Sunday, December 2, 2007

Ray Romano Surprise Party

Ray Romano
Surprise Party for his 50th birthday

It is time for name-dropping and excuses to post this particular blog. What could attending a surprise birthday party have to do with travel? Not much, other than the difficulty of traveling in the famous Los Angeles traffic, and that was not fun. This is just an excuse to write about the funny events and people I met on Saturday night, December 1st.

It turns out my wife has been friends with Anna Romano for several years. They both have daughters the same age, who attend the same school, and became friends several years ago. Anna is a really neat lady with great values, easy to be with and has her feet grounded in reality, despite the circles she can run in.

With Ray it’s another story. He is far more talkative for his TV show than he is in person, except for people he knows really, really well, and I am not one of those. He seems rather shy, not outgoing. While I have been to dinner at his house, seen him repeatedly, had him at our house, I would bet dollars to donuts that he would not know my name to save his life.

Actually, I am really not much better. There are many people I have met several times and cannot remember their names. One of the reasons I call my children things like Guy, Sweetie, Baby, and Son is because I am terrible with names. I have called my daughter by my son’s name and vise versa. I have confused my grandson’s names with everything from my son’s name to any one of the three grandsons. The only thing I have not done, yet, is call one of the grandsons by a girl’s name, as there are no granddaughters.

Anyway, let’s get back to the Romano party and name-dropping. Anna did a great job of setting up the party; she really had Ray fooled. It took a full year to pull it off. A couple of months ago she had an invitation sent to Ray to attend a toy fundraiser for Christmas sponsored by Clint Eastwood, with special guest Rod Stewart. She got the permission from Clint and Rod to use their names for this surprise. Ray gets piles of invitations all the time, and most go into the trash. However, he knows Anna loves Rod Stewart, and Ray likes Clint Eastwood, so he brought home the invitation and asked Anna if she’d like to go. She said, “Sure, I’d love to go.” and the ball was rolling for the countdown to Ray’s surprise party.

A year earlier Ray said he didn’t want a surprise party for his birthday. He would figure any event near or in December would be an excuse for his party. He suspected a dinner party with writers from his show; a get together at Doris Robert’s house; or an invitation from Brad Garret could all be a ruse for his surprise party. She really got him with this invitation to a Clint Eastwood fundraiser. Ray spoke about how she really had him fooled and it was as funny as any Las Vegas standup routine.

The thrill for me was to meet Clint Eastwood. I am a big fan of his work, both as an actor and as a director. I admire him as a person and for the quality work that he does. I met Jason Alexander (from Seinfeld), Peter Bergman (Emmy winner from a daytime soap opera), played blackjack with Doris Roberts (she did really well), spoke for the first time with our neighbor Fred Willard (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Peter Guest movies and more) and had an encounter with Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm).

Meeting Larry David was a funny experience. My sister-in-law, Lisa, and my daughter are BIG fans of his show. They absolutely love it, but I cannot watch it. It is too over the top and he is just too obnoxious for me. I can take Hugh Laurie as Dr. House, but I cannot take Larry David. I don’t know why, but that’s just how it is. Maybe the difference is that “House” knows he is an asshole and people tell him that to his face. I don’t think Larry David is aware of how obnoxious he is. However, I can’t say this with any authority because I have not been able to get through more than one whole episode, and have tried it on at least four occasions.

Anyway, Larry was sitting at a table next to us, and Lisa said if he was there I should say hello to him for her. I walked over and asked if I could interrupt his conversation. He said, “Sure” and I proceeded to tell him my sister-in-law is a big fan of his. Unfortunately, as many in my family can attest, I am honest in my opinions, and I added that I am not able to watch his show. He asked me why and I said it was too over the top for me. He asked me what I meant and I tried to explain. Then he asked again, “What do you mean ‘over the top’?”

By now I felt like I was on his TV program and explained about the scene I watched where he was having lunch with a young Japanese man who’s father was a Kamikaze pilot and was now in a rest home. Larry was asking the young man how a Kamikaze pilot could be alive. “Did he just glance off a ship instead of killing himself?” His TV wife said his questions were offensive, but Larry said, “I’m just curious. I’m just asking some questions.” No, I say he was being a jerk. Despite the suggestions he was being offensive, he pursued with more rude questions. I couldn’t take it and turned it off. I felt embarrassed explaining this to Larry and said, “Don’t change a thing on account of me. People love your show.” And he said, “Don’t worry, I won’t.” I’m not sure if I am relieved.

All in all, it was a fun evening. Anna brought in a band from New York that Ray loves. He would go to the club next door after his stand up routine and stick around to listen to this band. There were plenty of things to keep the guests busy; three food stations, a beignet stand (like powdered donuts from New Orleans), gelato, candy, practice golf, photo guest book, dancing to the band, roulette and blackjack tables.

Rennie

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Travel by Bus

The weekend before Thanksgiving I had a plan to visit my daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren, all of whom live in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas. I usually dread the drive because I do not know what the traffic could be like. A clear and easy 4-hour drive can turn into a clogged frustrating drive of 5 or 6 hours.

So I planned to take my motorcycle on this visit. It’s more like a two-wheeled car, but I can still get around traffic jams if I need to. I can carry the luggage I need, it has cruise control, am-fm and a cassette player, etc., and the weather report showed conditions would be ideal for a motorcycle ride.

My wife was not happy about this idea. Actually Dianne was quite upset about it. I did not want to drive a car; that was for sure. There are no trains that go to Las Vegas and I do not enjoy airports. Anyway, it was too late to book airfare at any reasonable price the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Someone suggested craigslist about sharing a ride with someone who would be going to Las Vegas. There were about 9 people going there, but the dates and times did not match up with what I wanted. Then I found a post for Megabus posted by someone who paid $8.50 for a ride to Las Vegas. Apparently if you plan well ahead, or on off hours, you can get there very cheaply. That was not my situation, but the regular fare was only $30 each way. That would have been the same as a tank of gas on my motorcycle each way at current prices.

I booked the trip online and got my confirmation. I left out of Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and got dropped off near the airport in Las Vegas where my daughter picked me up. The trip in each direction was great. The buses were really nice and clean. I saw a DVD movie on the way there and two movies on the way back, none of which I had seen before. I could read, work, sleep, or whatever I wanted. I did not have to concentrate on the road. I was grateful to take the bus home because my traffic fears were realized. There were way too many people leaving Las Vegas on Sunday at 1 pm and the road got jammed by Primm. It took an extra hour to get back to L.A., but I didn’t care. I was not driving. Even though there is a bathroom on the bus, we stopped in Barstow each way for a snack and bathroom break.

I highly recommend this bus service. It is new to the U.S. and only has 24 outbound cities and 9 destination routes. But it they are going where you want to go, it is a relaxing trip. Check them out at www.megabus.com
Rennie

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Family Camp Vacation

Here is my style of travel; a drive from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. And here is my type of vacation; one week at Family Camp on the University of California at Santa Barbara campus.

For several years now I have attended this camp, either with my wife and her daughter or my daughter and her family. This past year it was my daughter, her husband and my two grandsons. Next year I get to add my son, his wife and their two children.

I usually go week 7, which usually falls around the second week of August. They have enough staff to fully care for the children. The children have fun. The adults have fun. The children have their activities and the adults have theirs. And the children and adults can also do things together from arts and crafts and skits to making soap-box cars and racing them.

All the sports facilities of the university are available; racquetball, basketball, softball, tennis, golf, weights, treadmills, etcetera. There is surfing, kayaking, swimming, biking, walking, hiking, movies and more that I cannot remember. One year I spent 3 days sitting around reading a book. I don’t get to do that at home. This year I got a certificate as a tri-athlete; I jogged 3 miles, rode my bike 26 miles and swam in a relay race.

They usually book up 9 months in advance, but if you want to know more you can visit their website at http://www.familyvacationcenter.com/

Rennie

Monday, July 23, 2007

Day 14 - Chicago

Travel day 14 – Chicago
July 12, 2007

It is Thursday, and on Friday Arielle will be in the art show based on the three weeks she spent at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Today the hotel moved our luggage for us to a regular room on the 33rd floor with a view of the lake and I took more photos. We head out for a walk and Dianne heads to the bank to get cash for Arielle.

It was about 11:30 am and time to figure out where to go for lunch. While standing on the street corner a lady walked up to us and asked if we needed some help. If we were in Los Angeles, I would be ready for the come-on, the gun, the con or just a request for money.

But we are in Chicago, and the lady was actually offering to help us for no other reason than we looked like out-of-towners and could be lost. She suggested the old Marshall Fields basement cafeteria (now Macys) for lunch, and it was great. Dianne wants to go where the locals go, not the tourists. The people here are scary nice.

Then a girl in sitting near us in the basement cafeteria noticed that we had our empty tray on the table next to us and asked if she could put it away for us. What the heck?? We told her how nice the people are in Chicago and it was such culture shock for us. Especially after being in Israel where people bump into you and keep on walking. The idea of someone saying, “Excuse me” in Israel would be unheard of. She explained she is a second generation from Chicago and her mom has lived in the same house for over 25 years.

We then purchased some pastries at another counter and the clerk said, “Have a nice day” and it sounded like she really meant it! Oh my gosh! The people in Chicago are so nice. Sure they have their panhandlers too, but so many people we met were just so nice. This is a really unique big American city.

Israel day 13 - horrible travel day

Israel day 13 – Travel to Chicago
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

We got to breakfast at 7 am and we were ready to leave Tel Aviv. A taxi was ordered to be at the hotel by 7:30 am. We arrived at the airport by 8 am for our 10:40 am flight. The taxi cost 120$ ($30 US).

The flight was delayed by an hour and we took off about 11:50 am heading for JFK airport in New York. Dianne was afraid we would miss our connecting flight to Chicago. Arielle was there for a three-week art program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I did want to visit Chicago after reading an article by John Cusack about what a great city it was and how much he loved it. So we planned the trip to spend a few days in Chicago and pick up Arielle before we go home to Los Angeles.

While on the plane I confirmed we would have about a three-hour layover, and Dianne was able to relax. We arrive in New York after an 11.5-hour flight. It was so strange to go from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv in 14 hours, and it would take about 5 hours to get from LA to NY. How come it takes 11.5 hours to get to NY when it should have been 9 hours?

Anyway, we get to New York at 3:50 pm local time and I check in for our flight to Chicago. I thought Dianne booked us on American Airlines, but it showed right on the itinerary that we were booked on Delta and the flight was schedule for 3 hours later at 7 pm.

Dianne cannot stand to wait around in an airport and the first thing she did was to try to get an earlier flight to Chicago. She was told the earliest flight was 7 pm. However, when I used the self-serve check-in, on the boarding pass is printed that the flight time was scheduled for 9 pm. I was confused: Our 7 pm flight is taking off at 9 pm; was our 7 pm flight cancelled? I checked in three hours ahead: Did we check in too late? Were we now on standby? The TV screen shows our flight as 7 pm and on time: What was going on here?

Dianne wanted an earlier flight so she would not have to wait 3 hours. What a laugh. I was hoping that we would actually fly out at 9 pm. Then we go to the Delta terminal and I heard the real horror stories: People who had to sleep overnight in the airport for delayed flights; cancelled flights; 2 days to get from Germany to New York, etc.

Dianne and I both had similar conversations. As we walked around the airport we asked, “Was it worthwhile to go through these types of travel nightmares to visit other lands?” We agreed it was like the labor to deliver a baby: It is hell, but when it’s over you forget about it. Thank goodness that was true, because I don’t want to travel anyway. If I was able to remember this hell, I certainly would not be willing to go again. However, it is always in the background of my mind and I always try to talk Dianne into traveling in the US. Good luck.

We were lucky; our flight only got delayed another hour to 10 pm. We get on the plane and then sit on the ground for another hour. We finally arrived in Chicago just after midnight local time. By the time we got into our hotel room we traveled 30 hours to get from Tel Aviv to Chicago.

And it is now Wednesday, July 11 and Dianne’s birthday. It is 12:30 am and Dianne speaks to the man at the reservations desk, tells them it’s her birthday and asks if she can get an upgraded room. WOW, we got a huge suite on the 45th floor with a rack rate of $1000 per night. I took lots of photos.

Israel day 10, 11 & 12

Israel day 10, 11 & 12
July 7 - 9, 2007 – Tel Aviv

Day 10, July 7 – Saturday

It is Saturday and our first day in Tel Aviv. Ron dropped us off last night and I parked the car in a parking lot across the street from our hotel. The Mediterranean Sea and beach is on the west side of the parking lot and our hotel is on the east side of the parking lot, so we have an uninterrupted view of the beach and sea.

Ron told us ahead of time that there was not much to see in Tel Aviv, it was another new city, only 150 years old, so we didn’t need a guide here. So Dianne and I choose to go to Gordon beach (based on the Frommer’s Guide) that is now called La La Land Beach.

After nine days of touring, visiting museums, archeological sites, and learning about Israel I was full. A day at the beach; sitting still; reading; writing my travel blog was just a treat. Dianne was nice enough to cooperate and sit still for two and a half hours. And, because it was a Saturday in Israel most places are closed. I later found out Dianne wasn’t feeling well. So besides everything being closed that was probably the reason she was able to sit still.

Israel day 11
July 8, 2007 – Sunday

We have not used the Budget rental car in 2 days; I don’t plan to use it; I don’t want to use it to drive to the airport; and I don’t want to drive in this city. So I turned it in a couple of days early. What I save on the car, even after paying the extra for letting Ron drive it, more than makes up for any taxi fare to the airport.

Dianne decides she wants to go to the open air flea market and the Old City of Jaffa which is on the south of Tel Aviv. We start walking to the flea market, and I was a little unsure of finding the flea market, and Dianne was still not feeling well, so half way there we took a cab and it was only $4. We had a good time and it was an easy walk to Jaffa. Unfortunately, Dianne was getting worse so we didn’t have a chance to see much and took a cab back to the hotel.

We knew we were ready to leave Tel Aviv, but we had to wait until Tuesday for our scheduled flight.

Israel day 12
July 9, 2007 – Monday

It’s July 22, and Dianne felt so bad that she just stayed in bed all day. Yesterday she also felt sick, but still had to keep up her tour. Me, I could have gone to the beach for another day. I’ve got plenty of sunscreen and reading materials. For Dianne to not tour, she has to be ready to drop. I used the time to do more writing.

Israel day 9 - Tiberius, Haifa & Tel Aviv

Israel day 9
July 6, 2007 – Tiberius, Haifa & Tel Aviv

We had our last BIG breakfast at Hagoshrim and visited a cemetery that was on the kibbutz. One of the gravesites had two benches around it, a mailbox, and an old video camera set on a tripod with the legs in cement. Ron told us this person’s hobby was photography.

We asked why rocks were placed on the graves. Although some had flowers, that was not a Jewish custom. Rocks are a part of nature, and the body is being returned to nature. Rocks are the acknowledgement of the visit and they are the natural things to bring to the grave.

We drove though Tiberius, named after one of the Roman Emperors, which is on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. While there were sites to see, the city looked like a typical resort town full of tourists and shopping. One third of Israel’s water comes from the Sea of Galilee and 2/3 is pumped from the ground. We just drove through and headed to our next stop, Haifa.

Haifa is a new city, starting about 150 years ago, and the center of the Baha’i religion. The Baha’i Temple and grounds is an amazing site rising from the based of a hill in Haifa and going all the way up to the top with immaculately maintained grounds. The grass is beautiful; the flowers were in bloom; the trees were all trimmed; there were 2” red rocks separating gardens and grass.

From what I understand, when Muhammad founded the Islam religion he said he was the last prophet to announce the coming of the Messiah, and that anyone else who said they were a messenger was a liar and should die. The Baha’i faith grew out of an announcement by Bab (Siyyid Ali-Muhammad, 1819-1850) that he was sent by God to announce that a bigger messenger than himself would be coming. Well, according to Muhammad this was a bad idea and Bab was publicly martyred in 1850. Then came Mirza Husayn-Ali the founder of the Baha’i faith. He was a Persian nobleman and took the title “The Glory of God.” Again, bad idea. The story goes that Mirza was hanged, and the rope broke. This was a sign that he should not be killed, so they imprisoned him in Acre, across the bay from Haifa, until he died 24 years later.

Next on the route to Tel Aviv was Caesarea. If you don’t know for whom this city was named, you need to read more than my blog. This was a port city where the harbor was built from scratch by King Herod and served ships that traveled the Mediterranean Sea. This was a city built to serve the travelers and grew into a major stop with a 4000 seat theatre; an ancient Jewish quarter; an amphitheatre for horse races; luxurious bathhouses; a 30,000 seat hippodrome for chariot races; an aqueduct and temples.

Unfortunately, the city was built above a fault line that runs along the shore and either an earthquake or a gradual shift in the earth’s plates destroyed the harbor around 100 A.D. Over the next 2000 years it was rebuilt and destroyed by various groups like Pagans, Samaritans and Arabs to Jews and Christians. During the Byzantine period, around 500 A.D., the city covered more than 400 acres and was the largest fortified city in the country.

Our next stop was near Latana to visit friends of Dianne’s uncle Walter. Friedlander went to elementary school in Germany just prior to the breakout of WWII. Both Walter and Peter where a part of the Kinder Transport that saved Jewish children and got them out of Germany. Peter went with his parents in 1939 to England and got visas to go to Israel and went to Haifa. Peter still has the certificate from his arrival in 1940 that shows he is a Palestinian. Near Latana he set up a farm. Peter’s father made clothing for children in Breslau, Germany from 1918 to 1937 until the Jews were persecuted and fled to England.

We arrived in Tel Aviv about 4:30.

Israel day 8 - Lebanon border & Tzfat

Israel day 8
July 5, 2007 – Lebanon border & Tzfat

Today we went to Metula, the most northern city in Israel, next to the Lebanon border. We also visited the Bet Ha Shomer cemetery where the origins of the Israeli army began.

Starting around 1880, Jews from other parts of the world, as they were being persecuted and expelled, went to the United States and Israel. With money from wealthy Jewish families, like the Rothchilds, Montefiore, Hirsh and Turra, Jews PURCHASED land around Metula and established kibbutzim. This land was purchased from either the Turkish government or Arab families. Often times, the Arab did not want to sell to a Jew, so a middleman might be used. These early settlers were constantly being robbed by their Arab and Bedouin neighbors and hired other Arabs to guard their homes.

The Turkish government did not allow civilians to have guns, as it was the responsibility of the government to protect the citizens. So the Jews had no protection and the government would not be responsible for it’s duty. The Arab guards would tell their friends when they would have a day off work, so that would be the time to rob the settlers. So much for the fox guarding the chicken coop.

A group of 14 young Jewish men decided to illegally arm themselves and offer the settlers protection from the Arabs. One of the settlers was persuaded to use them instead of his Arab guards and they succeeded in chasing away the next band of thieves. The other kibbutz decided to use them as well. One of the other settlers was a Jew who had been a general in the Russian army, and had lost one arm in the military. He organized the youths and showed them how to train other youths on how to use guns and use military intelligent approaches to security.

The attitude of Jews throughout history has been to bend down and let the storm pass. It was not to stand up and defend oneself. This security force was a radical departure from the cultural tradition of Jews. Over the decades since this early security force was created the current Israeli army has developed.

When we saw the many “birthright” groups of young people touring the country, they were always accompanied by at least two armed soldiers. By the way, the birthright program allows youths, 18 – 26 the opportunity to visit Israel for free to connect to their heritage. The main contributors to this program are wealthy Jewish families like Bronfman, Reichman, and others.

It is now about 1 pm and we are headed to Tzfat. This is the spiritual center of Kabala, and is also spelled as Safed, Tsfet and Zefat. In translating from Hebrew to English, you can spell things almost any way you want to get the sound you need for the Hebrew name, and I saw the name of this city spelled four different ways in English.

When translating from Hebrew to English things changed dramatically, If a Christian saw Jesus, and called him by that name, he probably would not turn around. Why, because he was Jewish and his name would be pronounced Jehudah. If you spoke about Jerusalem, no one would know what city you were talking about because that would be pronounced Yerushalaym.

People come to Tzfat from around Israel, and around the world, to study Kabala, pray at the gravesite of various rabbis to be granted health, wealth, or relationships and more. It appears to be like prayed to the Virgin Mary or Jesus.

Our guide, Ron, showed us how he gains special powers whenever he comes to this area. As an example, he stopped the car on a downhill road and it rolled uphill while in neutral. I was very impressed, but not by that. I was impressed by how the road looked like it was downhill. I stepped out of the car and looked around and it still appeared to be downhill. It wasn’t until I walked the road that I could feel it was actually uphill, regardless of how it looked. It was a very weird feeling. My eyes were lying to me.

We walked in the Old Market of Tzfat and Dianne shopped in a candle store where they also did bible scenes in was. I took a photo of David after he killed Goliath and cut off his head. In one of the booths an orthodox looking man asked if I wanted to put on a “fillin.” I didn’t even know what this was, but I was sure I didn’t want to wear it. I don’t even wear a yarmulke in synagogue, and I only go there to celebrate something with another family. Then Dianne pleaded with me to put on the little box on my head and the leather strap around my arm. Then Ron suggested I do it for my wife. Well, now we have a photo of me looking Jewish with a little black box on the top of my head.

We later walked into two synagogues; Greek Jews established one in the mid 1500s, which is a part of Dianne’s heritage, and the other was a Sephardim synagogue. What I learned was that Sephardic Jews come from Muslim countries, like Spain and Italy, while Ashkenazi Jews come from primarily Christian countries. I cannot confirm this as I did not do the research myself, but this is what I was told. The difference in the synagogues is easy to see. In a Sephardic synagogue the bema is in the center and is up high so the members have to look up, like looking up to heaven. In an Ashkenazi synagogue the bema would be in the front and rows of seats would look like most churches.

Dianne talked about how great it was to visit these temples and Ron corrected our language. I wrote about this in my Day 1 blog: A temple and a synagogue are two different things. The Jews have not had a temple for 2000 years after the Romans destroyed the last one. A temple is where Jews brought offerings that were sacrificed to God and only priests were allowed inside. We no longer have a temple or priests. We have synagogues and rabbis. A synagogue is a meeting place and rabbis study the torah and the Talmud instead of sacrificing animals to God.

Synagogues existed prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., but they were only for gathering, events, community conversations and things like that. They were not for religious purposes, until the Second Temple was destroyed.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Israel Day 7 - Golan Heights

Israel blog July 4, 2007
Day 7 – Golan Heights

Today we left the Hagroshim Kibbutz and drove to the Golan Heights where this part of Israel was under constant bombardment from Syrian forces situated in a maze of underground bunkers. The Syrian troops, with the support of Russia, were entrenched in 50 miles of bunkers along the mountains of the Golan Heights and shelled many of the Kibbutz below the mountains that were in the Hula, Galilee and Jordan Valley for 19 years, from 1949 to the 1967. In the Six Days War Israeli troops fought an uphill battle to defeat the Syrians

Throughout Israel, and here as well, it was demonstrated through archeological excavations that Jews had settled this land over 3000 years ago. The village of Gamla dates back to the time of the first temple in Jerusalem. If Israel were to abandon this area, not only would Syria continue to threaten the communities in the area, but all the agriculture, commerce, and history that dates back 3000 years would be destroyed. While the Jews made the desert bloom, the other Arab countries did nothing with this land, other than bomb the progress that Israel made.

The story of how the maze of bunkers was discovered is a fascinating one. However, even though it was discovered how the Syrians were able to bomb sites in northern Israel undetected for so many years, it was almost impossible to get a map of this crazy maze. A spy was sent to Argentina to set up an alibi as a wealthy businessman with Syrian roots who wanted to return to his homeland after the death of his grandfather. He became a part of the Damascus society circles and became friends with the general who was in charge of the Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.

While no one was allowed to live in this area, as it was a military zone for Syria, no one was even allowed to visit, except the spy from Israel. Eventually his deception was discovered and he was hanged in a public square. He gave up his family and his life to help Israel survive and ultimately kick the Syrians off the Golan Heights. From the 1967 Six Days War it shifted from Syrian soldiers overlooking Israel to Israeli soldiers overlooking Syria. It was easy for Israel to settle the Golan Heights area after the Six Days War because Syria had this 50 by 15 mile area as a military base and no civilians were allowed there.

Seven years later, in 1973, Syria invaded the northern area in a surprise attack on Yom Kipur, while Egypt invaded the south of Israel. I purchased a 12 minute DVD based on a 24 minute film that I saw at the Elrona Kibbutz. The film shows actual footage of the tank invasion in the battle of the Golan Heights and interviews with the survivors and the families of those who died.

Since 1973 there has been a cease fire with Syria, but no peace treaty. We then went to Mt. Bental where we had a 350 degree view of Israel and Syria. This used to be a Syrian base, then and Israeli base, and now a tourist stop. The UN is stationed in the valley to monitor the cease fire and while there is no formal peace treaty, at least there is a degree of peace.

Israel day 6 - Bet She'an, Bet Alpha & 1500-year-old synagogue

Israel day 6
July 3, 2007, Tuesday
Bet She’an National Park; then Bet Alpha National Park and the site of a Synagogue dating back to 517 C.E.

Today we leave Jerusalem and head east to the Jordan River Valley and then north to stay a few days on a Kibbutz. Our first stop was Bet She’an National Park, a settlement that can be traced back 6,000 years and went through various populations and rulers including Philistine, Egyptian, Assyrian, Roman, Jewish, Christian and Ottoman.

This was a major stop for travelers going or coming from Babylon, Damascus, Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem, and Jericho so it was quite the place. The park of Bet She’an extends over more than 400 acres and excavations started here in the 1920s. During the Byzantine period (around 300 C.E.) the city was largely Christian and had a population of 30,000-40,000. The remains of a 7000 seat theatre built around 100 C.E. still exists as well as a public bathroom that could “seat” more than 24 people at one time. It was interesting to sit on a 1900-year-old toilet.

Our next stop was the Bet-Alpha Synagogue that had a mosaic floor from 1500 years ago. The synagogue was discovered in 1928 by the settlers of the Bet-Alpha kibbutz and excavated in 1929 by Professor Sukenik of the Hebrew University. As a reminder, many of the kibbutzim were created on property PURCHASED by Jews. This floor is one of the most beautiful and complete discovered in Israel. One of the transcriptions near the main entrance describes the artist who created the floor, the date, and the price of one hundred measures of grain that was paid.

We continued toward our destination in northern Israel and stopped at the Peace Garden. This was named for the seven high school girls that died on this site. A Jordanian soldier decided from his guard outpost across the border that he would gun down a group of school children standing in Israel because he could. Israeli soldiers returned fire and killed the guard. As a gesture of reconciliation, King Hussein visited each family of a slain child during Shiva, knelt and kissed the hand of a parent. The symbolism of the King of Jordan kneeling at the foot of a Jew went a long way toward created a measure of peace at the time.

As we continued north we could see the highest peak in Israel, Mt. Hermon at 6600 feet and we arrived at Hagroshrim kibbutz and resort hotel about 5:30 pm.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Israel Day 5 - Bar Mitzvahs & Holocaust Museum

Day 5
July 2, 2007, Monday:
Bar Mitzvahs at the Wailing Wall and then Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum

Ron wanted to be sure we could see the joy of families celebrating the rite of passage for young Jewish boys. While I was standing in the shade of the Western Wall Tunnel, a man walked up to me, placed a bible on my head and started reciting something in Hebrew. He then began to tie a red string around my left wrist. I declined the string and he asked me for a handout/donation. I declined that too, and he said he gave me a wonderful blessing and again asked my what I would contribute. I replied, “Thank you.” I later found out from Ron that since it was not appropriate to ask for handouts in this area, they gave blessings and sold red strings instead.

There were 6-12 Bar mitzvahs going on at the same time, and parades of families entering the square to perform the next ceremony. For 1500 years Jews were banned from Israel and prohibited from performing this ceremony in Jerusalem.

It appears to be mass confusion; lines of worshipers with several people blowing the shofar at the same time; women crowded around behind the fence, standing on chairs, and huge crowds. Dianne had the good luck of standing next to one lady whose son was performing his Bar mitzvah and could share her joy.

We then left the Old City for Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. While Yad means, “hand” and Vashem means “name” this is more than a memorial to the 6 million plus Jews murdered and enslaved during the Holocaust. It was established in 1950 for three reasons: First, to help families re-unite and find the names of those who died.
Second, to get the facts on the Nazis who could be brought to justice.
Third, to bring respect and remember those who perished.

At the time of this writing, only about 3 million people have been documented and the help of survivors is crucial to find the names of others who perished. They have a room that houses book after book with one page devoted to each name they have been able to document and a computer database for the public to use in the search for more names.

The structure of this building that houses the main museum is an amazing piece of architecture. I have seen some amazing buildings around the world from office buildings to apartments, from great cathedrals to interesting homes, but I have never before seen a building that so clearly tells the story of its contents and so vividly connects to its message from the building of anti Semitism in Germany to the horrors, liberation and view to the future as this structure does. It is the clearly the most dramatic example to me of architecture being both the vessel of the story and the message itself.

I was doing fine while traveling from room to room as the story unfolded. It was disturbingly and sickly brilliant how Hitler built his “Final Solution.” His first step was to blame post war Germany’s ills on the Jews. In this way he turned the population against them and created an easy scapegoat. It was easy because this had been done before in other countries around the world for centuries. Then he set it up so it was okay for anyone to persecute them and identify them. Then mark them with arm bands and stars so they could be more easily be ostracized. Next, the Jews themselves were moved out of the general population into the ghettos where the public no longer saw them. If anyone even had sympathy for the Jews, they no longer saw them. Now Hitler could easily move them onto trains from a central location to the labor camps and then the extermination camps and no one would even notice. The man was brilliant and disgusting beyond belief.

The building is cantilevered on both ends with two walkways above. As people walk in the museum they can look up and see people walking across the museum pathways above, completely unaware of the museum below, just like what Hitler created with the Jews. The end of the museum opens up looking west into the light with a view of Jerusalem and the walls splitting open, and looking the bows of two ships carrying Jews to a new world. It is an amazing piece of architecture.

During all of World War II ----- soldiers lost their lives. At the same time, Hitler and his extermination plan were murdering ---- people per day. And still the Jews are here, and we were able to see them celebrate, thrive and sing joyously at the Wailing Wall.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Israel day 4 - Western Wall Tunnels, Chirst walk & more

Israel Day 4
Sunday, July 1, 2007

Ron was able to arrange a tour on short notice of the tunnels that go under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City and hug the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. They are only available by reservation, and due to his connections we were able to go.

From the time the of the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, generations of inhabitants would build homes and shops over the homes and shops of previous generations and eventually the ground rose up dozens of meters against the Western Wall covering over 2000 years of history. Tons of dirt and refuse we painstakingly removed by hand to expose the amazing underground structures that go back to the Hasmonean era. And the excavations continue to this day.

Rooms and public halls were discovered as well as a Second Temple road that Jews and Romans walked on 2000 years earlier. The base of the wall was exposed showing the size of the huge foundation stones at the base of the wall. One stone alone was the size of a bus and how these stones could have been moved into place so precisely is amazing. It's like the building of the Great Pyramids in Egypt.

After we came out of the tunnels, we were in the Muslim Quarter and walked the path (Via Dolorosa) that Jesus took from his condemnation to his place of crucifixion and saw many of the churches that were built at various points along his path; where he fell, got help, had his brow wiped, fell again, etc. Each location is marked by another church. It reminded me of the “George Washington slept here” attitude; only this is far more holy.

Please don’t think I am making fun of Christianity, this just seems to be a universal human trait; build shrines to people and events that impact people’s lives, like shrines to places where Elvis was, where Lincoln was shot, where battles took place, etcetera.

We visited the stone where the body of Christ was cleaned and wrapped for burial. Because he was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, he also died as a Jew. This meant his body could not sit around for days before it was buried. He died on a Friday, and because no work can be done on the Sabbath Saturday, he was buried the same day. His gravesite is now in a huge church built by Queen Helena: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher at Golgotha. Helena was the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, who converted to Christianity in 326 A.D.

We then went to the Wohl Museum of Archeology where we were able to see some of the largest and most important sites of the Second Temple era in the Jewish Quarter. After that we visited the Burnt Houses from the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans that occurred in 70 A.D.

One of those houses belonged to the Kathros family. Kathros was mentioned in the Talmud, but not in a complementary way. He was one of the High Priests of the Second Temple and like the quote, “Power corrupts” he could ruin the life of someone through his “poison quill.” The importance of this find provided answers to what life was like for the Jewish aristocracy 2000 years ago in the Old City. And none of this could have been discovered until the 1967 Six Days War when Israel fought back against Jordan, Egypt and Syria to capture the West Bank. While this area was in the hands of Jordan, the Jewish Quarter remained rubble for hundreds of years.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Israel Day 3 - attitude change - Dead Sea Scrolls & Masada

Israel Day 3
June 30, 2007, Saturday

Since it is the Sabbath today, there is no one cooking fresh eggs or pancakes for breakfast at the hotel, but there is still plenty of food and still a great variety. Dianne and I end up eating so much for breakfast that we are not even hungry again until dinner. Ron picks us up around 10 am each morning because we are not willing to get up and go any earlier.

Today we head to Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. In the summer of 1947 a couple of Bedouin herders with nothing better to do, which is no surprise when look at how they live, were throwing rocks into holes and caves in the mountains while they tended their goats. On one toss of a rock they hear a funny sound; it hits a vase made of pottery. When they investigate they find sealed urns holding scrolls. Well it looks like junk to the kids, they can’t read, but they do recognize it was written on lambskin, and they could maybe sell the leather to a sandal maker in a nearby village.

The sandal-maker says the lambskin it too old to make a decent sandal and offers the herders 10 cents. The sandal-maker, while he cannot read Hebrew, realizes he does have something old and makes a few phone calls to the University in Jerusalem and reaches a professor Sukenik. The professor drives a couple of hours and arrives in the town and meets the sandal-maker, and being the world’s most lousy poker player, exclaims, “Oh my god! Do you realize what you have here? This scroll must be over a thousand years old.”

Well, that’s all it took for the sandal-maker to sell the scroll to the professor for $10,000 and convince the Bedouin shepherds to find some more, which they did. Seven more scrolls were found and between 1951 and 1956, Father R. de Vaux and a team of French archaeologists excavated the area and found more scrolls and early living structures. This demonstrated that Qumran was the center of the Essenes who lived and studied the torah for 200 years before the birth of Christ.

The Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem and systematically moved south to exterminate or enslave any other Jews they could find. Aware of the impending arrival of the Romans in Qumran the Essenes hid their scrolls in clay pottery in the caves and fled. They scattered and any that were found were either killed or enslaved, and the scrolls sat for the next 2000 years. In the very dry heat of the desert they withstood the ravages of time and were very well preserved. One scroll that was sold to a wealthy private collector in New York was placed in a safe deposit box and forgotten about for 40 years and almost disintegrated in that short time before it was retrieved.

With the capture of the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six Days War, Qumran was put in the care of the National Parks Authority, which built an access road and facilities for visitors.

Our next stop is Masada. After the Romans had killed or enslaved all the rest of the Jews in Israel (then called Palestine) they set their sites on getting a bunch more slaves from Masada. This is an area of the desert that gets rain about once every three years, but this was a very clever compound for the Jews. They used an aqueduct system to capture the rainfall that fell on an entire mountain and divert it to enormous cisterns they dug in the side of the mountain. They had their goats, huge grain storage rooms and could survive for years.

They held off the Romans for 3 years, until some architects from Rome were dispatched to figure out how to break into Masada. They came up with the idea to build a huge ramp that would lead right up the western wall of Masada, and then they could use a battering ram to break down the wall.

This didn’t go so well at first because the Jews would roll large rocks toward the Romans and knock them into the valley below like bowling pins. Next idea by the Romans; use Jewish slaves to build the ramp. Surely they wouldn’t go bowling with their own people, and they didn’t, and the Romans finished their ramp.

Seeing what would happen next, the males of Masada met to determine what to do. Either they allow their wives and children to become slaves of the Romans, get raped, tortured and whatever, and be helpless to do anything about it, or commit suicide. It was a Friday and they held a traditional Shabbat dinner and then destroyed all their food supplies, gold and silver. Then each male head of the family killed his own family and then committed suicide. Ten men were left to be sure the 900+ members of Masada were dead and then they would kill each other. When the Romans broke in the next day they found everyone dead and nothing to plunder.

The only way these events could be passed on was by a mother who hid with her two children to escape the murder-suicide pact. I hate to think of what happened to that poor woman and her children. These were the last significant number of Jews to live in Israel for 1500 years. There were always one or two here and there, but no more communities.

I started this trip with the attitude that I didn’t even want to go to Israel. Now I am in the home of my ancestors, their blood flowing through my veins, their strength and courage is my heritage, and their language and customs still survive after 3000 years of persecution. Maybe I should learn to read Hebrew?

Israel Day 2 - Tank Museum & Caves at Tel Maresha

Israel day 2
June 29, 2007, Friday

Ron Beer, our guide, picked Dianne and I up at 10 am and we went to Elliot the moneychanger. This is cool; a guy from New Jersey that moved to Israel and converts currency from his apartment. I did not plan far enough in advance to trade dollars for shekels. When I went to the bank at home to get shekels I was told they are available, but a 5-day advance notice is required to order shekels. Euros are always on hand at home, but Elliot was able to trade easily at a fair rate, and we got about $800 of shekels. (By the end of the trip I still had over $300 worth of shekels.)

We left Jerusalem for Yad La’Shiryon Latrun, a memorial site for the Armored Corps with a museum in Latrun. The site vividly displays the work, commitment, and inadequate equipment the Israelis had available to secure their freedom against far superior equipment supplied by the Russians to the Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians and Lebanese.

In 1948 when the U.N. offered the Jews a country, and Israel had to fight for its independence, British troops left in the middle of the night. They figured the Arab countries would just cut up the land that Jews had been purchasing for decades and drive out the Jews. And, no country was willing to sell arms to Israel because they wanted it to disappear. Israel was using these itty-bitty tanks that looked like toys compared to what the Russians were supplying other Arab countries.

Still, Israel survived. The Jews survived 400 years of slavery under the Pharaoh in Egypt; the attempted extermination by the Romans; centuries of pogroms in Spain, Russia, and other countries around the globe; the Holocaust in Germany; the abandonment of the British troops when statehood was granted; and the continual onslaught of its Arab neighbors for the last 60 years. There must be something to the Jewish people I did not understand; how the Jews survived for 3000 years under continual persecution and maintained the same religion, culture and language with no leadership, country or government of their own.

After Yad La’Shiryon we went to Bet Guvrin-Maresha National Park with the caves of Tel Maresha. Here we could see how Jews were able to live in the desert by building caves into the hills. The caves created a constant livable temperature, stored water and housed commerce like making olive oil. We saw ancient burial tombs that we not discovered until the 1920s.

There were also Carob trees at the site. The interesting thing about this is that the seeds are very uniform. So much so that they were used as weights to measure precious stones which are weighed as carats, based on the weight of the number of carob seeds.

We ended the day at an open-air food market back in Jerusalem on a Friday afternoon. Shoppers were buying for the Sabbath, merchants were yelling out what they had to sell. It was a glorious madhouse.

Dianne and I purchased some pre-cooked food that was being cooked in huge pots out by the street. All I could picture was the aftermath of eating this food. I pictured myself being chained to the porcelain throne after getting dysentery or something else from the lack of sanitary conditions. Dianne prevailed and we purchased plenty of food for 30$ (shekels), which was about $7.50 US. And darn it, it tasted great and I was fit as a fiddle.

Israel Day 1, 6-28-07 Jerusalem Old City & Temple Mount

Israel trip day 1
Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Dan Panorama hotel provided a mind-blowing breakfast. I understand that is typical of the hotels in Israel. There were omelets cooked to order, three types of fish, two yogurts with fresh fruit, piles of fresh fruit, cereals, rolls, three other types of hot food, fresh squeezed orange or grapefruit juice, eight different deserts, salads, fresh cooked omelets and pancakes, and I forget what else.

We met our tour guide, Ron Beer, and he explained that the hotel is your home away from home, and on that basis they make sure you are well fed. He spoke a little about himself; he asked about us; how we travel; what we expect to see and learn; and more. He reviewed our schedule for the next 9 days and we took off in our rental car for the first stop: Haas Promenade where we could see all of Jerusalem from the west to the west bank and from the Old City to the Mount of Olives.

Ron is a great fit for us, even though he did not carry a gun. He would tell us a little, and then ask some questions to make us think. In that way, we really retained much more information about the culture, heritage, and history of Israel. Just like everyone else in Israel, boys and girls alike, he served in the military from age 18 to 20. He fought in wars on the Lebanon and Jordan borders and personally knows how hard it is for Israel and the Jewish people to continue to survive. His parents fought here in 1948 for Israel’s independence so he has a direct connection to the creation of this country.

It was clear through Ron, and what we saw, that the following statement I read last year is true: “If the Muslim world would lay down their guns, there would be peace. If Israelis laid down their guns, there would be no Israel.” Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Russia and more would like to see Israel and the Jewish people wiped out. Israel has 7 million people and the only democracy in the Middle East surrounded by 100 million Arabs and Muslims and no other democracy. Through all of this, and 3000 years of persecution the Jews continue to exist. There is something to be proud of here.

Our next stop was the Old City and the Jerusalem Archaeological Park and Davidson Center and the Temple Mount Excavations.

Day One was like a highlights tour ending at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall. You might ask, “What’s the difference between the Western and Wailing walls?”

To start with, it is the same support wall that created the Temple Mount that was built by King Herod about 2000 years ago where the Second Temple was built for the Jews. The first temple was built around 500 years earlier and lasted for about 400 years until is was destroyed by the Babylonians. King Solomon built the original first temple. He is the son of King David who united the 12 tribes of Israel 3000 years ago. King David was told he could not build the Temple because he had the blood on his hands from war.

In 586 B.C. when this first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians Jews were driven out of Israel. About 70 years later, Queen Esther allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and they rebuilt that first temple, but nowhere near the beauty of what King Solomon had built. Still, it lasted for 400 years until King Herod built the second temple around 30-40 B.C. Around 70 A.D. this second temple was then destroyed by the Romans.

Also, a temple and a synagogue are two different things. The Jews have not had a temple for 2000 years after the Romans destroyed the last one. A temple is where Jews brought offerings that were sacrificed to God and only priests were allowed inside. We no longer have a temple or priests. We have synagogues and rabbis. A synagogue is a meeting place and rabbis study the torah and the Talmud instead of sacrificing animals to God.

Back in the time of the Second Temple the country was called Palestine, not Israel. Jews, Arabs, Drews, and anyone else who lived in Palestine at that time were called Palestinians, except for the Romans. They were always Romans.

In 705 A.D. a mosque was built on the Temple Mount on the site where the Second Temple used to stand by Arabs from Saudi, Mecca, Medina, etc. Mohamed is responsible for the creation of the Islamic religion practiced by hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world.

The Wailing Wall is the part of the Western Wall that is the closest point to the location of where the holiest of holy parts of the Second Temple used to stand 2000 years ago and is the closest that a Jew can get to that point. That is the reason for volume of prayers and bar mitzvahs that take place at this site.

Israel first night

Israel trip first night; June 27, 2007

I got a rental car at the airport from Budget and it was a great deal. Instead of paying $125 per day for the guide to rent a car that he would use, he suggested that we could rent the car and save some money, as it will only be the three of us. It was only $150 per week for the car from Budget, and I was able to drive us from the airport in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and got us to the hotel by only asking for directions one time. We arrived at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Jerusalem. I am so impressed with myself.

Not only did I get us to Jerusalem based on signs written in Hebrew, I drove in the public transportation lane (reserved for taxis and buses) found the hotel, made an illegal turn onto a 1 way street, going the wrong way, with a police car behind us, and didn’t get a ticket. Boy, they are generous here. In Mexico I would have probably been hauled off to jail. In Syria I would have probably been shot dead in the street. Okay, all the signs were also written in English and Arabic too.

Anyway, we got settled into our hotel room, took a nap to recover from the 14-hour flight on El Al (a great airline). When we woke up we walked south where we ate at Caffit, 35 Emek Rafa’im Street. They were primarily vegetarian plus fish. I thought I would get a mushroom burger, but the waitress said it had no meat. So I got a salmon burger and it was really good. Dianne got a salad, and between the two of us, it was too much food. We could have split one dish just like we do at home when we eat out.

We walked back to our hotel and went to sleep. Tomorrow will be our first day with our guide, Ron Beer. (Beer is German and pronounced Bear)

Summary of the 14 day Israel trip

Israel Summary - You can read more about each day on separate additional posts

Day 1, June 28, 2007, Thursday: Highlights tour:
Old City of Jerusalem, Western & Wailing Wall

Day 2, June 29, 2007, Friday: Yad La’Shiryon, Latrun, Memorial site and the Armored Corps museum in Latrun and the Bet Guvrin-Maresha National Park with the caves of Tel Maresha showing houses, commerce and burial

Day 3, June 30, 2007, Saturday: Qumran, site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and then Masada National Park

Day 4, July 1, 2007, Sunday: The Western Wall Tunnels, under the Arab Quarter; the Herodian Quarter, The Wohl Museum of Archeology; and the Burnt House of Kathros

Day 5, July 2, 2007, Monday: Bar Mitzvahs at the Wailing Wall and then Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum

Day 6, July 3, 2007, Tuesday: Bet She’an National Park, a settlement that started 7,000 years ago and went through various populations including Egyptian, Roman, Jewish and Christian; then Bet Alpha National Park and the site of a Synagogue dating back to 517 B.C.

Day 7, July 4, 2007, Wednesday: The Golan Heights; Syrian border; Drews village; Mount Mental; the Elroma Kibbutz where we saw actual footage of the tank battle that took place there in 1973 when Syria invaded Israel on Yom Kippur

Day 8, July 5, 2007, Thursday: Metula, the most northern city in Israel and next to the Lebanon border; the Bet Ha Shomer cemetery; Tzfat, the center for Kabala studies; and Synagogues established by Greek Jews

Day 9, July 6, 2007, Friday: Haifa; the Baha’I Temple; Caesarea National Park; Latania to visit Susie and Emanuel Friedlander; and arrived in Tel Aviv

Day 10, July 7, 2007, Saturday: Tel Aviv; Gordon Beach for the day

Day 11, July 8, 2007, Sunday: Tel Aviv; Want go to home now, no guide for 2 days; turned in the rental car; flea market; Old City of Yaffo

Day 12, July 9, 2007, Monday: Carmel open-air flea and food market; rest before leaving on Tuesday for Chicago.

Day 13, July 10, 2007, Tuesday: travel day bad dream (versus nightmare); 30+ hours from Tel Aviv to Chicago to arrive by midnight on the same day

Day 14, July 11, 2007, Wednesday: Arrive in Chicago around 10 minutes after midnight and head to the Marriott in Downtown

Plane trip to Israel

Israel plane trip
June 26, 2007

Oh joy. Happy, happy, joy, joy. I get to go to the airport and be degraded so that I can travel to a country I don’t want to visit. I guarantee that when they start the full cavity searches I will stay home. I don’t care where Dianne wants to go.

At least I feel safe flying on El Al. You are quizzed before you get to the counter. You are quizzed at the counter. You cannot send you bag ahead and duck out of the airport; you have to stay with your suitcase while they screen it. You can see the guards posted all over the place with machine guns. Each step of the way you or your bag gets another color dot confirming the check in process. You are checked before you get on the bus to go to the airplane. You can see 2 - 3 security personnel on the bus with you. You go through checkpoint after checkpoint before you get on the plane. I can’t see a terrorist getting this far without sweating blood. Maybe that’s why El Al has the fewest problems of any airliner. And I hear it is even harder to board in Israel. When I find out, I will write about that too.

It was strange to get on the plane and watch many of the passengers pick up an Israeli newspaper written in Hebrew as they boarded. There were lots of folks with beanies, beards and tassels; children with little curly things by their ears; women dressed so frumpy you could cry; and I get to travel with them all. Here I was complaining about being with a bunch of religious people, and I know God has a sense of humor; I get seated next to a Rabbi. His name is Jacob Benzaquen from Congregation Temple Emanu-El in Reno, Nevada. Thank goodness he was not talkative. That’s all I needed was a 14 hour plane trip with someone trying to tell me how I need to be more Jewish, or go to temple, or donate a kidney to a synagogue or something. Although he said his congregation was conservative, he looked normal. Oh, I was thinking of the orthodox. They are the ones who say I am not even Jewish because I don’t do religion their way.

As I write this, we have been in the air for five hours, and we only have nine more hours before I get out of this flying metal tube with the seatback in front of me resting on my nose. Dianne said I look like a chipmunk trying to type this, and she’s right. Oh joy.

Israel trip before leaving

Hi Folks,
Here is it, July 12, and although I have been writing, I have not been able to post to my blog since I left for Israel on June 26. My connection would not work from Israel, and it was even a problem when I got back into the US, and I am in Chicago now. I finally got around the problem, and can start posting. This first post will be what was going on before we left on our trip.
Israel trip before we leave
June 25, 2007
Well, the Resistant Traveler is on the way to Israel. I am looking forward to meeting some Hamas fighters, Fatah soldiers and some suicide bombers.

Before our trip even began, I was having a problem. Dianne is not the type to choose a hotel and then stop her shopping for rooms. She will book a room in two or three hotels and then cancel them until she finds the one she is most comfortable with; the one people in the know have recommended; the one that has a good write up in Fromers and a few websites; the one that ends up costing more than we planned. This will be by far our most expensive trip. The airfare alone was over $4000 and she has hired a guide at $250 per day plus car rental and hotel for the guide.

I think that is a fair price to stay alive in a country that I don’t even want to visit. I mean I hear Israel is beautiful and the people are wonderful, but the Middle East is not my idea of a destination location. Hawaii yes. The Middle East in summer, no. If the IRS ever questions how this could possibly be a vacation instead of a business trip for my travel book, they have another thing coming. I would much prefer to vacation in the US, but that holds no interest to Dianne. I wouldn’t even take any deductions on traveling in the US if Dianne was willing to stay in this country. But nooo, that’s not how it works.

Anyway, getting back to the problem. You may have guessed it had something to do with a hotel room before I got off the topic, and you would be right. One of the places she booked a room was the Jerusalem Inn. A quaint 23-room hotel that looked nice on the Internet. Two weeks before we were to arrive she made a reservation, no specific room yet as she wasn’t sure what she wanted. Well 5 days later she found what she wanted at another hotel and booked that. The task to cancel with the Jerusalem Inn fell to me because she used my credit card. The first shock was the reply email when I said I wanted to cancel. I was told they had a two-week cancellation policy and I should stay with them and cancel the other hotel Dianne booked.

I find out later each hotel in Israel can set whatever policy they want regarding cancellations. Even though the major hotels, like Marriott, Sheraton, Hilton, etc only require no more than 24 hours the Jerusalem Inn was digging inn their heels on their two week policy even though the room was only booked two weeks in advance. We must have had a half dozen emails back and forth over this. They finally stopped responding to me when I pressed for verification they would not charge my credit card. At least I have the following fall back points if this does show up on my credit card statement:
They do not have any mention of a two week cancellation policy on their website.
They never mentioned in the confirmation email.
No specific room was ever reserved.
No specific cancellation fee was ever communicated
I can dispute the charge if it shows up and I have all the documentation from emails to provide to the credit card company which can refuse payment to them.

What a great start on travel to a country that I didn’t want to visit in the first place.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Philadelphia bound

Tuesday, May 1, 2007 On to Philadelphia

I am starting to come down with a sore throat so I head over to Target at 8 am to buy aspirin and start taking that every four hours.

Toni has another culinary treat for our breakfast; some sort of French toast thing with chopped almonds. It was great. Yesterday’s breakfast held us over for six hours before we were hungry again.

After getting driving directions to Philly from Mapquest, I review them with Toni. He suggests a better, faster route based on the time of day we would be getting into the city. It was a southern route instead of a northern route on the Interstate. Based on the traffic, that would have taken longer than the highway.

It was an easy drive to get to Philly and Toni’s directions were right on the mark. Only one adjustment, he was thinking I would take the 322 south as one of the turns, but that highway goes east. It was easy to figure out, as I knew I had to go east to get to Philadelphia from Lancaster.

Here is the way to get from Lancaster to Philadelphia, PA:

Highway 30 east about 12 miles

Hwy 41 south about 15 miles

Hwy 1 north about 10 miles

Hwy 322 east about 15 miles and then

Interstate 95 north to Philadelphia, passing the airport on the way into town

Rennie

Lancaster, PA & the Amish

Monday, April 30, 2007

Today we woke up in Lancaster, PA. It’s a beautiful place; the weather is great at 65-70 degrees, some clouds, scenic farmland, horse drawn carriages and plows. This is a place where I can relax and unwind. Live here moves at a slower pace, but it is not standing still, except for the Old Order Amish. Their technology clock stopped around 1901.

We stayed at the Silverstone Inn, an awesome bed and breakfast farmhouse owned by Toni and Lorin Wortel (http://www.silverstoneinn.com 877-290-6987). It was a completely run down 10.5 acre farm built around 1750. The Wortel’s absolutely and completely remodeled it with beautiful materials and attention to detail. It has private baths, hairdryers, Jacuzzi’s, fireplaces, individual A/C, TV, DVD, phone with data port and free Wireless internet access. It is luxury in the middle of farmland and even the toilet roll holders were upscale design fixtures.

The cost of remodeling was obviously more than they paid for the farm, and they are still close to the city, right off Highway 30. Dianne and I walked to dinner and the nearby Target store the previous night. This morning our master chef, Toni, made some sort of crepes for our breakfast.

This is the second B&B for Toni and Lorin after retiring from regular business occupations. Lorin is from the Lancaster area and met Toni when he was working as an engineer on a cruise ship. I don’t usually enjoy engineers; you know the type – you ask what time it is and they tell you how the watch was made, but you never find out what time it is. Toni was not only our chef, but a very knowledgeable and personable host as well. I wouldn’t think of staying anywhere else if I were within 100 miles of the Silverstone Inn.

While touring the area I learned there are over 22 different Amish sects from the Plain to the Mennonites. The Old Order Amish do not permit electricity or phones in their homes and also speak a Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. I was told the Mennonites use electricity. Toni gave us great suggestions on where to go to see the real Amish life, not some tourist re-creation.

We went to a general store run by an Amish family and where the Amish shop. I found it fascinating and purchased all sorts of little sewing items I needed. I probably could have purchased them at any fabric store, but I didn’t realize I needed them until I saw them there. All the supplies for the Amish were here from lantern wicks to plain dishware and spiritual books. God comes first and everything else comes after that. That is one of the reasons for the simple, plain life. They believe the worldly things can prevent them from being close to God.

I also purchased some toys I had not seen since I was a child; black and white Scottie dogs with magnets on the bottom. They dogs will attract and repel each other, or follow each other around when separated by a piece of glass or paper. These will be gifts for my children until my grandchildren can play with them without eating them.

Our next stop was an antique shop that was unlike anything I’ve seen before. It had all sorts of farm implements and items that might be 100 years old, but still in use today by the Amish. (Strasburg Antique Market, 717-687-5624)

We continue our tour through the Amish farmland, visit an Amish farm and check on one of the tourist traps. The easy way to tell if the Amish are willing to have tourists is to see if they have a sign out on the road like: “Homemade root beer. Turn here.” Well, we did that and got some other treats as well.

By now it’s 3 pm and we’re ready for lunch. The crepes for breakfast held us for 6 hours before we got hungry again. Toni suggested we try Dienner’s for real Amish food. It was plain, hearty food; chicken, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, very well steamed vegetables and plain tasting. I loved it and Dianne hated it. We both agreed the variety of deserts were plentiful and great tasting.

Rennie

Friday, May 11, 2007

A New Jersey event

Thursday, April 26, 2007
Well, the Resistant Traveler is on the road again. Dianne and I are on our way to Kenylon, NJ for the bat mitzvah of her niece. This is the last event of this type for this generation. Emily is the youngest of the nieces, nephews and cousins. The next string of event will be their weddings and then the start of a new generation. Shoot, this reminds me that I’m getting old. Shucks, in another 8 years my own grandson could have a bar mitzvah. I better stop this now before I give myself a heart attack.

Friday, April 27, 2007
We arrived in NJ late last night, near midnight. It was awful weather; thunder, lightning, and plenty of rain. It was tough to find the hotel and we got to bed about 3 am NJ time.
I accomplished a major success. Dianne and I were supposed to go into Manhattan with other visiting family and leave at 10 a.m. Wow, just what I need after going to bed at 3 a.m.; a relaxing day in Manhattan traffic, stores and tourist traps.
Normally, I get up between 6 and 7 a.m. without an alarm clock, and I did this morning as well. Dianne on the other hand has the ability to sleep in late. I find that very difficult. And this morning I didn’t want to get up or wake Dianne to get ready to go to Manhattan. Well, we slept in to 12:30 p.m. That was one success for me, sleeping late. The second success is the greater one; we didn’t go to Manhattan. Maybe that’s not a legitimate success, like I convinced Dianne to stay back and relax, but I am going to count it anyway as a success.

Friday evening
About 35 members of the family that came in from out of town had dinner with Dianne’s brother, Gary, and his family at a restaurant near his home in Smokerise. Unfortunately, Dianne’s sister, Lisa, had been sick before we went to NJ, and was feeling awful and needed to leave early. Fortunately for me, I was the navigator to get her to the restaurant and had to leave early with her so she could get back to the hotel, and we took Dianne’s daughter and two cousins with us. Dianne could stay and visit and come back later with other cousins. That worked for everyone.

Saturday, April 28, 2007
Bad start; Dianne’s mom trips stepping out of the tub, falls and hurts her shoulder. Dianne and Lisa gave her mom an ice pack, helped her get dressed, etcetera, and we left about 30 minutes late. The bat mitzvah was to start at 9:30 a.m. but we got there more like 10 a.m. Emily waited for her grandma with the sore shoulder.
Following the service, a school bus took Emily’s young friends to the luncheon at a country club. I don’t know if what followed is how Gary puts on an event, or if it is just how they do it on the east coast or NJ. The O’derves were great and plentiful; three types of pasta, steak, tuna, Peking duck rolls, fresh fruit, Chinese chicken, couscous, calamari, champagne, make your own sandwiches, and that’s just what I had.
Oh yea, and then there were the servers bringing meatballs, shrimp and asparagus dipped in shrimp.
I probably missed one of the food stations, but by the time I was done with the food I had taken, I couldn’t eat more anyway. Since I don’t drink, I didn’t care about the two bars that had enough liquor to serve the Navy on leave.
Since this was the third event Gary had hosted I fully knew what to expect and didn’t hold back on the O’derves. I ate beyond being full, knowing full well there would be a sit-down lunch with a choice of filet mignon, fish, or chicken. When the waitress came by I told her that I would not be having lunch. I don’t know what happens to all the leftover O’derves, but I was not willing to add to the possible waste of food by ordering lunch and taking two bites and have the rest thrown out. I was so full from the O’derves I didn’t even have dinner that night.

Sunday, April 29, 2007
As the weekend continued it was time for the Sunday brunch at Gary’s. With east coast families it seems that if you can still walk, they haven’t fed you enough. I won’t go into the menu here, but with quiche, bagels, lox and pastries, I’m sure you realize I don’t need to list the foods.
By 2 p.m. it was time to mosey on. Dianne arranged for us to do some touring worthy of writing about. Finally the Resistant Traveler gets to actually go somewhere in the U.S. and see our culture and be where I can speak and hear English, or so I thought.
We are heading to Lancaster, PA; the heartland of the Amish. I found out these are also known at the Pennsylvania Dutch, and they still speak Dutch. More on this in the next blog installment.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

The Resistant Traveler Defined

This blog is a different approach to travel commentaries. I do not want to travel. I like to stay home in my own environment. Many people, maybe even most, find foreign travel to be exciting, enlightening and they have a desire to see the world. I call myself the “Resistant Traveler” and I write for those individuals who don’t care about traveling, but who maybe in a relationship, or married, to a person with either wanderlust, or a need to travel.

First, we need to define a couple of terms; vacation and travel. When my wife, Dianne, first told me that she likes to travel I heard the word vacation. She wanted to be sure that I also wanted, or would at least be willing, to tour the world and travel, but she used the word vacation. While I love my work, and really don’t care whether or not I leave home, I am willing to take a vacation. Dianne told me how she had been to France, India, Yugoslavia and more. While I had no desire to travel to these places, I agreed early in our relationship that I was willing to do so. As a reminder, she used the word vacation, but what she meant was travel.

The first hint of the difference between travel and vacation was evident on our honeymoon to Hawaii. For most people a trip to Hawaii involves relaxation, bathing suits and sunscreen. For me it was maps and road trips. Please realize that Hawaii is just a few islands with a limited amount of streets and highways. I must have driven every mile of every street and highway visiting viewpoints, shopping centers, and housing developments and comparing each hotel to the one where we were staying. My wife has a requirement to see if she can find shoes that she would like while on “vacation.” Did you know that Hawaii has 197 different shoe stores? Even though I don’t drink coffee, I did find the tour of a coffee plantation to be fascinating. I learned how coffee was grown, selected, graded and dried and it’s all done by hand. People all over the world love that drink made from hot water poured over dried out and ground-up plant parts.

We both now agree that my wife likes to tour and travel and that does not mean vacation. She has a desire to see everything that she has not yet seen before and will continue to be on the move from sun-up to sundown, or until she drops. On the other hand, I like to vacation. That means I arrive somewhere to read, relax, nap and pay no attention to a clock. Sometimes Dianne will accidentally use the word vacation when she means travel. I never accidentally use the word vacation to mean travel.

In this blog I will cover travel from the perspective of someone who does not want to travel. I will cover situations, funny events, what we did, where you may want to stay, what to see, where you may want to eat, and hopefully stay away from tourist traps.