AN OUTDOOR ADVENTURE DAY

(Its Saturday afternoon July 11th and we left our Jerusalem in a taxi at 2AM to catch a 530AM flight to Warsaw with a change of planes in Frankfort, Germany)   This post is coming out of order and I still owe you last Sunday through this past Wednesday.

Thursday, July 9th 

Today I went on a guided tour to the ancient fortress at Masada in the Judean desert above the Dead Sea.  The fortress was built the then Roman Emperor in the first century before Christ.  At some point the Israelites in an effort to reoccupy the Holy Land, took control of the fortress.  The Romans attacked with far superior forces and the Israelites, realizing that they would all be killed decided to commit suicide rather than be killed or captured by the Romans.  Of almost 1,000 Jewish soldiers and some soldier's families, all except two women and three children were dead when the Romans attacked the next morning.  The issue of whether  the mass suicide was an act of bravery or cowardice is still debated today as the Old Testament forbids suicide.  Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

After the cable car trip up Masada (you can walk up but the tour starts at about 4AM so you can hike before the desert gets really hot) I went to the Israel National Nature Preserve at Ein Gedi, a few miles from Masada.  I took an hour and a half walk up trails and rock steps, some without handrails and with wet rocks.  It was well worth it as there are several waterfalls along the way.  By the time I got to the top waterfall I had my shoes off and was cooling my feet in the water.  A very beautiful place in the middle of the desert and I feel very fortunate to have experienced it.  Enjoy the photos.  I tried to title them but so far I haven't mastered it.  

Vic

THE REASON FOR MY DELAY IN WRITING

Friday Night, July 10th

Greetings:

My apologies for the long delay in posting.  Nothing bad happened except I had a problem moving photos from my phone to the tablet so I could attach them to the blog.  The WiFi at the hotel in Jerusalem is incredibly slow.  I finally discovered Samsung Switch, an application that allowed me to move over 300 photos from my phone to my tablet.  I've been writing the blog pieces every day so i only have to attach the relevant photos.

It's after 9PM Israel time and many businesses and services like the bus company are closed.  We're just about packed for a taxi to pick us up at 2AM to catch a 530AM flight to Frankfort, Germany where we change planes and fly to Warsaw.  I hope I can get some sleep.  It's been nice having five days straight in Jerusalem where we could unpack and do laundry.

I've had some incredible experiences here and although Israel is a small country, theres so much history and so much to see and I've only seen a small part of it.  I'll do my best to send the Monday and Tuesday Israel posts tomorrow from Poland. 

Vic   

Ellis Island and a close encounter with the Statue of Liberty

Greetings:  This is the long awaited post from June 30 in New York.

Today (Wednesday 6/30) we got up early and took the subway (it was no cleaner than it was yesterday) to Battery Park where we boarded the second ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  We didn't stop at the statue, where most of the passengers left the boat, and we went on to Ellis Island.  If you ever go, go early in the morning so you can see everything before the incredible crowds of tourists show up and spoil the experience.  Ellis Island has been restored by the US Park Service and the story of what went on there for 12 million immigrants is amazing.  We walked on the same floors that our Father walked on when he was only 14 years old in 1927 and all of our Grandparents walked on in the 1910's.  It was a great experience for both of us.  I sat in the Great Hall, where 12 million anxious immigrants lined up to be individually inspected with 2% of them being rejected and sent back to Europe or being quarrentined.  Some unfortunate people had an  "X" chalk mark on their coat which meant that they were determined to be "mentally defective" and were probably sent back where they came from.  The Statue of Liberty" looked as good and as welcoming as ever.  There's also a picture of the Freedom Tower which replaced the World Trade Center.  I apologize for the sideways pictures.  I'll work on fixing that.

We leave for the airport at 6pm for our 9pm flight to London which will arrive at about 930am London time on Wednesday.  I hope we can get some sleep on the plane and be ready to enjoy London right away.

See New York pictures attached including the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Freedom Tower.
(I think this brings me current on posts....from now on I hope to do them daily and I expect the pictures from Jeruslaem should be educational and entertaining.)

ENGLISH HISTORY DAY FOR AMERICAN TOURISTS

Good day from London,

This is the July 2nd post from London (being done on July 4th in Tel Aviv)

We set out today to see the Tower of London, which I had always thought was just the Tower Bridge.  It's actually a large complex of very old buildings, incredibly resotored and well preserved.  We saw the Crown Jewels, which are a lot more priceless items than I thought there would be.  There was no photography allowed inside the huge vault that is comprised of several rooms.  Besides the crowns and scepters which had giant diamonds and rubies, there were literally tons of gold objects.  My favorite gold item was a punchbowl from the 1500's which was three feet across and could hold 144 bottles of wine.  It had to weigh 500 pounds and it would be the hit of anyone's party.

There were actors performing for the crowds by reciting conversations between historic figures.  They would move from one area to the next, taking the crowd with them.  There were guards in the Beefeater costumes and the guards in front of the building with the crown jewels were dressed and armed like the guards at Buckingham Palace.

In the afternoon we went to the area of the House of Parliament which is connected to Big Ben.  As soon as we came up from the Underground, there was Big Ben across the street.  You had to bend your neck back to see the top of the clock.  We walked around outside Westminster Abbey and took pictures.  I wish I had more time in London, it's an amazing city.  In the areas we covered, we heard more people on the street speaking foreign languages than were speaking English.  Please feel free to comment or just tell me you're reading the blog.  This reminds me of the TV business where you really don't know if anyone is watching....

Israel at last....

It's Friday the 3rd of July and we left for the airport in London at 4AM, way too early.  We flew to Israel with a change of planes in Frankfort, Germany.  The TSA like inspections are much more thorough than in the US.  I was surprised.  We were inspected thoroughly before leaving London and again in Frankfort before boarding the flight to Israel.  At the second inspection after my carry ons were thoroughly searched I cleared the metal detector with no problem and then I was patted down which included having my shoes squeezed while I was wearing them.  It was a bit ironic flying on Lufthansa, the German Air Line, in a plane where over 90% of the passengers were Jews.  We got a taxi to Tel Aviv where we checked in to our hotel and were later picked up by a Cousin of my Mother and his Wife.  We drove to his Mother's house (Faiga Burstyn, 94 years old) and had dinner with about 10 relatives, including a 26 year old woman from New York visiting Israel on the Birthright program which provides free trips for Jewish young people.   It was a wonderful welcome for us.  Good food and great company.  We looked at family photos until late.  See Family photos which I hope are not too boring to you. The old man in the sideways photo is my Grandfather's Father.  In a week we'll be at the scene of that picture in Poland.  Tomorrow we walk around Tel Aviv which will be quiet because a lot of Israel is closed on the Sabbath....

Hello again,

(My apologies in appearing tardy in making posts.  I had a camera problem which has prevented me from showing pictures from the second day in New York at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  I'll be sending that post with pictures at the end of the journey.  In the meantime it's the fourth of July and we're in Tel Aviv.  A happy Independence Day to all of you.  Here's Wednesday's post.)

It's Wednesday, July 1st and we arrived in London this morning at 9AM after an overnight flight that left us a bit confused.  There should be one more New York post but I'm having trouble getting the pictures of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  Anyway, we took the subway, known locally as the "Underground" or the "tube", to our rooms at a bed and breakfast in South Kensington(see photos), a neighborhood of large, old fancy houses, most of which haven't been family homes since before the Second World War when the interiors were sectioned off to be rooming houses for the thousands of military personnel from all over the world that were here to help the British defend themselves against Hitler's forces,  primarily the German Air force that bombed London mercilessly beginning in 1940 with the Battle of Britain.  The subway experience, except for the lack of air conditioning, was world's cleaner than New York subway.  See pictures.

We visited the Imperial War Museum today and from all the school groups visiting it was very clear that the British people are much more connected to their history in WWII and WWI, than are Americans.  Probably because the possibility of a German invasion in WWII was a real possibility.

The Spitfire airplane in the picture defended Britain from 1940 in the Battle of Britain and served until the end of WWII.  Also shown is one of Hitler's "buzz bombs", rockets which flew over London until they ran out of flew and dropped as bombs yielding massive deaths and casualties and destruction on the people of London.  The gigantic guns on the lawn were from a British battleship.

Tomorrow we go to the Tower of London and Big Ben and Westminster Abbey....