square in Jericho.

I found it much better than Jerusalem in a lot of ways. It's only Palestinian people living there so there is none of the religious tension that there is in Jerusalem. Palestinian people are so nice, friendly and kind. 

That being said I would never visit Jericho alone. The men there stared at me very openly. I stuck pretty close to the guys. That was't happening so openly in Jerusalem. I would feel very safe travelling in Jerusalem by myself. 

We had lunch at a Palestinian restaurant in the market square. I had Falafel. 

These were just the starters for lunch!

Arabian Coffee

I was too hot to be adventurous. I just needed a little something I knew I liked in my tummy to keep my going.

We visited the Sycamore Tree in Jericho. It's believed to be 2000 years old. It is said that a man by the name of Zacchaeus climbed this tree to get a better view of Jesus walking through the crowed streets. I don't know much more about the story. The tree was cool though.

There were several men selling souvenirs there who were a bit pushy...I bought a woman's Palestinian kaffiya (that's the scarf I'm wearing in the pic. beside me is the man who sold it to me.). He kept touching my head and telling me how beautiful I was. I couldn't tell if he was telling the truth, or if he was trying to sell me a scarf. Ah Well...

Then we visited some Palace ruins (Hisham's Palace) built in 743-744 AD. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 AD so it has been ruinous for a long time! It was beautiful there too. Beautiful carvings and there were some amazing mosaics that had been miraculously preserved as well. 

I couldn't resist sitting on the ancient toilets! lol!

We were all pretty tired at this point and headed back to Jerusalem. We had a rehearsal then Graham, Arne and I went out for dinner. We went to a trendy spot in West Jerusalem called Foccasia  Bar. It was ok. The smaller, more authentic places we've been to were better, but you never know till you try right? There were a lot of Western items on the menu. We of course ordered foccasia which was delicious! I had linguine marinara. It was ok. I've had better in Winnipeg.

I can't believe we did all of that in one day. And the afternoon sun is so hot there. It's nothing like Winnipeg. Somehow I didn't burn though...I just got a touch of colour. And my legs were sore from walking...but my skin felt like a baby's bum! lol! 

I'll post Days 5 & 6 later this week! 

Lisa.xo