Butterflies

Sorry that I got interrupted but my computer had to go in for servicing with all my pictures so I will tell you a story that happened to me last week. As I was walking out to my van after work and standing in the shade of a few trees, I started to see little yellow butterflies. I stopped momentarily to watch them and virtually all of them landed on me. It was amazing, they stopped there for about 30 seconds then all took off. I like to think of it as the picture that I included here.

The Negev

Following the wedding (which I took few pictures), Soz and I headed south where we could find the Red Sea, the border crossing into Jordan and beautiful sights. First we had to pass through the Negev which is pretty much a desert and home to some of the most stunning views. We drove through a crater that was so big it didn't fit in one picture. Following that we noticed large plumes of dust thrown up on either side of the road, when we got closer we realized they were tanks running around the desert. We gave them a wide birth as we moved onto Eilat, the southern beachside town that straddles the Red Sea. From Eilat we could see Saudi Arabia, Egypt & Jordan just standing on the beach.

Beach!

The days of the wedding were spent lounging on the beach soaking up the rays. Typically it was Soraya, Charlotte, Gem, Jasmine, Lauren, Rachel, Marienne, Nino and I on the beach. After a certain point all the girls had to run off to get ready leaving me and Nino on the beach to soak up the beer they were so willing to bring. Btw- My tan was totally not in by then.

The wedding pre stuff

The catalyst for the trip was being Soraya's date to the wedding. I don't know if I just haven't been to the right weddings but this one lasted for days. We started out this one with a bunch of Jewish traditions that the oldest man at the table was supposed to perform. Seeing how I was the only man at the table, I ended up watching a lot of old dudes and just copying them. I also got a sweet yarmulke. The bride came over to our table where somebody snapped a picture. Although she looks like a zombie (Zombies RUNNN), she was not...or at least had the knowledge not to try to zombiebite me (I mess Zombies up). In all honesty, she did look lovely the whole time.

Acre Again

The city was just too pretty to sum up in one post. I forgot to previously mention it is the holiest of cities to the Baha'i Faith. Also, I watched kids jumping off the walls into the water, certainly suprising.

Crusader City

Even though I had to go alone, I decided to forge on to the Crusader Capitol and ancient city of Acre. The city is incredibly layered with being one of the oldest continiously inhabited cities in the world. At nearly 3,600 years old it has seen rulers ranging from Egypt, King Solomon, Phoenicia, Greek, Roman, Crusader, Armenia, Ottomans, & the Brits. The city also built up huge walls, put cannons all over the place and gave Napoleon one of his first losses. It contains halls from the crusader era, a Ottoman fort, beautiful walls and some of the best food I had in Israel. I met a lot of locals who were the friendliest people I've met. Amazing.

Holy City

After a crazy night of driving through the most confusing streets and a frantic search for a hotel room, we arrived in Jerusalem. The city is huge but the old city of the days of Mohammad, Jesus and the Original Temple is much smaller. The problem is the city is warren of tourist traps and cheap knockoff garbage (glow in the dark virgin marys for sale for instance). I saw the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus was crucified and saw the stone that cracked following his death. The church was really gaudy and I found it unfullfilling. Next was the wailing wall where I donned my yarmulke and left prayers for everybody who reads this blog as well as some other prayers there too. But the city wasn't done with me, probably the most impressive site is the Dome of the Rock. I was very impressed with that. Following an exhausting day I had my second best shawarma and scooted back to Tel Aviv.