Holy Land Cruise - Haifa

Our first day in Haifa was very different to the normal cruise passenger's day. We had a late breakfast. Normally people have to leave the ship early. Our friend Lynn from Target Tours, picked us up at 10am. Lynn does wonderful work arranging tour groups around Israel and in other countries. She is also Ingrid's friend since nursery school!

Lynn brought her father with her, who is visiting from South Africa. What a nice surprise. Lynn also brought, her partner Rafi, whom we met in February (in Israel), a friend Raymond and a friend and tour guide Irma. We went to the German Colony where we walked around briefly. Irma gave us a lot of very interesting information about the buildings, the architecture and the history of the area. We walked over to the lower gates of the Bahai Gardens. Again Irma gave us some interesting information.

We drove up to the top of the Bahai Gardens where we visited the Shrine. The interesting aspect was the belief of the Bahai that all the prophets contribute to humanity and that the various religions should live together in harmony.

We then drove to Nazareth, where we visited the Church of the Annunciation and the Synagogue Church. We also walked through the market to a unique small hotel with frescos on the ceilings.

We eventually drove back to Haifa where we met up with Irma's husband, Mike. He has his office directly across from the dock where our ship was berthed. He took us to his favorite local restaurant where we thoroughly enjoyed a selection of the Mediterranean dishes. We also sampled some local beers and Arak, the Israeli version of Ouzo.

We returned to the ship for drinks in the Sky Lounge, after which we went to the show in the theatre. It was not good. We left early and went for a late sushi and salad dinner at the buffet. We did not like the selection on offer in the dining room.

A full day in Haifa.

The second day in Haifa was very relaxed. We had breakfast on our balcony. I went to the Michael's Club to watch the Wales France rugby world cup semi-final. After the game, we went for a walk through the Wadi Nasri Arab quarter close to the docks. We walked over to the German Colony and back to the docks where we boarded a Haifa Tourist Agency bus. It took us up to the Stella Maris observation area, Church and Monastery. After enjoying the view over haifa, the bus took us to the Carmel Centre. We walked down the 1,000 steps through various area of Haifa, through the Arab Quarter all the way back to the ship.

It was now after 3pm. We sat on the stern of the ship, again outdoors, having a cool, healthy salad. After a short rest, I went to the fitness centre for a light workout. After a quick shower we went to the dining room for a delicious dinner. The seared tuna was perfect!

The show after dinner was a variety show featuring four of the artists we had seen plus a short aerial act. It was really good.

Time to relax on our balcony while the ship sails out of Haifa towards Ashdod, our gateway to Jerusalem......

Holy Land Cruise - First Sea Days

After Palermo, we enjoyed two consecutive sea days. We establish a relaxing, healthy routine for sea days.

We typically sleep late, getting to the breakfast buffet around 09h30. We enjoy being able to sit outdoors on the ship's stern while we eat our breakfast. After breakfast we find somewhere to sit and relax while we take the opportunity to read a novel. We eventually wander back to the outdoor cafe for a salad for lunch. I relented and had an ice-cream each day. More relaxing is the order of the day after lunch. There is a wonderful spot above the outdoor buffet cafe where the ship has couches, it is wind protected and shady. This is a great place to read a book. If we need something to drink or snack, the buffet is only a short staircase away.

We managed to get to the fitness center both sea days. The brand new fitness centre is well equipped. The aerobic machines have built-in TV sets.

After working out, we return to our cabin, where canapes are delivered to our room. In anticipation, we took tea down from the cafe to drink with the canapes.

After a shower, we go up the the Sky Lounge on the 14th deck for a nightly Captain's Club Elite event. There are snacks and free drinks. Yippee! On the first night I had a whisky on the rocks and then a glass of wine to have with dinner. On the second night, I had a gin and tonic with the usual glass of wine. Nice.

After dinner we attended the entertainment events in the theatre. The first sea night was a formal night. The entertainment was a Broadway evening with the Celebrity singers and dancers. I am not normally a fan of these shows, but this one was superb. The second night had a comedian who did some balancing acts. he was very funny. We enjoyed both of these shows tremendously.

Sea days are fun!

Holy Land Cruise - Palermo, Sicily

We sailed into Palermo after 8am. We sat on the balcony while the ship entered the port. We had ordered a light room service of coffee, fresh juice and a smoothy to enjoy at this time. The large cliffs were pretty while the sun was rising. As the ship docked, we went to the special breakfast for Celebrity Elite Captain's Club members. We had a cappuccino and an expresso with fresh squeezed orange juice. The fruit was good, but we would have liked to see a few hot food available with some smoked salmon.

After breakfast, we wandered off the ship. The port of Palermo if right next to the city. We walked into the city, intending to get a train to Cefalu. The train station was a longish thirty minute walk, or it would have been if we did not stop at a few fresh fruit markets and other street markets up a few side alleys off the main streets. When we got to the station, we decided that the return train would be too close to the ship's departure time. we did not want to chance missing the shp before two consecutive sea days. we decided instead to walk around the city, eventually relaxing at a coffee shop, where we could get our e-mails, enjoy and expresso and a cannoli.

We re-boarded the ship, heading up to the outdoors stern buffet for lunch. The ship was quiet, the weather was good and the healthy food choices were excellent. After our light lunch we returned to our cabin for a quick power nap, after which we spent an hour-and-a-half in the new ship's gym.

Canapes were delivered to our cabin to enjoy with tea. After cleaning up after gym, we went to the Sky Lounge on the fourteenth deck for Elite Club cocktails. We sat on a chaise lounge for two while the ship sailed out of Palermo. Beautiful!!

After a drink, we went to the dining room for dinner. We had seats adjacent to the window, which allowed us to enjoy the sunset while we had a delicious dinner. After dinner we went to the ship's theatre to listen to Katrina Jones entertain the passengers with her piano and singing skills. This was an excellent show. We enjoyed it thoroughly.

A good first day of the Holyland Cruise!

Holy Land Cruise - Getting to Rome/Civitaveccio

Eleven of our last fourteen flights on Continental had been delayed. This was not a good omen for our flight to Rome via Newark, especially considering that we only had fifty-five minutes to change planes in New York. Houston was finally getting a good soaking rain, good? Not really. We could not afford for our plane to be delayed. When it left the gate only a few minutes late we were relieved. When the pilot told us that there were engine troubles while on the runway we were concerned. "Luckily, they were able to resolve the problem without returning to the gate. Phew! We eventually took off half an hour late. Because of a decent tailwind, we landed in Newark on time. Good? Yes, but there was another plane at our gate, so we had to wait ten minutes extra. Ok, so we would only have forty-five minutes to get to our next plane at gate C74, almost adjacent to the gate at which we would arrive. Good? Yes, but the tow truck which arrived to tow our plane to the gate had the wrong hitch. It had to wait for the correct one, taking another 20 minutes off our change time; so now we only had 25 minutes. Yow!

We got off our plane knowing that it was only a short walk to the next plane. Good? Yes, but when we got there the gate had been changed to another the opposite end of the terminal. We RAN all the way, getting to the new gate only ten minutes before the flight was due to leave. We hastily told the Continental, now United, gate agent that we had run all the way fro our previous flight. She had the cheek to tell us that we were lying and that we had been in the lounge. We were MAD!!!! We got into our seats steaming with anger !

The plane left the gate a few minutes late and then sat on the runway for over an hour before taking off. Good job United!!

So now we were sitting in our upgraded seats in business/first class. We had requested a miles upgrade when we reserved the seats months ago. These were not the new fully flat seats that are now in use, but the older 60 degree seats. There was no video-on-demand, but seventeen channels of preselected video content, of which around four or five were movies. On our flight from Houston to Newark, we had wanted to watch a movie on channel three, but it did not work, so we ended up watching some other poor apology for a movie. Now that we had another opportunity we thought we would watch our desired movie, but alas, it didn't work on this plane either. Wonderful!

I must say, however that the service and food were both excellent. The ex-Continental crew (ex-cons) were terrific.

We landed in Rome an hour late, but this was not really an issue, as we were in no hurry to get to our ship. Boarding time was noon. This was still only 9am.

We were offered cruise transfers from Rome airport to the Civitaveccia port for $95 each. (Total $190). We decided to take the train instead. Cost $23 for both of us. We boarded the train at Rome airport with no problem. It was reasonably comfortable. We did not have to wait for other cruise passengers. The train took approximately 25 minutes to Testeverde, we we change to another train to Civitaveccia. The wait was bout 20 minutes for the next train arrived. We arrived in Civitaveccia with plenty time to get to the ship. The weather was glorious, cool and sunny. We decided to walk the four blocks to the Port Entrance before taking the port shuttle to the ship; the new Celebrity Silhouette.

Checking in and boarding was no problem. So here we are, ready for a pleasant relaxing vacation.

North Fork Dude Ranch Birthday Vacation III

Our last day on the North Fork Ranch dawned early with a cup of coffee in our room in the lodge. Our open window gave us a good view of the river and the mountain while the sun rose. I noticed that Dean was brewing the coffee, highlighting the personal touch of the owners, who actually live in their office/residence within the ranch buildings.

Breakfast was the same healthy fare as the day before, except this morning's specialty was pancakes, either plain or blueberry; in our case both! We tried the maple syrup and the blueberry syrup. Hmmm, nice!

We watched the rest of the group set out for their all-day white water rafting adventure, before we joined a mother and her son on horses for a mid-morning ride into the mountains. The horses were well trained. We had never ridden before, but this was no problem. After a few simple instructions, we got the hang of it and managed very nicely. We rode up among the Aspen, Blue Spruce and Pine trees through the valleys and over the meadows. After about two hours or more, we stopped in a meadow to be greeted by Dean on his four wheel bike. he had brought a picnic lunch for us to enjoy. The horses grazed while we chatted and relaxed in the cool of the trees. After lucnh we continued our ride, to eventually return to the ranch mid afternoon.

It was time to leave to get back to Denver, but we were in absolutely no hurry whatsoever. We showered and then had a pleasant drink on the porch. Both Karen and Dean came to chat, already old friends. This was much too short a time to spend at the North Fork Ranch.

We'll be back, hopefully with more of our family to enjoy it with us.

North Fork Dude Ranch Birthday Vacation II

We woke to the sound of the river rushing past as the sun rose. A cup of coffee on the porch before anyone else surfaced was a good way to start the day on the North Fork Ranch.

A healthy breakfast was set out on the lodge from 7.30am. even the yoghurt and granola combination showed the attention to detail that is prevalent at the ranch. We had the option of eggs Benedict, which we shared between us. Delicious!

Most of the group went on their first horse ride into the Rockies, after an orientation in the horse area. We watched them leave before Quinn took us on a hike into the mountains, to enjoy the 500 plus acres, across the river; also part of the ranch. we walked up hill for almost an hour before reaching an area used for the Tuesday brunch. We stopped occasionally for a sip of water or to enjoy the magnificent scenery. We enjoyed the quiet, the shade of the trees and the beauty of the area. Quinn was knowledgeable and enhanced the inclusive nature of the ranch hands. Thanks Quinn. we spent a short while relaxing before starting back to the ranch. Our two and a half hour hike was wonderful.

After a short while, lunch was served out on the patio. A Mexican array of fajitas, tacos and other dishes were laid out on the lawns. The fly fisherman had come in, dressed in their waders and telling tales of the fish they had caught and those that had got away. The sun was shining with a gentle breeze cooling the area. The food was really good. Second helpings were definitely required. The desert was wicked, but who cares; we're on vacation!

After lunch, Lara had an afternoon nap, while Ingrid and I sat on the porch reading and relaxing. In case we had not eaten enough, snacks were set out at 4pm, but they were healthy stuff; celery, carrots, fruit etc. We watched the fly fisherman battle the stream and the rocks to catch the rainbow trout, before throwing them back in again.

Dinner was again a delight, although this time it was a barbecue of chicken and ribs. Yum! The weather was cooperative. The rain stayed away. After dinner we gathered outside the lodge for a sunset hay ride. The tractor pulling the hay cart was an old Case tractor from the late 1940's. We were even joined by Karen and Dean's puppy.

When we got back to the lodge, we enjoyed cowboy Will Dudley, singing his ballads in front of the fire, while Karen and another ranch hand served steaming hot chocolate.

Sleep came easy!

North Fork Dude Ranch Birthday Vacation I

Hey Dudes!

We decided to spend the weekend doing something different while in Colorado. After considerable research, we focused on a dude ranch; definitely a change. The research showed that the best reviews were received by the North Fork Ranch in Shawnee, about an hour's drive from Stapleton in Denver.

We arrived just after 3pm on Friday, after an easy drive from Denver. The appearance of the ranch was an eye-opener. It was exactly as we would have imagined a ranch to look like, but the magnificent setting on the banks of the river looking at a mountain covered with trees and rocks was unexpected. The wooden buildings were immaculate.

We were greeted by a cowgirl, who turned out to be the daughter of the owners, Dean and Karen. We immediately felt the warmth and personal attention that was to become one of the highlights of the too short time we spent with them on their ranch. She gave us the tour, showing us their office/residence, our spacious, comfortable room in the main lodge, the open kitchen, the honor store and the rest of the facility. There were some others sitting on the porch overlooking the grass lawns leading to the river. We sat there enjoying a welcome cool drink, while waiting for our daughter and her husband to arrive from Denver. A sense of peace settled over us as we left the hustle of the city behind, even though we were only sixty miles away.

Once the rest of our family had arrived and settled in, with the usual tour, we took a gentle stroll around the ranch, getting to feed some of the horses in the paddock. We sat down for an early 6.30pm dinner. There were three tables set in the lodge. We were joined at the dinner tables by one of the ranch hands who acted as a very gracious host. Stephen answered all the questions we had about our stay with a sense of humor. We discussed our families, feeling very at home. The meal was delicious, being a "Thanksgiving Dinner" with turkey and all the usual trimmings. Dean joined us before dessert to explain all the activities over the next few days. he was relaxed and treated us all as if we were his honored guests.

The, lo and behold, out came the chef Stephanie, with a delicious birthday cake for Ingrid's birthday. What fun! It was a very pleasant surprise, making us feel even more welcome. Thanks dudes!

After dinner, we sat on the porch while the sun set, listening to the river rushing along, while drinking a hot drink. When darkness had set in, we returned to the lodge for a friendly board game before retiring for the night.

This is going to be a wonderful vacation!!

Costa Rica Birthday Vacation V

A hectic amazing day in Costa Rica.

Earle was picked up at 5.50am to go birding. After and early breakfast, the four of us (less Earle) were picked up at 8am to go to the rainforest for a guided walk. It was fascinating. We walked through the dense foliage and over eight suspension bridges. Some were among the forests, while others were above the jungle canopy. We saw many varied birds, incredible flora and a host of insects. The walk took three hours.

We met Earle at the walk entrance. After a light snack, we put on the necessary climbing gear to go on the zip line canopy tour. My mom stayed behind, relaxing and reading her book.

We traversed the fourteen zip-lines, hundreds of feet above the jungle floor. There was one line 600 yards long and another 1,000 yards long!! It was exhilarating while still affording us a beautiful view above the rain forest.

There was also an optional "Tarzan Swing", which is like a bungee jump. The other three opted out. I was the only one to take full advantage. As I am sending you this e-mail, I obviously survived.

We asked them to drop us off at the Quaker Cheese Factory. We had ice-cream there and then walked to the Chocolate factory. We got a free tour, which was very interesting. We drank cappuccino's there and then Gags (my mom) had a delicious empanada.

We walked to the CPI Spanish school. We met the lady that taught Lara and Daniel Spanish. She gave us a full tour of the school including its spacious comfortable on-site apartments.

We took a cab to town where the driver recommended a specific restaurant. It was slightly out of town. The food was the best we have had here. Although it was slightly more than normal ($60 for five of us), it was well worth it.

We returned at 8pm, a busy 12 hour tour.

Costa Rica Birthday Vacation IV

Today was a travel day.

We were picked up at 7.40am. We drove a short distance to Lake Arenal where we boarded a boat. The 30 minute ride across the lake was relaxing and enjoyable. There were about 12 people on the boat. We saw some interesting birds while on board.

We then got into a minivan to drive to Monteverde. The roads were horrendous. We could only make around 20mph. The scenery, however, was wondeful; rolling hills, green valleys, little towns, small forestsn coffee plantations and cool blue sky. We stopped after 40 minutes of bone jarring, bumpy travel for a bathroom break and some coffee. We also took the opportunity to buy some tours because we were told it would be less expensive there; BS, it was exactly the same! The coffe was made the traditional Costa Rican way through a standing filter. It was delicious.

We endured the next 40 minutes before we arrived in San Elena. We were dropped off at the wrong place. Earle and I had to wander down the hill to find our hotel. It wasn't far.

After settling in, we walked the short distance to the town centre. It is a backpackers' paradise. The Treehouse restaraunt is very pretty, but pretty expensive, so we had a look and left. On the advice of a local, we ate empanadas at a kiosk in the town. The food was amazing. We would never have thought to eat anything there.

We then walked to the small part of town where Lara and Daniel stayed. We decided to come back there for dinner at the Soda Sobar Tipico. We then walked back to our hotel, but stopped at a coffee bar where we saw them roasting the coffee beans. It turns out that the owner is an American expat, married to a Costa Rican. We will return to try the coffee.

We then went to a coffee tour at La Trapiche. I thought it was going to be a rip off and a waste of time. It was fantastic! It is a family owned and run coffe plantation. They showed us the entire process from growing the coffee to processing, grading and roasting the coffee. They also showed us the same detail for sugar cane. They gave us coffee, local foods made from other plants on their farm and juice. It was most informative and enjoyable.

We raced back to our hotel, where we were picked up for a wondrous night tour of the rain forest. In a small group we walked through the forest seeing birds, huge rodents, sloths, frogs, insects and even a baby python, which we got to pick up and handle.

We were dropped off at the Soda Sabor Tipico. We took with two young Americans we met on our adventurous drive that morning. The food was excellent, the service was friendly and the prices were considerably lower than in the main town. The entire meal for five of us with shared starters, a main course each, two beers and three mixed fruit drinks was $40!!

We took a cab back to the hotel and passed out exhausted!

Costa Rica Birthday Vacation III Celebration

Ingrid & I got up early to prepare the breakfast table decorations for Earle's birthday. The hotel even gave is Tres Leches birthday cake. It was a most enjoyable breakfast, sitting looking atthe beautiful scenery and flora.
After breakfast we took a cab to La Fortuna Catarata ( waterfalls). We walked down the 600 plus stairs. It was well worth it. The waterfall was magnifico. Earle and I swam in the pool under the waterfall. It was pretty wild. Ingrid and Jackie paddled in the edges of the calmer pools. As we got to the top of the steps on the way back up again. We saw some Toucans in the trees.

We walked a short way to a wonderful little "smoothie bar" where we had some refreshments.

The afternoon was spent relaxing at our amazing hotel, with great views of the volcano. We swam in the hot springs until a thunderstorm drove us out of the water.

The evening celebrations took place at a very different "steakhouse" called El Nuvillo. It was off the normal tourist route. It was basically a large shack without walls. The staff could not have been friendlier. The tipico (typical local) food was delicious. Again we celebrated Earle's birthday with cake and candles, except this time the cake was bananas foster, flambed with pineapple.

Another day in paradise.

Costa Rica Birthday Vacation II

We were picked up at 07.05am to depart for the Arenal Volcano. It was a huge good bus for about eight of us. The drive was pretty, but very slow and winding with heavily potholed areas.

We stopped at the Love Cafe, which turned out to be run by Israelis. It was vegetarian kosher. We had coffee there before proceeding to Arenal. We reached our hotel, the Arenal Springs, at about 10.30am.

As our rooms weren't ready, we went to the hot springs while Earle and Jackie wandered around the property looking for tropical birds.

In the afternoon, Gags (Adele), Earle and Jackie went for a guided nature walk. Ingrid and I walked up the road. We saw a sloth, many leaf cutter ants and some hawks.

In the evening we went into town, where we shad dinner at a Soda used by the locals, two blocks off the main drag. It was terrific.

We returned to the hotel where we swam in the hot springs before retiring for an earlyish night.

Costa Rica Birthday Vacation I

A good first day in Costa Rica. We got to the airport and found the security line was huge. Luckily we got through the Elite section in about ten minutes. Then I discovered I had left my laptop at home... Oops! Too bad.

Breakfast in the Presidents Club was good. The flight was excellent in a brand new plane.

We were met at the airport and escorted to our hotel, the Doubletree Cariari. Nice hotel. We dropped our bags and took a cab downtown. We negotiated a rate of $17 down from the listed $23.

We got off at the Mercado Centrale, where we wandered around. Eventually we found a Soda (small informal restaurant) in the market where we samples the local food, the Casados. It was fun.

We then walked through downtown for a while to the hotel El Presidente. We will be staying there on our return to San Jose. We negotiated a driver to take us to the orthodox shul. Security to get in was very interesting. After shul, the same driver picked us up and dropped us at our hotel.

We just made the free drinks and snacks in the executive lounge. It definitely pays to be a club member.

Early night before an early start to Arenal.

Hong Kong - You get what you pay for.

I had to write this Blog quickly to capture my thinking on this subject.

I decided to stay at the Hong Kong Kowloon Shangri-la hotel during the visit to the electronic trade shows. It is a bit more expensive than conventional hotels, but you get what you pay for.

Firstly the high speed internet is free in the rooms. This makes a huge difference as the internet is a vital business tool for me. It would normally cost around $25 per day.

Secondly, breakfasts are included. I have a choice of eating in the lounge, which is quiet and peaceful, or having a "slap-up" breakfast in the dining room. I opt for the quiet breakfast because it is efficient, healthy and requires no effort. In addition to this there is tea and snacks available until 11pm. I use this to sit and type my notes and e-mails in a pleasant comfortable surrounding. There is also a daily Happy Hour with free drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and good snacks. We enjoy this.

Thirdly, I can reserve a fully equipped private conference room for two hours per day; a benefit I use often. As an example, we had a wonderfully productive meeting this evening with a new manufacturing partner. It was enjoyable to get out of the hustle and bustle of the exhibition to spend two hours working on a new product in an atmosphere conducive to cooperative discussion.

And then to top it all; I was feeling a bit under the weather from jetlag and a spot of flu. I asked the lounge manager where I could get some cold medicine. She pointed me in the right direction. So far, so good. I returned to my room, where I took the medicine and settled down to get some work done. After a short while, there was an unexpected knock on my door. There stood an attendant from the lounge with a flask of boiling water, some Camomile tea with honey and fresh lemon. "We wish you a speedy recovery. Get well soon!" How's that for service!!

Will I be back? Definitely!!

Mission Israel - West Bank & Israel Museum

Wow! Wow! Wow! Talk about an eye-opener.

We spent the morning in the "notorious" West Bank; the place of terrible Arab Refuge Camps and persecution. I couldn't have had a more incorrect perception.

We crossed the check point to go into the West Bank after leaving Jerusalem maybe half an hour earlier. The first thing I noticed is that the much talked about concrete wall actually covers very little of the fence, in fact, it only covers 5% of the fence. So already we have been totally misinformed. The balance of the 95% is an alarm fence, and not an electrified fence. It is unobtrusive.

We drove along the road until we reached a reasonable sized Jewish Settlement of approximately 650 families. They had been there for over 35 years. We entered a beautiful girls school. The place was neat. The scholars appeared to be very happy and friendly. We were given a talk about how the settlement operates and their hopes for peace with their Arab neighbors. It was certainly illuminating. We drove around the settlement. It was spick and span. The gardens were well maintained, the houses were neat and the overall impression was that this could be a really good place to live.

We drove further until we came to the top of a mountain where we visited another settlement near Nablus, 63 km (41 miles) from Jerusalem. We had a delicious lunch served with excellent local wines, made from grapes grown right there. The owner explained his passionate views of the biblical history of the region. He told us that he just wants to be left alone to grow his grapes, make his wine and serve his customers in his mountaintop restaurant. He told us that his vines had been damaged maliciously by his Arab neighbors, but he did not retaliate because this would only start a cycle of unnecessary violence. He would even live under Palestinian control, if they left him alone and didn't threaten or harm him.

We saw a number of Arab refugee camps, about which we have heard so much. The only difference is that these were beautiful towns. The picture attached to this blog is one of these camps!

Our guide through the West Bank was Danny Tirza, one who normally takes VIP's through the area for fence tours. His knowledge of the negotiations, the territory and the people is amazing. He was forthcoming with valuable information. It is interesting to note that he has taken Senator Obama and Hilary Clinton on two hour fence tours. They did not take the trouble to get an in-depth knowledge of the West Bank as we did.

After we left the West Bank, we went to the Israel museum for a guided tour of the Old City of Jerusalem model and the Dead Sea scrolls. Our time was limited, but we enjoyed this educational session greatly.

We returned to the hotel to prepare for our farewell dinner. When entering the Inbal's ballroom, we were surprised to see that it had been set up for a true gala farewell dinner. The guest speaker was the mayor of Jerusalem, a young self-made millionaire. Another fascinating insight into Israel, Jerusalem and the territory.

After the thank-you's and speeches, we partied until late at night with all our newfound friends. It was very sad to say goodbye to our Mission friends.

We are definitely going on the next one!! Join us on March 3, 2013.

Mission Israel - Old City & Beit Givrun

Another busy enjoyable day in Israel today.

Our breakfast meeting was a fascinating glimpse of Israel's public relations efforts, given by the IDF. Lt. Colonel Avital Leibovitz discussed how Israel was undertaking a public relations initiative to counter the biased one-sided international campaign against Israel. It was very interesting.

After the briefing we went on a walking tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. This continues to fascinate us all. We were shown a spot on a roof above the old city, from where we could see the four sections, the Jewish, Armenian, Christian and Muslim quarters. We were shown some more of the archeology of the area. We were given some free time to shop.

After the old city, we drove to Ammunition Hill for a picnic lunch. We came across a group of soldiers who were pleased to have photos taken with us. We then enetered the Ammunition Hill museam for a detailed sicussion of the intense battle that took place there. The bravery of the israeli soldiers who took this important hill in the 1967 six day war was incredible. Our tour guide, david, brought the battle to life. Great job, David!

We then drove to a Kibbutz where a modern day pioneer discussed how they had started a movement of young adults who were activists in the community, particularly in the Negev and the Galilee.

We then sat in a circle according to our bus groups to discuss out thoughts on the Mission as a whole. Every single person conveyed their very positive thoughts on the Mission and its organization by the Federation. It was amazing to see how this one week Mission had affected the lives of some of the participants in a permanent way. We were also very tactfully and tastefully asked to make a donation to the Federation. All the people to whom we spoke were happy with the way this was done.

We then meandered down the mountain for an hour before reaching a surprise location for a gala dinner. The location was the ancient archeological bell caves of Beit Guvrin. The setting was absolutely spectacular. We we entered an "entrance" cave lit up in an orange glow. We were given hot soup in cups while waiting to enter the main venue somewhere ahead. There was a strange figure of a man with a ram's head and a cloaked body from the waste down performing in a very interesting way. You had to be there to understand. Across the entrance to the venue were five drummers of which two also had long "shofars" across their backs. After a while the drummers started playing, and led us singing down a path among the huge bouders and limestone to the bell caves. they were lit up in a fluorescent blue, with a stage and dinner tables set out for 200 people. Talk about spectacular!

The band played, their was a flautist, fire breathers, acrobats and drummers. There were drums set around the dance area for guests to play as well.

Apart from the fantastic entertainment, the food was delicious and aplenty.

This turned out to be a wonderful fun party. It was time to leave before we were ready. A great job by the organizers once again.

We entered our bus for the long winding road back up to our hotel in Jerusalem. We deiced to tell jokes all the way back, making for a pleasant trip back.

We got to bed real late, and I have to get up at 05h15 to go to synagogue in the morning. Whoa is me!

Mission Israel - Yad Vashem & Kabbalat Shabat Yom Shishi

Today was a real cerebral day.

Our breakfast briefing was done by Dr Rachel Korazim. She gave us an entirely new perspective of the Holocaust and how to view Yad Vashem. She explained that the process of both the Nazis and eventually the liberators was to photograph the people in the camps in such a way as to show them in their worst possible moment, without dignity. She told us that when we see the black and white photos of people without hair in striped pajamas, we should try to imagine them with colored clothes, hair, beards, hats and jewelery, as they would have liked us to see them. She also explained how we should explain the holocaust to our children.

We then spent the entire morning at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial centre. The museum part was difficult to walk through, seeing the abominable, unbelievable atrocities inflicted on the Jews of Europe. Although it is unpleasant, infuriating, saddening and extermely emotional, it is something every human being should do once in their lives.

We ended the visit to Yad Vashem with a very moving ceremony in which members of our Mission placed wreaths on a grave stone for the six million Jews who perished. We heard stories of survivors, Psalms were read and then everyone said a prayer for the dead. A cantor sang two extremely meaningful songs, one being the song that the Jews sang as they walked into the gas chambers. There was not a dry eye in the hall. We ended the ceremony with everone singing Hatikva (Hope) the Israeli National Anthem.

After spending a short time for lunch in a typical Israeli Jerusalem neighborhood, we traveled to the Haas Promenade for a small ceremony prior to welcoming the Shabbat. We sang and danced overlooking the old city of Jerusalem.

From there we were dropped off at the old city to spend Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel; the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. This developed into one of the unscripted but amazing events of the mission. A group of us started the Kabbalat Shabbat with the leadership of Rabbi Gelman from UOS in Houston. It added a new meaning doing this in front of this holy place. When we finished, we started to dance in our little group. There was a bunch of around 25 Israeli soldiers next to us. They invited us over to join them. We all started dancing together with vigor singing "Am Yisroel Chai!" (The Nation of Israel Lives). There was another group of religious Jewish Yeshiva students behind us. All of a sudden, they also joined us. It was amazing and inspiring.

Eventually we left the combined group to fonish our Shabbat service, after which we walked through the Old City, through a modern (closed) mall and down to our hotel.

At the hotel, after a quick wash, we joined our entire group for a Shabbat Dinner with a visiting Rabbi, a Jewish Archipelo group and some visiting students and current soldiers who are in Israel from Houston.

A wonderful, difficult, inspiring, day which made us think... a lot!

Shabbat Shalom.

Mission Israel - Safed to Jerusalem Yom Chamishi

A long but good day.

We had our usual breakfast briefing, but this time by a resident of the Galilee who lives within "spitting" distance of Lebanon. he outlined the other side of Israel. A totally different point of view to what we were used to. Fascinating.

We then drove the short distance to old Safed where we visited a number of synagogues; both Sephardi and Ashkenazi. We also spent some time in the Kabbalah Centre, where we started by looking over the hills where the original scripts were written and where Lag Ba'Omer is celebrated my thousands of people every year.

We spent some time exploring the artists' colony in Safed. The vast array of beautiful Judaic pieces of art was fascinating.

After Safed we drove down through the Jordan Valley to the Sea of Galilee to the Beit She'an ruins. We picnicked there before touring the amphitheatre and the ruins. The old road, the shops and the other aspects of life two thousand years ago was obvious to the eye following the archelogical excavations.

We then drove up from the valley to Jerusalem. We stopped on Mount Scopus to get a view of Jerusalem before we actually entered the city. We said a prayer, drank some wine, sang some relevant songs and even danced a bit.

We drove to our hotel before going out for a light dinner in a small group.

After dinner we went for a tour in the tunnels along the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. We passed the "Wailing Wall" on our way to the tunnels. We took a short respite to approach the original Western Wall directly. It was our honor to lead two people, Paul & John, to the wall for the first time; quite a touching moment!

The tour along the tunnels was absolutely fascinating. We saw the amazing architecture and structural engineering capability of the ancient peoples, over 2,000 years ago.

We returned to our hotel very tired but pleased with another wonderful day in Israel.

Until tomorrow....

Mission Israel - Golan & Galilee, Yom Rvi'i

Wow! What an amazing day in Northern Israel!

We met for breakfast at 07h15 where we were treated to a feast of healthy fresh foods typical of Israeli. After breakfast we were briefed on the Golan Heights by General Kobi Marom. Our tour guide, who served under the General had some interesting stories to tell us later in the day.

After the briefing we drove up to the Golan Heights where we saw army and tank brigades. We met at a kibbutz where we boarded four wheel drive jeeps for our trip along the Golan Heights. We could easily see into Syria, gaining a strong understanding of the strategic importance of the Golan Heights from a military and a water point of view. The weather was superb, giving us a clear view across the border into Syria.

After this, we drove along the Golan Heights, down across the Jordan river and up to a kibbutz adjacent to the Lebanese border. We stopped at a winery for a delicious "light" lunch. of course we were able to taste some of the locally produced wine with our meal. We ate within view of the Lebanese army post on the hill overlooking the winery. We were given a tour of the winery and then a wine tasting session. The wines were excellent. it turns out that Joe Blog, in Houston, is the distributor of these Galil Mountain wines. They are certainly worth trying. Great quality.

After lunch and wine, we drove a very short distance to the kibbutz, where we looked across the Lebanese border. We could see the UN positions, the border fence, the Lebanese twon on the hills above and even saw a number of Israeli patrol vehicles go past.

We returned to Sefad (Zvat) where we had two hours of leisure. A few of us tried the hotel's spa. We sat in the hot tub, did some lengths in the pool and sat in the Turkish baths.

We we driven to the ancient town of Sefad for a "treasure hunt" through the streets. Once we had located our "treasure" we met at the dinner venue. What a pleasant surprise! In the lobby we were given hot drinks similar to Gluewein. We went down the stairs to the dinner hall which was decorated to look like the streets of the town. There was a Kletzmer band playing music. We ended up dancing in a crowd of at least 100 people. The food was pleantiful and very tasty. The vive was wonderful. A terrific time was had by all.

Eventually they had to "throw" us out to return to the hotel.

Now we need to pack in order to leave for tomorrow's adventure directly after our breakfast briefing.

Mission Israel - First Day: Yom Shlishi

Another busy fascinating day in the Holy Land.

We were woken at 06h30!! A tasty healthy Israeli breakfast of olives, cheeses, yogurts of varied and Mediterranean types with salads and other foods. there were also pastries and eggs, but I kept well away from those.

We had a breakfast briefing by Gerald Steinberg, a political specialist. he highlighted Israel's difficulties in the world forums, especially in the current unstable middle eastern climate. It was scary to hear both the pessimistic and the optimistic points of view.

We left the hotel to visit the Yitzchak Rabin Centre and Museum. It was extremely interesting and very heart wrenching. There were many aspects that struck us as fascinating. This is a visit well worth doing.

After the museum visit, we spent almost two hours in the Carmel market in Tel Aviv. The craft market was taking place at the same time. Ingrid's friend Lynn, who had just flown on from visiting the USA, surprised us in the market. Because we had been to the market twice already, we found a small coffee shop called Coffee Lab. It turned out that they manufactured their own coffee and distributed it to the surrounding shops. We spent an enjoyable hour there. The fact that they had free internet was an added bonus.

We then drove for an hour to the Leo Beack school in Haifa. At this KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Programme) school spends considerable time and effort assimilating very young Ethiopean jews to a stage where they can enter grade one as regular little Israelis. Another interesting visit.

We left the school for an hour and a half drive to Sefad to the Canaan Spa. Here we had dinner with a young Israeli soldier. The soldier at our table was 21 years old, a staff sergeant in hos platoon and still a young man. He told us many stories of his life as a soldier in the Israeli army. Another very interesting evening over a good meal.

After dinner, we sat in the hotel's lounge drinking fragrant fruit tea. The ambiance and friendship is wonderful.

It's late. we're tired. So far a most enjoyable, educational and fascinating tour.

Mission Israel - Meeting Day & Yom Sheini

Today was an interesting one. After waiting for Harold to return from getting his cell phone data plan working, we walked to the Michal Negri store; the original one. The area was most interesting with small boutiques and coffee shops. From there we walked to the Carmel Market where we bought a few small items and fruit to take with us on our journey. Unexpectedly, we met up with cousin Barbie and hubbie Paul.

We checked out of the Best Western and moved to the David Intercontinental a short way down the road. Because we had lots of luggage, three of us took a taxi with the luggage while two walked the ten minute stroll to the hotel.

This is a very luxurious expensive Western style hotel. As usual, the better the hotel the less you get. The internet cost is $22 plus tax per day. Crazy. The room is great though.

We met up with many of the Houston Mission group when we checked in. Somehow they forgot to give is a room, but eventually they came through with Club rooms, although we did not have lounge access. No problem as we did not have enough time in the room, anyhow.

We met up with the majority of the group in the lobby and boarded our bus (number 3) to drive the Petach Tikvah. When we got there, we entered an auditorium in the Josephdal-Dodi community. This is a community which has been assisted by the Houston Jewish Federation for many years. They were extremely welcoming. There was young girls handing out flowers to us, the guests, and saying "Welcome to Israel." Very sweet.

There were a few short speeches before we met up with our host family for the evening. We walked to their house about ten minutes away. This turned out to be a totally unexpected joy. The family of Yuval, Havatzelet and four of their five children were an absolute delight. Yuval spoke good English and we made do with the others. The conversation was fascinating, discussing many aspects of their lives in Israel. The food was absolutely amazing. We had at least ten courses of fish, meat and chicken with many salads. There was delicious Yemeni soup, deserts, home made wine, drinks, fragrant tea, nuts and other tasty dishes.

The evening flew past. We were sad to eventually have to say goodbye, until we hopefully see them again one day soon.

We returned on the bus, before getting ready for bed. Tomorrow is an early 06h30 wake-up for the busy day ahead!

Mission Israel - Pre-mission Shabbat & Yom Rishon

Shabbat in Tel Aviv. Sleep late. Have breakfast in our suite in the Best Western Regency. We bought some cream cheese, some cereal and yogurt the night before at the AM-PM store near the hotel. The hotel suite includes basic cutlery (silverware) and crockery.

Cousin Lynette picked us up for a family dinner in her lovely apartment. Husband Amitai, brother Lesley and his wife Gali were gracious hosts. From barely knowing Lynette and not knowing the rest of the family at all, we nopw have some new close cousins in Tel Aviv. The mission is already a success and it hasn't even started yet! The food was tasty. We enjoyed the meal, the company and the afternoon to such an extent that we only left after 5pm.

We met Harold and Brigitte at our hotel on our return. they had just flown in on Lufthansa, who they said were fantastic, making sure that they made the connection in Frankfurt. Kudos to them.

We went for a walk up to Dizengoff Circle, Dizengoff Centre and then down towards Allenby street and back to our hotel. The weather was great for walking, cool but not cold. We stopped for an ice cream on the way. Yum.

This morning we started with a business meeting on one of the highest floors of the Moshe Aviv tower. We had a spectacular view of Tel Aviv.

After returning to the hotel on the bus, which was a bit of an adventure, we took a long walk to Jaffa, whcih took us forty minutes to get there. After wandering around, we took a detour through some side streets of antique stores and quaint artifact stores.

We then walked back down to the seaside and back to the hotel, walking a total of two and a half hours.

After relaxing for a while and doing e-mail, watching Tv and reading on my kindle, we met Harold and Brigitte in their hotel room. they had returned from their excursion with friends, buying grenadillas and "mon" cake which were both delicious.

We then walked the short distance to the "best" falafel place in Tel Aviv, Gabai Falafel on Borkushov Street. It turned out to be an absolute delight. The food was excellent, the staff were unbelievably friendly and fun. We spoke to fellow patrons sitting outside with us at the sidewalk tables. We will definitely return there.

We came back to the hotel. It is now 10pm. Time for an early night before we meet the rest of the mission group tomorrow afternoon.

Until tomorrow....

Mission Israel - Travel to the Holy Land

We're here, in Tel Aviv, Israel, after a long but enjoyable journey.

We left Houston at 9am on Wednesday morning. Luckily for us, brother Harold was able to give us a ride to the airport. We checked in at Terminal E with absolutely no problem. Continental upgraded all three of us!!! We had a wonderful short flight to New York La Guardia. We were served a delicious lunch on the plane.

We rented a car in New York from National. They are a pleasure to deal with. On arriving at their office, we simply walked to the Emerald row of cars, selected a vehicle of our choice and drove out. The lady at the drive through counter looked at my driving licence, gave me a toll tag and some directions. Quick and easy.

We drove to the Mahway Sheraton, about an hours drive. The Garmin GPS worked well, except for a small hiccup through the tunnels and under the overhead expressway.

The Sheraton in Mahway was ok, but a bit noisy because of the elevators, even though they were three rooms away. The room as clean and confortable.

We spent the evening with our famous cousin, Rabbi Henoch Moshe. He and his family are an absolute delight. It was a thoroughly enjoyable dinner with superb and fun company. Can't wait to do it again. We may have persuaded him to visit us in Houston for a Shabbaton.

The next morning; Thursday, we slept late in our comfortable hotel rooms. We made coffee in the rooms, after which we drove the few miles to Monsey, where we met Rabbi Henoch Moshe for brunch at the Avenue R Cafe. The food was good but very rich. Again we had a very enjoyable morning. We enjoyed ourselves so much we hardly noticed the time, having to rush thereafter to Newark airport to catch our flight to Tel Aviv.

Checking in at Newark was easy. We spent some time in the Presidents' Club lounge which was packed.

Security at the gate was very tight, as could have been expected, but bot a problem at all.

The flight to tel Aviv was terrific. Again we were upgraded to the superb Continental business/first class, equivalent to any carrier in the world. The food was good, the service was quietly efficient and friendly.

The flat beds allowed us an excellent night's sleep. The movie we watched was very good, especially on the large screen.

Getting through customs and immigration in Israel was no problem. We were met at the airport by David, a school friend whom I have not seen since at least 1977. He hasn't changed (much). It was wonderful catching up with him as we drove to our hotel a block away from the Tel Aviv beach. We hope to meet up with him and his family again while we are here.

After doing a bit of unpacking, we went for a long walk to the nearby market. It was bustling, noisy and full of different wares from handicrafts, food, clothing and a variety of other stores. We eventually walked along the beachfront towards Jaffa. We found a seaside "restaurant" where we enjoyed a light lunch. I had a local beer. Pretty good.

We walked back to our hotel for a rest before starting more energetic touring tomorrow.

Until next time....

Federation Mission Rev 0.1

So.... we are getting excited about our forthcoming trip to Israel on the Houston Federation mission. The e-mails are becoming much more numerous, detailing all aspects of the journey.

Yesterday I bough a small extension cord at the dollar store. I added a small power adapter to the male end to adapt it to Israeli (European) power outlets. This way we can plug in three devices such as my laptop, a cell phone charger and one other device. Neat!

Also, my new Kindle arrived so it will not be necessary to "schlepp" a pile of books around the world. Travel light where possible.

Having said this, we will be "schlepping" four huge medical tomes for an old friend in Israel; saving him a great deal. This is a pleasure, after all a friend in need is a friend in deed. I haven't seen this friend since 1977, so I am really looking forward to chatting with him and his family.

My mom arrived in Houston yesterday after an extended stay in Australia. She has a week to prepare for our much anticipated journey.

This is all very exciting, as said earlier.

Robert Louis Stevenson once said that 90% of the fun is in the anticipation and not the journey itself.

Houston-NY-HK-Perth

So..... Let me tell you about my loooooooong journey to Perth.

Continental airlines was kind enough to give me an upgrade for my flight from Houston to New York. This was much appreciated considering we have been having a ten day Barmitzvah party. I was pretty exhausted, having to leave home at 6.30am on Sunday. So it was a pleasant relaxing flight.

On arriving in New York, I found my way to the Continental President's Club lounge. It was quite full. As I had just had a decent breakfast of corn flakes, yoghurt, fressh fruit and coffee on the plane, I did not really want more to eat. I got a cup of tea and went to sit in the quiet TV viewing room to watch the football. The TV colors were on the blink, so it was not so good.

The monitors showed that the flight to Hong Kong was on time, so I went to the gate. When I got there, it was obvious that the plane was not there. They announved that there was some issue with getting the aircraft to the gate, so we should return to the lounge and await an announcement. To get back into the lounge it was necessary to "check in" again. No problem.

After another half hour they asked us to return to the gate. We did. The plane was there, but they said it would be a fifteen minutes more before we could board. After thirty minutes they said we should return to the lounge as they expected another hour delay. So... back to the lounge and at least ten minutes to "check in" once again.

As soon as we were allowed back in they announced that we should return IMMEDIATELY to the gate for boarding. Ho Hum!

Luckily for me, they decided to upgrade me into business/first class. It was fantastic! 180 Degree sleeper bed. Good food. Good drink. Lage TV screen. Kudos to Continental. Even the service was excellent.

I arrived in Hong Kong feeling good. Immigration took only a few minutes. luckily. I had no checked-in luggage, so I merely walked out of the customs and went directly to catch the quick, clean and efficient airport express train to Kowloon station. From there, I got onto a small shuttle bus which took me to the Shangri-la hotel in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Now this is an experience of quality! As I stepped off the shuttle, a uniformed lady met me and insisted on pulling my small roll-a-board case. She escorted me to the registration desk for the hotel in the Horizon Club on the 20th floor. She effectively handed me over to the staff at th desk. I sat down and handed them my passport and credit card. The registration papers had been pre-printed, so check in took only a few minutes. I was in my room shortly: Free internet, comfortable bed, fresh fruit, free bottles of drinking water. I returned to the Horizon lounge for a cup of Earle Grey tea while looking over Hong Kong harbor, before retiring for the night.

I got up early and had a delicious healthy breakfast in the lounge on the 21st floor. After catching up on e-mail, I went to the gym for a "get over jetlag" workout. The gym was remarkably well equipped for a hotel facility.

I attended my noon meeting refreshed. I decided to have the meeting in the Horizon Lounge because it is quiet and peaceful, while the staff there provide adequate refreshments and snacks with unobtrusive efficiency.

After my noon meeting, I checked out, in the lounge (easy), and was picked up for a meeting in an Hong Kong office after which I was dropped at the airport for my onward journey.

The Star Alliance gold counter at Singapore Airlines in Hong was a breeze. The man was friendly and helpful. After a very short time taken to get through emmigration and security, I went to the Kris lounge. It was quite large with good food. I had a cuppacino, and an ice-cream while doing my e-mail.

The economy flight to Singapore was pretty good. The seat was comfortable, the 0n-demand movies were current and the food was excellent. They gave me a glass of wine. Why can't American airlines do this on international flights? Go figger?

I arrived in Singapore and went to sit in the lounge while waiting for my onward flight to Perth. I totally lost track of time. Sudeenly I noticed the clock. Oops! I threw my stuff into my backpack and RAN to the gate. As luck would have it, it was the furthest gate possible. I made it, last one.

I sat in my seat to find that the man next to me was large and flowed over into my section. He slept all the time from before I sat there until after the plane had landed in Perth. I had to keep pushig him back to his side. They woke us at about 3.30am for breakfast. Wonderful! (Sarcasm) Not really Singapore Airlines' fault, but it was not a pleasant flight, at all.

So now I'm in Perth enjoying seeing my family here, while I work on confirming and rescheduling my appointments for next week.

Til next time......