Day 4 - Israel Trip

Left Tel Aviv early in the morning heading first out to Caesaria. Drove along the Med and despite the rain it was a beautiful drive. Build during time of King Herod – named after Caesar Augustus

Build 100bc – born to a Bedouin tribe – forced to be converted into Judism Became a powerful officer in the army – Romans did not know what to do, it put Jewish king in place, Jews hated Herod – built as a Roman pagan city, Flavius wrote a lot about Herod – he killed his children so they would not take power away from him. He built Masada as a place to escape to. Roman governor lived here, Pontius Pilate lived here – 7th century, Muslim came and conquered and destroyed – Crusaders in 1099 important not as a site but as a harbor and built a small city and conquered again by the Ottomans/ Deserted again – 4000 people can sit in the theater. The original walls and most of the city are in the sea but you can see the outlines of the place.

We left there and went to the Galilee Mts to Nazareth. We visited the Church of the Annunciation. The spot where the angel appeared to Mary and told her she would have a child. It is relatively new church but very interesting with the ruins that you can see underneath it. Nazareth is an Arab city today which produces a lot of tensions. When the Pope visited in 2000 the Arabs put up signs all over the city basically say there is no god but Allah. Some are still up

We then left and drove down to the Sea of Galilee (which in reality is a lake not a sea) and up to the Golan Heights. To quote Henry Kissenger, you can read out it, you can study it, but until you see the territory from the heights you do not understand it. I now understand much better why the Israelis do not want to return it to the Syrians. We then drove across the Heights – which is a plateau about 80 miles long – all overlooking Israel – to the Sea of Galilee and the town of Tiberious for lunch at a place called Decks. It was right on the Sea and the food was outstanding.

After that we drove to Jerusalem along the Jordan Valley. By this time it was dark and we were not able to see very much. We arrived in Jerusalem about 7pm just in time to go to dinner. Tomorrow will have meetings again all day starting with breakfast.

Day 2 - Israel Trip

Woke up early this morning, had breakfast and then walked the promenade.  The Sea is beautiful and right across the street from the hotel.  I walked for hours, had lunch, cleaned up and met the group at 2pm.  It is an interesting group -- there are 5 of us and Mervin.  There are professors from Emery, GW, University of Texas at Austin, Hunter College, and myself.  There are two women and the rest are men.  We started off sitting around a conference table talking about the day and coming week.  We then left and went to the Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art.  It was interesting but modern art is not my thing.  I really don't understand abstractism but they also has some old masters and one room in particular which was filled with displays of miniature future from different periods. We then went to Old Jaffa.  That is one place I would love to return to and spend more time in.  Our guide took us to the top of the mountain (?) where we could overlook Jaffa and Tel Aviv and get an excellent idea of how close things are. 

There is a church in Old Jaffa -- St. Peter's -- named for the apostle Paul who visited there and preformed a miracle -- this was after Jesus death -- he brought a young girl back to life to symbolize that he was the successor to Jesus.  This was also the area where Napoleon  landed and killed all the residents to rid the area of Ottomans.  The history here is amazing.  The town is full of winding stairways and walks with small stores.  None of which we got to stop and look at in much detail.

After this we went to Pinhas Maoz, an attorney, who has advised various political figures.  Pinhas talked with us about law in Israel.  We had a lively discussion about human rights.  I did not know that Israel does not have a constitution.  They have several basic laws but not written constitution.  The main reason is how do you write one to cover all the various factions, sects, religions, etc.  Fascinating talk.  We discussed such things as who is a Jew?  How do you define one?  If you want to get married where and how?  Different courts -- there is a rabbinical court for the Jews and a Muslim court for the Muslims. 

After our meeting with him we joined one of Israel's leading political scientists , Gideon Doreon for dinner and had a wonderful free ranging discussion of the political system in Israel today and how they got to where they are today. Dinner was excellent and we walked back to our hotel.  Keep in mind it is 10:47pm here and we are all worn out.  Several of the group just arrived from the States today and they are really whipped. 

As usual I managed to lose something, I always seem to leave things, this time it was my sun glasses.  Am going to have to find a pair I can wear for the next week until I get home. 

We are going to have a full day of meetings tomorrow which I will report on tomorrow night. 

Statistics -- I walked 16,164 steps for a total of 6.63 miles. 

Day 1 - Israel Trip

This has been a long day.  Left the house a little after 11am in dense fog. I wasn't sure if when I got to the airport I would be able to get out of GSO.  But there were no delays and I got to Philly on time.  Spent the $50 for a day pass to the US Airways Club and it was worth it.  It was an island of quiet.  The 6 hour wait passed very quickly and I was able to get a few things done.  I was curious about security for the flight to Israel.  I had passed through security in Greensboro and with the Israeli reputation of being very security conscience I did not know what to expect.  But it was easy and smooth.  There was another security area that one had to pass through to get to the boarding area.  Flight was not full and I was lucky enough not to have a seat mate so I could spread out.

The surprise came when I left the airplane and as I started to walk up the ramp to the terminal I saw a man holding a card with my name on it.  Turns out he was sent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from now on MFA) to help expedite my way through customs.   We went out the door, down the steps to the tarmac where we walked around the corner and got into a car.  He then drove around the airport to immigrations where he took my passport and we went to the head of the line.  Got my luggage and  put me in a car to the hotel.  I have never traveled like this and I rather liked it!!!! 

Hotel is right on the beach and is very nice.  Rooms are small and there are not nearly enough outlets, but then again in most hotels there aren't.  Arrived at the hotel about 4:30 and laid down to take a short nap.  My plans were to take a short nap and then walk around for a while.  I woke up at midnight!!!  There goes the plans to walk around tonight.  But plan on getting up early and walking and perhaps even make it to the fitness center. 

I am to meet up with the group at 2pm and I am excited to meet the other members and to find out what all we will be doing. 

Off to bed again.  More tomorrow.