En direct de St. John's University, Jamaica, New York...

THE SMALRUS WEB SITE v. 7.0

ISRAEL 1999

Spiritual Enhancement

Trip Journal by Spencer Ross

(author's note: this journal truly could be expanded and perhaps it will be in the future as i rehash the trip. media will be added as i get it- pictures, sounds...all from and having to do with this magnificent trip.)

7/16/99

Shalom from Yerushaliyim!

It's 10:30 local time here, and I'm finally getting my first chance to sit down and write just before going to bed bed for the first time in oh...maybe 30 hrs. We woke up at 7:15 yesterday and Daddy and I drove to National Rental Car up at Bradley Airport. Picked up our minivan-a white GMC Safari. I drove the Maximan home and Daddy took the van. Around 10:30, we finally had all our luggage loaded in, and we started our trek to Newark Int'l Airport. Roughly 3 1/2 hr drive. We stopped in north New Jersey for lunch at Roy Rogers. mmm...Then we had the van gassed up by some crazy guy who took off while it was pumping and then came back. Bout 10 min later, we got to the airport. Traffic there was heavy. But we got the rental van back and proceeded to take the monorail to our terminal...well...it took forever and with 4 suitcases, 3 weekenders, and 3 carry-ons, it gets to be hefty and usually can't fit people in. Anyways...we made it to terminal A and found the rail was broken so we needed to get our tickets or rather, boarding passes at the El Al counter. So before we made it there, the lady starts asking all these questions about what we're bringing. But we passed, she let us go to the counter, got out luggage checked and headed off for a Pepsi. A little while later, we headed through to the terminal and surprisingly, none of us set the metal detector off. Waited in the terminal almost 3 hrs before our plane came. BORING. The Lubavitchers set up a little table for people to lay tefillin, get a drink, cookies, etc...nice. Different from the ones on the France flight. These guys didn't seem as friendly. So our flight was boarded- 747-400. And we took off. Flew 9 hrs 50 min to Israel. I took a 4 hr nap. 2 meals. They had nice headsets with personal LCD screens showing 6 movies in Hebrew and English. Anyways...landed in Tel Aviv around 12:50 local time and boy is it hot. And somewhat humid. You know, being around Israelis on a plane and the French I've seen, I think the Israelis are more arrogant than the French, but I have 9 days here still...Take a shuttle from the plane into the Terminal and go through customs. Go figure, Daddy finds an Italian group to talk to. But they soon leave. Also comes in a Russian plane. So we make it through, find the group gatherer from Israel Tour Connection, and go to baggage claim. Takes forever, but we finally get it and go to the bus. Oddly, there's less people than I expected. A young unmarried couple, an older couple with kids staying at home that came for a wedding later in the week, and 2 other families. And out guide Danny and bus driver Ellie. So we leave the airport go through the Judean hills and eventually stop in the middle of a planted forest. 6 million trees. In the center of it is a sculpture "Scrolls of Fire" depicting Israel from the holocaust. Get on the bus, head for Jerusalem. Stop on a mountain and say shehechyanu before going into Jerusalem and continue. We get into Jerusalem and divvy up our hotels. Sheraton Four Points. 5 star hotel. Get dressed for Shabbos at the Kotel. I got to get a prayer book and pray there. A lot of ultra orthodox there. You'd think it'd be real exciting to be praying at the Kotel, but it felt more like it was meant to be. Like I could pray there along with everyone else, yet by myself at the same time. Spent 20 min there, but we go back Sunday. Went to dinner at the other hotel. Cow on the Roof restaurant. Choice- gefilte fish, smoke turkey...chicken consume or cream of pumpkin...chicken, veal, or duck...some interesting dessert. anyways. I better hit the sack now because that's basically been it for the past 2 days. early morning tomorrow as we spend a lot of time in the Old City. Layla tov and l'hitraot.

Oh, 2 quick facts: 1) tourism-65% Gentile, 35% Jewish. 2)Any and all buildings in Jersusalem must have the façade built with limestone. So new buildings and old buildings look similar although many new buildings have it polished to look like marble. However, it doesn't add much color at all to the city itself. I guess if you're steeped in 5,000 years of history, you don't need color.