So Far, Awesome!

Here's my Journal so far: I hope ya'll can get a taste of our experience so far! We miss you and love you!

5/16/05

Airport

Well, it’s noon, and Uncle Dan and Aunt Rose just dropped us off at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport about half-an-hour ago. We’re flying on Lufthansa, and our flight does not leave until 3:25 this afternoon. Since this cool mac has wireless capabilities, I’m able to hop on the web, and post real quick. Hopefully we’ll have access in Israel so we can keep ya’ll updated. We had a wonderful weekend with Uncle Dan and Aunt Rose, had lots of Indian food, and they helped us finish up our packing. It was great to have some veteran world travelers to help us get ready. I guess that’s all for now.

On the plane, fairly comfie, nice blanket and pillow, headphones. This plane even has wireless internet capabilities, but it cost $30 to use it for the whole flight, and $10, for 30 minutes. That’s pretty steep, I think I’ll wait for a free hookup.

5/17/05

Well, it’s morning, at least here in Europe. Our clocks still read midnight, however, it’s 7:00 am here, and they just served us breakfast. Sleeping proved to be pretty difficult, even with Ambien. We may have gotten 2-3 hours tops, and that was fitful. Lot’s of kiddos on the plane, who are fun to watch, however, when they are unhappy, they can make a ton of noise. Dinner last night was good, they gave us a choice of chicken or pasta. Diedra got chicken, I got pasta. They come around regularly and offer you drinks, which is good, because it seems pretty dry on the plane, and easy to become dehydrated. I’ve only had to go to the bathroom once during this entire 9 1/2 hour flight. Breakfast hit the spot; eggs, roasted tomato, tater-tots, fresh fruit (which Diedra especially liked), coffee, juice, a roll with jelly. We have a little less than an hour before we land in Frankfurt, Germany where we will have a couple hour layover, then another flight to Tel Aviv.

1030- We’re flying out of Frankfurt on a 747 for Tel Aviv. These planes are amazing! Huge! A wonder that they can get off the ground! Frankfurt airport was a labyrinth. Security was tight, we went through two different checkpoints with xrays, metal detectors, and we were patted down. I was pulled out of line, while they checked my camera for some reason they did not devulge. Everyone was very polite, however, and I’m thankful for the security. We’re awfully sleepy. Diedra’s trying to stay awake with jokes and puzzles from Reader’s Digest. I’m journaling. This flight spans 1830 miles and is scheduled to take about three hours.

5/18/05

It’s 6:15 and I slept awesome! Praise God! The beds are very comfortable. This hotel surpasses my expectations. We are nestled in the Old City of Jerusalem. The streets are so narrow, that vehicle access is quite limited. Our bus had to drop us off about a block away, and we hiked in to our hotel. The hotel looks like a hole in the wall from the outside (see photo), but once you enter the building, it opens up into a quite lovely edifice, very clean. Our room is large, with two twin beds pushed together under one King-size headboard. We have a private bathroom with a shower. There is a desk, two dressers, a wardrobe, two night stands and a chair. This room even has a television. There is no air conditioning, but it stays pretty cool in our room and the temps are only in the 80s. Although it does feel much warmer standing in the sun. The floors are tile and the sounds are beautiful; church bells and birds singing. We have a window, through which we can see a small courtyard, and the Old City in the background.

Once we checked in, we had about ½ hour to get ready for dinner. Dinner was a fabulous buffet of interesting food. There were a variety of salads to choose, fresh olives (black and green), fresh fruit, meatballs, chicken, potatoes, cabbage, pickled eggplant, and delicious pita bread. For desert- éclairs! Delicious!

After dinner we took advantage of an optional walk around the Old City. Our guide just briefly helped us get our bearings by showing us around for about 1 ½ hours. We got to see the Dome of the Rock from a distance, the Mt of Olives, and the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. After an incredible distance view of these sites, we hiked down to the Western Wall. We passed a security checkpoint, and then entered the Wall vicinity, men on the right, women on the left. There were many Jews there, in full garb, praying before the wall. Some asked us where we were from, but had little to say once they discovered we were Christians. Facinating to finally see these places that I’ve read so much about, seen in pictures, and on television. I’m amazed at the history in front of our faces.

The Old City (the ancient part of Jerusalem, wherein all the holy sites are located) is Amazing. In just a couple square miles, Arabs, Jews, Christians, and Armineans share this place (each has one quarter). The buildings are all stone, and the streets are very narrow. There are lots of vendors selling all kinds of artifacts. The ground is not level, lots of climbing and descending streets or stairs.

Today is a full day, starting with breakfast, a two-hour lecture, and the rest of the day spent hiking the Old City, until dinner.