W14 of Y5

Anniversary Trip

Jeremy loves planning a trip for just the 2 of us every year for our anniversary.  

For our 19 year anniversary he took us to Israel!

Flying into Tel Aviv

Our flight was early and I slept for most of it.  Had I been more awake I would have taken pics of everyone on the plane.  It was the most interesting plane ride I'd ever been on.  As soon as the pilot said people could get up, it turned into a party on the plane.  The aisle was completely full of Jews standing and praying loudly, walking around with bags of food to share with other people, small little groups gathering and having what seemed to be important meetings, old guys walking around with full bottles of some kind of hard liquor and taking shots and then passing it around (at 6am!!!), and then there was Jeremy's BFF... some Italian guy who was a little paranoid and extremely observant... almost nosy.  He seemed to really like Jeremy.  They were speaking Italian to each other the entire flight. 

We ended up renting a car, which we were really glad that we did.  The roads and drivers were great (especially compared to Italy) and with a GPS it was easy to get everywhere that we wanted to go!

Our hotel in old town part of Tel Aviv

Little things like this reminded us where we were...  A little prayer in the door of our room

Outside our room...  

Just a couple blocks from our hotel was a cool outdoor area full of restaurants.  I was so excited for some Israeli food!

Stuffed with cheese and topped with soft boiled eggs.  

Cooked feta with a tomato sauce and another egg on top

Eat With

Something that started in Israel and is really popular here is an app called 'Eat With'.  You sign up to eat with a bunch of strangers at someone's house.  Jeremy signed us up to eat at an couple house from India!  My favorite food!!

The kitchen where they cooked food for 15 people!!!

First the soup....  YUM!  Sweet potato and carrot with Indian spices.  

Next.... samosa with fried zucchini with amazing chimichurri sauces

Main dishes....  I don't even remember what they all were.  Soooooo  good though!

Seriously, a culinary delight!  All the different flavors and spices.  Really loved this dinner!

Good job babe!  This was a great idea!!

Dessert....  fried bananas and the best Chai Tea! 
The couple we sat next to were awesome!  They drove over an hour to come to this dinner and it was the first time they'd been on a date in a year!  They have 3 kids and live very close to the West Bank.  They said their kids are always very anxious about all the fighting by where they live and it's very hard on them when they are left with a sitter (even though it's her Mom).  It's also hard on them because they have thoughts of orphaning their children every time they both leave.  It was a little heartbreaking to hear and realize all the emotions involved for them just to go on a date.  

They said every house in India has a "Temple".  This was their Temple. 

Our very talented chef!

The breakfast buffets at our hotels were soooooo interesting!  I was so excited for breakfast every day just to see what new stuff we were going to try! 

I had to take a picture of these huge roasted garlics!!  I couldn't imagine someone actually eating that for breakfast!

I was so surprised to see a giant bowl of peanut butter!!

We never ate lunch while were were there thanks to these huge breakfasts!  

Mosque in Tel Aviv as we walk down to the beach

The down town part of Tel Aviv in the background

We thought Tel Aviv had a sort of L.A. mixed with 3rd world country feel.  Very interesting!

Old Jaffa Market

Jerusalem

We drove about an hour to Jerusalem.  I should have taken more pics of the drive....  it wasn't anything special but really made me think of several bible stories and imagining what everything looked like 2000 years ago. 

Arriving in Jerusalem

walking towards the market, which you have to go through to get to the wailing wall

The market was full of so many cool things!!  I wished we were not flying and have lots of money!! lol!  T
he merchants were pretty pushy.  I would say not as bad as the market in Morocco but worse than the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

We survived the market and made it to the wall

We were here on a Saturday which is their Sabbath Day.  We read that pictures are not allowed on the Sabbath... but, I saw other people doing it and being much more obvious than I was so I got a couple of discreet photos.

The large area on the left was for men only.  You can kind of see a dividing wall with a much smaller area that is for men and women.

If you look really close you can see Jeremy in there! lol! 

The tourist section full of people watching the Jews at the wall.  

Walking back through the market to find lunch

Jeremy had to wear a yamaka when he went to the wall
I couldn't really get a picture but in the square where we ate we were surrounded by a Lutheran church, a Catholic church, and a Muslim mosque.

Jeremy was SO thrilled to get a KC Chiefs shirt from this guys shop.  He could not believe they had it.  Even more amazing was this guy's knowledge of the NFL.  He talked our ears off naming his favorite players, he knew dates, major plays, etc...  The Chiefs had a big game the next day and, even though the Chiefs were only his #2 team (after the Eagles) he said he was going to cheer for them because he didn't want to see the Patriots win again!

In the back ground is Via Dolorosa, the street where Jesus is believed to have walked, carrying the cross, to his crucifixion  

Yes... Jeremy definitely stood out but he didn't care.  He was getting high fives from people all day saying "Go Chiefs" 

A Mosque along Via Dolorosa and in the same square as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  This is where it got a little crazy!
Inside is there they believe Jesus was crucified and also the tomb where he was resurrected. This is a major pilgrimage destination for Christians all over the world  since the 4th Century.  

It was very crowded and people seemed almost frantic as they pushed their way through the crowds. 

We were excited to meet these guys.  Students at BYU Jerusalem.  They've been over here for a few months and had a lot of good tips for us!

The site where Jesus died on the cross.  This is what people were freaking out to get to.

The stone of the anointing.  This is the stone where it is believed Jesus body laid after his death to be prepared for the burial. People were running straight to this stone and dumping out bags of rosary beads and other things and rubbing them all over the stone and praying.  Again, they just seemed frantic and desperate and like they were really pressed for time.    

The tomb where Jesus was resurrected.  This was really crazy!

The entrance to the tomb.  There were a lot of guys like this one wearing the hat who was clearing responsible for crowd control.  What  you can't hear is people screaming and yelling..  not sure why  and the panicked, desperate looks on the people's faces who were impatiently waiting in the "line"... which wasn't much of a line... more like a giant bottle-neck with everyone pushing.

We had absolutely no interest in waiting in this crazy line!  It was interesting to watch though....

We left Jerusalem later than we expected so we decided to skip the drive to the Dead Sea and went to our next hotel in Haifa instead. 

Haifa

After about 2 hours we arrived to our next destination.... Haifa!

Entering Haifa!  It was beautiful with all these lights!!

We were surprised about all of the Christmas stuff in this town!  All the streets and restaurants had Christmas decorations everywhere.  They said they stay up year round. 

The view from our hotel

We drove up to the highest point of Haifa and enjoyed a beautiful view of the city

The Stella Maris Monastery 

Bahai Gardens, one of the most visited sites in Israel.   It is the most holy site of the Bahai faith...  a religion that I had never heard of!

Pizza Hut!!

We wanted to go to the beach but could not find any other entrance than this.... 

This could not be right... but it got us to the beach! lol!

I guess in the summer this place is crawling with people.  

Another amazing dinner!!  One of my favorite things I ate during the whole trip... Cooked cauliflower in this amazing orange sauce sitting on top of tahini.  

Jeremy got something interesting... it seemed kinda like a pot pie

Minced lamb meat and onions inside this bread.... kinda like bierrocks.  It was delicious!!

Every table, at every restaurant, had these hookahs set up for them.  

Some kind of Israeli tea that they insisted we needed to complete our meal. 

So far is has been a great trip!  Almost like a dream that we were there!  All thanks to Jeremy's hard work an effort to set it up and to convince me to go!  As usual... he was right!