Israel Trip in 1998 - Oct.
28
Well, it's about four o'clock now. We've just had a snack of
pretzels, peanuts and coke. I was too enthused to eat. We just
looked out the plane window and saw the Chesapeake Bay. It was
thrilling and awesome! We are now slowing speed to land at N.Y. We
are very excited. This is our best vacation yet! Israel is yet to
come.
The stay at N. Y. was quite a long wait, (over six hours) we
toured the gift shops, walked and had dinner with friends. Now it
is 11:30 p.m. and we are on our nest plane (big jet). There are
approximat4ely five hundred people on board, and they are all going to
Israel! There is so much excitement in the air. Several
pastors (leaders of tour groups) are on board and one just had a little
pep talk with us. Our leader, Bro. David Smith led a prayer with all on
board. Now the captain says there's a little problem with the fuel
tank and we will be delayed for a few minutes. I am now tired and
hungry.
The Plane ride was all night. Nine hours long. It is now
9:45 our time (next day) and 4:45 in Israel. We have just
fastened our seat belts for landing. I would say that the flight
was both good and bad. Sitting in a middle seat for nine hours, and
I had to get out and go the bathroom several times. --Too much
coke! I did get a leg stretch while getting up. During this
nine hour trip the air Stewart served us pretzels and juice for snacks. Supper
and breakfast were also served on the plane trip to Israel. I ate
tomatoes and prunes for breakfast-- something different. I enjoyed
it. The pastries were good to.
We are to land in about twenty minutes. I wonder what's
going on at home now? Mark was left alone, but he is a grown boy.
Oh well, I'll just relax and enjoy the trip.
We enjoyed a good breakfast of bruit and eggs. The fruit in
Israel is so much better than ours in America. As we rode the bus
on our first tour day we sang and praised the Lord. Our
tour leader is a Jewish Christian and is a very nice guy. Sights on
road -- the tallest tower of Jerusalem we just passed. It has
forty-seven stories.
We are now riding down the coastal plains where the Russian Jews
settled. The famous orange and grapefruit are seen growing on the
roadside. The dwelling houses have their heaters on top of the
houses. They are now developing a good flavorful tomato here in
Israel. These are a few notes I took while on the road.
We saw the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. It changes colors
every hour. The weather is sunny and slightly cool today. We saw
different types of trees - the banana tree, the Arcadia tree and the
Eucalyptus tree, and the one and only golbchorus banana tree. We visited Caesarea by the sea and continued on down to Mt.
Caramel. There are lots of pretty houses newly built along the
roadside. They use solar heat. Some of their popular games are
soccer, basketball and tennis. The storks are now arriving in
flocks. We saw wine grapes growing. We took pictures of the
Arab villages. On the way to Mt. Caramel, the land of Milk and
Honey we saw many beehives. The word Caramel means "Vine yard
of God". Bro Smith took our picture here. We visited Mt. Megiddo
and saw Rosemary bushes. Trees grow through the limestone rocks. We
saw caves on the sides of the roads
The caves had rolled stones. There were large cactus plants,
almond trees, cypress trees and many large reeds near the fresh water.
Again we had good singing on our morning bus ride. We viewed
a beautiful mountain where Jesus did great things along the route. At
the church of Beatitudes we saw the city on the hill that Jesus talked
about. There are so many people here today and everyone seems
excited. It is the Jubilee year. The church was so crowded inside
that we mostly stayed outside in the pleasant weather. After
rambling through the hillsides of beauty we were very thirsty. Everyone
was buying the bottled water. It was called "Good Holy"
water. The hills are so beautiful and it is good to think about
Jesus our Lord being here at the Mount and Church of Beatitudes We took pictures--- pictures of a juniper tree, which Christ’s
Crown of Thorns was made, have. We took pictures of houses along
the Golan Heights. We took pictures of the place where Samson
lived- A city on the plains. Pictures of Nimrod's Forts and Pictures of
the Jewish Villages Pictures of every interesting thing were along the route. Often
times the bus driver would stop to let us take photos of the wild
flowers, caves and trees along the route. We took pictures of the
United Nation fighting ground in 1964 and an army tank. (Just for
tourist) Soldiers and bunkers are here. We saw the edge of Syria
and a wind power station. There were many lemon and banana trees
along the toad. Our tour guide explained how they grow with the
leaves straight up against gravity.
At the souvenir shop in Caesarea Philippi I bought a sewing
thimble. Peggy and I got rocks from the beautiful stream.
Caesarea Philippi was a beautiful place with cool water streams flowing.
We took more pictures of the beautiful Palm trees at the Sea of Galilee.
We stopped at the church of Multiplication. Here again we
made pictures and viewed the ancient place. The flowers here were
beautiful. The weather is very warm over here.
This evening after our lunch we visited Capernaum. "The
Hometown of Jesus." It is hot here too. We saw the famous
Olive Press and made pictures. It was very crowded here. We
visited the old church where Legion dwelt and Jesus cast out the demons. The
church was very old and had Mosaic Tiles. We took a snapshot of the
tomb of caves where Legion dwelt. Now we have arrived at our motel
and cut on the air. We usually arrive back at our motel around 3 or
four o'clock. That gives us time to refresh and rest before dinner. I
called back to the states to my parents and talked a short time. Dad
answered. I made it wry brief as it was a "Collect call” They
were glad to hear from us. I am not that hungry tonight because we had a
very good lunch today at a roadside restaurant. I had my favorite
thing to eat in Israel- Falafel. They are the best treat here in
Israel and are compared to an American hamburger. They are filled
with meatballs or chickpea balls and chopped tomatoes, onions, cucumbers
and lettuce mixed with the special hummus sauce. Delicious! Their
fries here were good too. Our dinner at 6:30 - 7:00 P M are buffet with a very big
selection to choose from such as vegetables, fruit, meat and those
delicious pastries. Their fruit is the best I have ever eaten. The
breakfast buffet also has a good selection. Usually it was cereal
with goat milk and cheese, yogurt, pastries, scrambled eggs, croissants,
fruit, and much more. The coffee is good too. Sometimes we were
served a four entry dinner. It consisted of soup, salad, main dish
and dessert. They were all good and they tried very hard to please the
groups. Tonight at dinner we sat with the Butler’s, Wendell and
Louise. They have a room next to ours and we can stand on our
balcony and talk with each other.
It is Saturday night and we are going to ride across the
Beautiful Sea of Galilee. I really preferred to do this in the day
while the sun was shinning, but there are so many tour groups over here
in their "Year of Jubilee" that we had to take an evening
ride. We sat on a large two-story deck ship and listened to a
lecture on Israel and about the year of 2000. Then we enjoyed a
small church service, singing and devotion.
Bethlehem O Bethlehem, house of bread Bethlehem of Judah Out of you shall come The Savior of the world Unlike any other birth That has been seen in birth He is pre-existent From everlasting From the hills of Bethlehem Shall come peace To the ends of earth
We did see and visit Bethlehem on our first trip, but the last time, they would not let us go there.
On the bus this morning we sang again as we traveled to the
Wailing Wall. We prayed there and touched the wall. It is very
historic. Crowds of women and children were they’re reading the
Torah. The men gather on the left side and the women and children
on the right side. I took two or three photos there. On we
went to the Via D Rosa and walked through. It was very crowded and we
had to watch for pocket pickers. The place was very interesting. We
took a few snapshots on the way through but it was hard to get good
pictures because of so many people going through. From here we went to
the Market place and enjoyed lunch out into the open streets. We ate on
Haifa Street. I had a Falafel with coke, which was very good. They
had lots of good food, but the Falafel was usually always my pick. We
went on to the Upper Room and saw King David's Tomb. They preferred
we not take pictures of it. Several groups were here singing gospel
songs and we joined them. We rode through the narrow old streets and
enjoyed the scenery and rode on to Golgotha's Hill where we had
Communion Service in the old garden area at Calvary. I bought an Olive
Wood Bible here in the souvenir shop and a book and papers. Art found a
shell from a Pinion Tree. They were selling Jerusalem Chocolate
Bars here when we got back on the bus. While at Calvary we went into the
Tomb of Jesus. It was an unusual feeling.
W e enjoyed another great buffet breakfast and started to
Jerusalem. Oh! The beautiful hills over here are beautiful.
Singing and prayer was held on the bus. Now we are going to plant a tree
here in this Jubilee Year. Each one was given a small pine tree and
was guided to a hillside. Arthur and I planted ours deep, so I
think they will live. We now have a tree growing in Israel. It
is hot here today and we stood and listened to another lecture about the
Jubilee. We are now a part of Israel's history. Each one planted
their tree in memory of someone. I planted mine n memory of Andrew
who is to be born on November 6. Now we are a part of the history of
Jerusalem. Back on the bus they played the song
"Jerusalem" on a tape. It was a pleasant ride with
thoughts of Jerusalem fresh on our minds. We took pictures of the
Plains of Jericho and the camels. This ride along the mountain toad
is 11200 feet below sea level and is the lowest spot on earth. It
is also about the hottest I believe. There are resort areas being
built everywhere here. Another note of interest from our bus tour
leader is that the Dead Sea is 33 percent salts. It is the biggest
potash supplier in the world. Sulpher, Bromino medicine for news.
The Dead Sea supplies silver iodine for films in cameras. Magnesium
at high temperature is of great availability. We took pictures of the
date and palm trees near the Dead Sea.
There was a small factory where Ahava skin products are made near
the Dead Sea. There are no ships at all in the Dead Sea, because
of the salt erosion. It is a Dead Sea! We watched people in
our group swim but we did not try it. We waded near the shoreline and
tasted the salted waters it is good for your skin because of all the
minerals. Some were taking Mud Baths. In Quaman we had lunch
and purchased two small souvenirs. We picked up some of the mud and
rocks from the Dead Sea.
Our free leisure day. Here in Jerusalem in 1998 with its
population of six hundred thousand people. What a treat to be
here!
We enjoyed a buffet breakfast. I ate cereal and milk,
honeydew melon, tomato, cucumber, juice, eggs, croissants, jam and
toast. They do not serve pork here. They eat Kosher. We
usually have a big breakfast. About 10: 15 after walking around the city
blocks our group rented a small bus and went to the "Old
City", to Damascus Gate. It was a bumpy rough ride. The
driver was not a very good driver as I thought we were going to get side
swiped. The ride was free if we shopped at the Jewish Shop. So
we did. I bought two tee shirts at $3.00 each, 3-napkin holders for
presents, and a little pillbox. Good souvenirs. On we go to
the potty house and through the Wailing Wall area. Here on the city
streets we go up steps to the lunch area on the streets but our
14-member party ate inside. We had a good lunch. I ordered
Falafel and French Fries as usual. They were delicious! Another
group of ours split off from our party and went shopping. (The
Black Group) Gertrude the singer fell and broker her wrist and had
to be taken to the Dr. The group are now going to the Temple
Institute where part of our group watch a film about the Temple.
It cost $4.00 Arthur and I did not go, but sat with friends on the
street and talked and took photos. I did a little stitching here on
the streets of Jerusalem, I brought some little sewing projects
with me to while away some of the spare minutes. We made friends with
the street cat here too.
Now our group is back together. We went inside a Mall area
and went to "Potty". Maureen and I accidentally went to
the men's bathroom. Now we are on our way to Damascus Gate Area and wait
for a bus to take us back to our motel. We sat and talked on the streets
while we walked down the streets to get Ice Cream. Louise Butler and I
bought some panties from the street sellers. We got on the Shuttle
Bus and came back to our motel. The bus driver got lost on the way
back. We finally got there after a big thrill ride and went to the
Model of Jerusalem and heard a little talk about the Temple. It has been
a good day. We are ready for supper now. We were served a salad,
than soup. Next was the main course of Beef and Vegetables, Mushroom
salad, cabbage salad, squash, macaroni and cheese, chicken and orange
pudding. Then came dessert, which was pudding. Very fancy
dinner in a high-class restaurant. Back in our room we rested and
watched T V. and get ready for a new day. Wendell and Louise
visited us on our room Showering was not good in this motel. Ours
showerhead was broken off and we had to hold it in our hand. I
kept getting the walls wet. I am thinking of home tonight, but we
love Israel!
We ate breakfast at 6:30 A M. Luggage was packed before
eating. I had eggs again. I have really had lots of eggs this
week, but they were good. It is our last day in Israel. Three
people were late for the bus as usual. Some of these people always
breaks the rules and make it hard on everyone else. Our tour leader
has a good personality and everyone likes him. -- Now we're al here
and on the road. We are having devotion service with Mr. Gibson
(Bishop) leading. We went to the Temple Mount path and waited an hour
out in the sunshine. After deciding the wait was too long we got
back on the bus to go to a different place. There are so many
people touring here. I wonder if we're getting our money's worth
out of this trip. Again, there are 2-4 people late getting on the bus. We
are now on our way to the Church of all Nations. Here we took
pictures. Louise and I are wearing our new hats that we bought in a
tour ship. Now we go the Garden of Gethsemane. Here we had to pay 1
shackle - 25 cents to use the rest rooms. Now we're back on the bus and
waiting again. At Gethsemane Mt of Olive we took pictures and
toured. Then on to lunch at David's Harp Restaurant. At Zion's
Gate. On we went to the Museum of the Dead Sea Scrolls. There
I bought a sample pamphlet of Scrolls. Prior to this we went to the
Temple Mount. We had to pull off our shoes to enter the building. It
was hot here. Now we're on our way to Bethlehem to eat supper and give
out awards. We have just received our plaque of the Golden Jubilee.
We bade our friend’s goodbye to those who were leaving to go
home. The rest of us are going to Egypt. Most of the day was
spent riding. We had a little bus problem early this morning so we
got a late start. Finally we got going and about 2 or 3 in the
evening we arrived at checkpoint. After being checked in line we met
with the other buses and combined and traveled on across the Nile River
into Egypt. It was quite an ordeal. We had supper on the route at a
little ship with souvenirs and snacks. We arrived at our Bungalows after
dark. This place is very different. I never knew we would be spending
the first night in bungalows. It was more like camping out. It
looked as if someone had slept in our bed. We slept about three
hours and got up, took our flashlights and met the group and started the
long trip by foot up to top of Mt. Sinai, (St. Catherine) we got
very tired and had to borrow $20.00 from Wendell Butler to ride a camel.
I lost my pretty socks along the path, as I was using them for gloves. It
was a very cold morning up in these mountains. About 5 - 6 we got
to the top and enjoyed the view. We also made pictures of the
sunrise. Going down it was rough so we rode the camel again. At
the bungalows again the buses were packing se we ate a late, large
breakfast from the Egyptian Restaurant. At the restaurant on the
hill it was a beautiful view. We were so tired from the mountain climb.
Never again for me! If I can't ride, I don't want to climb mountains.
Back to our rooms we hurriedly packed our bags again and joined the rest
of the group that did not make the Mt. climb, on the bus waiting for us
that did go to Mt. Sinai. I did not drink enough water and I was a
bit sick. Never the less we have good memories. Next we toured St. Catherine shops and buildings Also the
Monastery where the burning bush was. We took pictures rather they
did. Arthur and I did not have tome to load our camera up front. So we
missed photos of Monastery, Burning Bush and Skull house. Anwa
Sadat's Tomb and the Unknown Soldiers. It was good to travel in Egypt despite all the frustrations.
We stayed in a beautiful famous motel last night. So unlike
the bungalows. We stayed in, Cairo Hotel was nice. A famous Emperor
stayed here and ate here too, they told us. We had a pretty comfortable
room, but we could not drink the water here in Egypt. This motel was
built in 1879 out of marble brass and fancy accessories. The
Emperor had a rich shell for his palace. We called Mark back home at 11:00 Saturday night US time and
6:30 Egypt time. We can see the Pyramids from our motel. We
got up to a beautiful morning. It rained slightly overnight. We
went out into the courtyard and made some pictures. After a good
buffet breakfast we refreshed and got on the bus to tour. W had ham
and sausage here, (Unlike Israel) I took a picture from the bus
window of the Nile. It is hazy here but the flags will be pretty
in a photo. We went on to the museum. It cost 20 pounds or $4.00 to
get cameras down in museums where King Tut was. We really enjoyed
going thru the historical museum m We took pictures of the Nile
River Egypt's first called Forts 641 AD
We are now going to Egypt's oldest Castles King House Citadel
Muslim. Lines of children were there and they were very super friendly. We
laughed at all the "Hello' everywhere. I bought an Egyptian Necklace at $1.00. We rode through
Cairo. It was exciting and we learned so much about the land and
people there. They traditionally wear long robes. They can't
show their body. Their hair is their beauty. We saw the King Tut
treasures, his tomb and lots more things of interest and historical here
at the Museum. It is warm here today and we had to pay one pound to
use the restrooms again. They are very lousy too. The
population in Cairo Egypt is about sixteen million in Nov of 1998. That
was more than New York City. We had lunch on the bus and they told
us to fill a bag from the buffet breakfast bar next time. They were very
plentiful with good foods. We rode the bus and toured. We
shopped at the Merit Center Elbazaar. I bought four pyramids and 1
Sphinx for souvenirs. We had a group photo at the pyramids for
$1.00 with a camel. I got a head shawl. On we go the Papyrus
Plant where paper is made. I bought a picture with our name written
in Egyptian Language. We had a fancy dinner tonight at the Mina
House. Soup and Bread first than a Beef Dish with rice and carrots. For
dessert awe had pineapple pudding.
I found out the name of the famous British Emperor who stayed
here at tour Cairo Motel. He was Roosevelt Montanan from the
British Army in 1897
This is our last day here. After a buffet breakfast we
packed to go. We had to get up about 4:30 this morning. Our
room here in Egypt Mina House Motel, was nice. We changed buses and
this one is not as good and comfortable as the last one was. It is
an Egyptian Bus called "Nile Pharaoh". The name of our first bus was "Friends Tour” I will
really be glad when we get back home. Traveling is nice but it
grows tiresome when on bus tours. It takes about an hour to get
everyone's luggage loaded. Our bus is packed with American whites
and black people. One group of the black people is from N. Y. The Palm Trees here in Egypt are beautiful. The Egyptian
people are very friendly and it seems that their favorite word is hello.
We now have only one more roll of films left.
While leaving out of Egypt a truck load of police followed us.
The security is tight. We had to make several stops here in Cairo and
into the Suez Canal to use restrooms and we took a few pictures.
Back on the bus we had free fruit. It is so good. I got two
bananas. At the tour shop I bought some Egypt Symbols on paper for
$1.00. We stopped at Ralston Egypt for deportation and drove to the
border and did the same thing again. Now we are headed back to Joppa. We
took pictures of the sand fields of Egypt and back to Israel we go while
I worked a puzzle, read and snacked. Most of the day was spent o the bus. At 5:30 we dined at the
"Mc-Ganda House Restaurant". Here we made pictures and got our
Israel original bus back, which is much better. It has been a long day.
We got up this morning at 4: A M. We are very tired.
We started out at the airport with all the usual confusion. We
are all sleepy and tired from getting up so early. We called back
home from the airport because we got an early flight from M. Y. We
left at 9: 03 instead of 11: A.M. We liked that. In the plane
I had a middle seat in the three aisles on the overnight flight. A
black girl from N. Y. sat beside me. She was very sweet. The
food was pretty good. For supper we had Buford Chicken with Pasta,
Cheese, Roll and Cake. Pretzel, juice and nuts were for our
snacks. On the oversea flight I did not sleep much. The
flight from N. Y. was pretty good. When we left N.Y. the sun was
shining, but early in the morning as we waited for a taxi. It was
bitter cold, at the JFK Airport. We had to pull out our souvenir items
to keep warm. Scarf's, prayer shawls e and more. On the plane I had
a middle seat again. 25 A&B over the airplane wings. We enjoyed
seeing part of the city of N.Y. during early take off. We saw the Donald
Trump Apt. With a "Welcome To U S A" sign. We ate our
breakfast of yogurt strawberry and banana flavored, Cream Cheese Bagel,
Banana and Juice. We were all so happy to be back in Atlanta, Ga. It seemed as if we were almost home, and we were. |
|
Copyright © All Rights Reserved "Reflections of Love"
Revised: September 18, 2009 |