Monday, July 13, 2015

FRIDAY JULY 1OTH, OUR LAST DAY IN ISRAEL

Hi,

Sadly, today is our last day in Israel.  Our Cousins from Tel Aviv picked us up and took us to a museum that they like.  It's the Museum of Islamic Art.  We were a little puzzled at first, but there's nothing political about this museum and it contains some priceless items you may not have heard about.  Besides the art works going back to almost to the time of Mohammed, the museum is the permanent home of what appears to be the most valuable collection of timepieces (yes, clocks and watches) in the world, including the most famous timepiece in the world.  My guess would have been Big Ben, but the watch made for Marie Antoinette by her secret boyfriend will blow your mind.  It took 50 years to make, has transparent quartz crystals on the front and back,  and was completed many years after Marie had her head seperated from her body by Henry VIII (I think).  Here are pictures of Marie's watch and some of the clocks on display followed by some of the very beautiful pieces of Islamic art.






  


After the museum our Cousins showed us where the dividing line between Jordan and Israel was before the 6 Day War in 1967.  The Old City was in Jordan and the buildings around the Old City still have bullet marks in them from the battles right in the City of Jerusalem.  From there we went to an area of shopping and restaurants at the site of Israel's oldest railroad station, now a national monument (It's the bottom picture above).  We had an early dinner and said our goodbyes and went off to pack for a 2AM taxi to a  530AM flight to Warsaw, Poland with a change of planes in Frankfort, Germany.

It will be hard to say goodbye to Israel....there's so much more to see....

Vic

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