We decided to head to Haifa today. It is 45 km (approx 30 miles) North of where we are staying. As a native Angeleno, I find the distance to be consistent with a rather standard commute - to work, to the beach, or over the hill to meet friends for dinner. By Israeli standards, it might as well be an entire world away!
In any case, we had a great time with the sightseeing and enjoyed the gondola ride to the top of Mt. Carmel, a quick lunch at a dairy restaurant named Yotvata, and a jaunt to Elijah (Eliyahu's) cave, where we were able to say prayers for the younger sister of one of Andrew and Adam's schoolmates who is rather ill. And of course, we even stopped at the beach for a 10 minute dip in the warm Mediterranean. We were fortunate to have my uncle, Mome accompany us today.
One of the odd parts of the day was the extensive questioning I received from the Dutch tourists who were in line behind us at the Gondola. Their cruise ship was docked in the port for the day and they decided to site see. When they heard us speaking English, they assumed us to be British. When they learned we were American, they asked if we were on a Christian pilgrimage. I explained that we were Jewish and visiting family and friends in Israel. They were surprised to learn that Jews lived in the United States and wanted to know when we converted! Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads when I told them that not only were we born Jewish but that there were nearly as many Jews in the United States as there were in Israel. I suppose that most people have no idea what it means to be Jewish, nor how large our diaspora really is.
Upon our return home, I began to fulfill one of my purposes in Israel, setting up Skype accounts! I know that it will bring our family closer and narrow the gap in the distance if we can see each other more frequently. Somehow, in my broken Hebrew, I set up my uncle's account. We even called customer service to set up the router and luckily for me, the basis for internet technology is all in English - passwords, IP addresses, security and anything else involved in setting up the home wifi network all had to be done in English! Amazing considering that most of the technology we use in our day to day life from cell phones to fast yet cool laptops was all invented in Israel (we did drive by the Google and Microsoft building as well today).
Overall another great day in the holy land (and we found the Nacho "Mexican" Doritos too!)....
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| Andrew in the Gondola |
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| Adam with the Haifa port in the background. |
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| Andrew and Adam in the Gondola |
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| The "cow" outside of Yotvata with Momi |
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| The candle of Eliyahu HaNavi |
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| Inside the cave |
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And of course the famous Doritos - these are Nacho Mexican flavor!
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