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Day 3 (Contd)
I was a little sad as we drove into Denver. No more snow! :--( Denver was less colder than Aspen, and was on flat lands, although the elevation is about a mile, hence the name, Mile High City. It was ages that I had experienced the frozen nose tip, frozen toes and frozen fingers. It was ages since I had worn three layers of clothes. It was kinda nice, reminded me a lot of good old days in Madison. That doesnt mean I like cold weather, I used to, but California has spoilt me, and it is nice to visit for a few days. And since there were no snow storms or heavy winds and it was perfectly sunny, I really enjoyed it. Which brings me to another conversation we had with a skiing couple we met. We said where we were from, and they said," The only thing I think of about the place is, its too warm!!" We smiled cordially in response. But, what the heck!! So we analyzed something during lunch. There are two kinds of people, one kind is like this skiing couple, they have been living in cold places and like cold weather, and like winter sports. The other kind has always lived in sunny california, especially the south, by the beach, or in Florida, that cannot take less than 60F weather. They like all the summery sports and those by the beach, the sailing, diving, etc. Guess what, we talked to one such person last winter when we were in Miami, and he said," Wow, that place is cold!!" Perspectives!! And we are in the hanging in the middle kind. Like to put our legs anywhere and everywhere.
Anyway coming back to the story, we stayed in JWMarriott in Cherry Creek which we realized was the upscale side of the town. After going round the block looking for a decent parking, we realized there was only Valet parking. The moment we stopped our car, the guy came to open the car doors for us! That was the moment I started feeling like royalty. ;--) We had stayed in JWMarriott last year same time in Miami Downtown as well. That was much bigger a hotel, and much more royalty. ;--) It was all Sirs and Madams for us which felt good. Of course it also meant we shoud behave properly. When me and DH are together, we behave like nutcases. Especially me. Especially on vacations when nobody around knows us. ;--P There will be an example later in the post at the airport. Thats a good reason why I was quite flustered when we bumped into a friend in Reno during Thanksgiving. Thats the reason why we never get to make friends on our vacations, because we are in our own worlds. No, please dont entertain cheap thoughts.
So anyway, we checked in to our hotel, freshened up and immediately went to the Concierge Lounge for some free gourmet snacks. We sat by the window looking at the city and the mountains, sipping tea, and eating. We didnt have any plan for the evening, we decided to hit the Mall. Which is very unusual of us to do on a holiday trust me. I was pulling DH's leg saying he never got me any gift for Christmas. We were at this handbag shop, Coach. And I was looking at some bags, as my current one is badly in need of replacement. I found this really cute one, multicolored, liked it and put on a paavam face to coax DH into buying it for me. DH laughed and agreed. I was still in a dilemma, when I found the tag. It was a whopping $150!! My dilemma was over ;--) But DH wanted to buy that bag for me! How cute! He pulled me with the bag saying, "Its okay, you dont generally spend too much on such things, its my christmas gift for you, lets buy it"!I was shocked, both with happiness, that DH would do that for me, and because he was ready to do it! I vehemently shook my head. Its insane to pay so much for a bag I would carry to work everyday. Finally we came out of the store empty handed.
We had dinner at Macaroni Grill and went back to the hotel for dessert. There was free dessert in the Conceirge Lounge. I didnt eat anything of course, but DH got a few brownies and gave a longing look at the other delicacies, that he didnt eat. See, thats what happens, I heard recently from someone, when there is ability there is no opportunity, and when there is opportunity there is no ability!!
Day 4
We set out to Colorado Springs to visit Garden of the Gods. We were going down south from Denver, and it wasnt too great a drive. It was a decent place to visit. We went on a short hike around between the rocks, watched the rock climbers. DH immediately wanted to try rock climbing. The place had a number of red rocks standing almost vertically in contrast to the rest of the surrounding areas. These had apparently taken many many years to form. We had lunch at the visitor center, debating if we should go on a bigger hike in the afternoon. We droppped the idea, somehow the hotel seemed more enticing. It was a short day, we started driving back to Denver, I slept while DH drove. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the room, watching TV, browsing the internet, just relaxing, as many would say. We went to the Concierge Lounge, again hoping there would be something to eat, although it was time for evening snacks. The guy there, apologized, I dont know why, and said snacks will be available at half past five. I had a totally vazhiyara look as I looked all around and picked a handful of crunchy tasty snacks they had and some fruits. After a lot of deliberation on what to do for New Years Eve, we decided to keep it quiet. We went to an Indian Restaurant, had masala dosas and vadais. Nothing like Indian food. We came back to the hotel and called it a night. DH thinks we still need to have atleast two more quiet New Years Eve to make up for the one gala night we had last year, in Miami, eating gourmet Indian meal of five courses, on the famed South Beach, for a helfty sum.
Day 5
You know they had a weighing scale in the room? That was not a good idea, totally spoit my vacation. :--P I am kidding of course. There is absolutely nothing interesting to do in Denver! It was a big mistake we didnt stay in Aspen for longer. After debating about a Zoo, or a place called Red Rocks, literally it was Eenie Meenie Mini Moe that saw driving towards Red Rocks Park. Oh and also the recommendation by the hotel desk, who said, RedRocks gives a wonderful panoramic view of Denver from up high. Now who really wants to see the panoramic view of Denver? This place seemed to be much bigger than Garden of the Gods, with much bigger rocks. There was an amphitheater in the middle, where I guess some famous shows have taken place. We got the map of the park and directions for a hike, and set off. This day was the only day that the Sun hid behind the clouds refusing to come out. Till then everyday was bright and sunny.
The trail was damp and a little icy. We had our own kind of fun, walking and laughing. There were supposed to rattlesnakes and mountain lions around the trail. I was praying and hoping we dont sight any, only to realize along the trail that DH was hoping to sight atleast something! I saw some foot prints of animals on the damp ground, and was dumbstruck. "DH, see those foot prints? Do you think there really are mountain lions prowling around?" "I really hope so. We can get to see one then.. But I really think those are of dogs, that people walk on the trail." Phew!! I really thought believed myself for sometime, and walked with my heart on my sleeves, until I saw a family walk along with their dog. See, I really want to do all these interesting dangerous hikes, I dont have the guts, seriously, if not for DH, I would have not even ventured into the hike.
Once we reached the end of the trail, we headed to the airport. DH had incorrectly thought our return flight was at 2PM when it actually was at 6PM. Hence this day was not actually planned. We finally boarded the flight, after a female asked DH if I was under 18. :--( There was a women on Oxygen sitting on the third seat. we heard one of the airhost tell her that because she has the oxygen he will find someone to swap seats at the window. I was stumped. I love window seats. Period. DH also likes window seats. In fact when we were back in college that was the binding factor that helped our friendship grow. We always picked window seats in the same cabin facing each other. Now whenever we travel DH has to give up the window of course, to me, and sit in the not-much-coveted middle seat. This time actually DH, to annoy me, picked two seats, with his name on the window and mine in the middle seat. He kept pulling my leg saying, we have to sit according to the seating assignments. ;--) But of course, we know how it ends. So anyway back to the story. After hearing the hostess, I immediately told DH, " I am not going to agree to switch seats if asked" with a pout. A few minutes later, he asked me. All my resolutions came flying to my mind, much to my consternation. I have to be accomodative, I have to be adjusting. Sigh! I gave up my window seat.
One thing I loved about this holiday was we still had three more days off before getting back to work. One day was spent getting back to routine. One day was spent by me cooking, while DH and my brother spent playing some invasive war game on Wii. I have found a new love for cooking. I am not sure when it will vanish so I am making the best use of it. We had a movie night, I slept as usual of course, I cant stay past my bed time :--P, and DH and brother watched some gripping episodes of 24.
It was not so good getting back to work after such a wonderful time. Things have been pretty busy since Monday. So much so I keep wishing for December 2009 to come already!
Looks like I am done with blogging for the whole year. :--)
I call it Holiday 2008 because I guess this is one real holiday we have had since last year, not counting the small trips we made, not counting the Israel trip, and not counting the trips with family. And I havent written a travelogue in a long time, so you have to bear with it.
Aspen was our choice of vacation, simply because we ran out of other places to visit in Winter. (I would be happy to listen to some choices you guys have to give for a vacation). Apart from the day trips to Tahoe, and the remnants of snow in Alaska in peak Summer, we really had not seen real snow, or been in wintery places for awhile since Europe way back in 2005. And skiing was something both me and DH want to get better at, so Aspen it was. Aspen is considered skiiers' heaven, with Rocky mountains and over 100 inches of average annual snowfall.
Day 0
The two hour flight journey was not too bad, except for the fact that Frontier did not even give us peanuts. But thanks to our parents visit and their preparedness in our trips, we had packed snacks to munch on flight, Sev and Tangerines, and evenpuliodharai in a tiffin box. We landed in Denver at around 2PM. Had lunch at the airport, rented our car, and were on our way to Aspen at around 3:30PM. As I have said many times, I am never enthusiastic about driving at night. More so since I saw Fargo. Snow/ice, night, Nissan Altima, winding mountainous roads, DH at the wheels, and me beside him - not a good combination. :--) It got dark at around 5PM and thats when we entered the mountains and the roads became icy. We didnt have snow chains, since weather prediction was not too bad. As we drove towards Aspen, the road was white and grainy, with ice and snow. We drove past many ski resorts, some beautifully decorated towns like Vail. It was about 8PM, when we reached our hotel. It was freezing cold as we stepped out of the car. For a moment I wondered what the heck were we thinking, deciding to vacation in this cold cold place. ;--)
Day 1
We got up leisurely, as we didnt have much planned for the day. We stayed about 30miles from Aspen, it was very very expensive to stay in Aspen, as we booked out hotel a bit too late. We had a good breakfast at the hotel and drove towards Aspen. It was a beautiful day. We got a little lucky, it had just snowed the previous days, so there was fresh snow everywhere, and it was very sunny. There were homes on the mountains, which looked really picturesque. What a view they must be getting from their windows! The sky was clear, with clouds here and there, the low lying mountains were on all sides on the horizon, the road went right into them. It was too late to ski that day so we went snow-shoeing. It is nothing but walking in snow. ;--) We decided against snow mobiling, as we had already done it once, and it might not give us time to soak in the beauty around us, as manuvering the vehicle would have consumed all our attention.
The road we took, called Maroon Creek Drive, was straight out of a picture, white road, with bare trees on the side, speckled with snow chunks, I have a name for them, snow-flowers ;--), (that is the picture I put on my previous post), with a creek flowing along side the road, as is expected of any snow covered mountain region. It ended at a stables, with wild sheep and horses.
We had a small incident. We parked our car by the stables to enquire about snow-shoeing, we parked on the side of the road over a patch of dried snow. When we tried to take the car out, it was stuck, with the front wheel just rotating on it own, when accelerated without budging out of its place. A truck driver saw us struggling, and helped us. Him and myself, pushed the car from the front, while DH accelerated in reverse, until the car was out of the bad patch of snow. How strong does one have to be to push a car?!
We started walking, err, snow-shoeing ;--). It was cold but sunny as I said earlier. We walked for a couple of hours, met a bunch of skiiers, more snow-shoers, dog walkers, snow mobilers. I was clicking away to glory, everything around me seemed click-worthy. DH wanted to walk in the snow. I pointed to him exactly how deep he legs will have to go in before he could stop, and he immediately dropped the idea. Snow can be really misleading, one can never know how deep the actual ground is. It was crystal white snow, pure and untampered with, glistening in the sunlight. It was beautiful. We walked towards Pyramid Peak, one of the tallest peaks in Aspen. It was oru kallil two mangoes, nice views, plus workout for the day. ;--)
We drove into Aspen town for lunch. I liked the little town immediately. The homes looked pretty with the sloping roofs, with white sparkling snow on them, surrounded by pine trees, also speckled with snow. We were recommended a Pizza place for lunch, which lived to its name.
We went snow tubing or sledding post lunch. Initially I wasnt too excited about it, as only kids were doing it. But later I was like what the heck I can either do it now or never and went for it. It was actually fun. You go to the top of a slope and sit on a sled, in this case a round plastic plate like thing, and force yourself over the slope, until the slope speeds your downward journey. I should say I did enjoy this little adventure. There was always a hazard of bumping into other people, young and old alike. It was very funny, to watch little accidents, where people fell off their wagon halfway through the ride, or bumped into another. You get the idea. I had my share of bumps. Little kids, 2 3 yr olds were having a lot of fun. Some wagons were able to hold upto five little kids, it was a lot of fun to watch them roll down the hill, with the kids screaming. The walk uphill, after every run was good workout. I have to add I was reminded of Calvin on his tobboggan zipping through trees with Hobbes. :--)
It got dark by 5PM, and so we were in our room by then. We watched Aegan that night. When did Nayanthara get so thin? Or is it my eyes?
Day 2
It was skiing day. We woke up early to have as much sunlight as possible to ski. But unfortunately everyone thought the same looks like, it took us over an hour to get our ski gears and head to the lifts. It was a beautiful day just as the prediction said, 20F, no wind, sunny, and clear skies. I actually started sweating a little with all the ski wear, and all the sun. This time I got a little better with my turns, and DH too was good with his turns. I am scared of speed, I am always trying to slow down. But I never thought I would be where I am currently with skiing when I skiied the first time seven years ago. I am asssured that I am leftie. My left leg dominated my right, so right turns are easier for me to make than left turns. My parents must have forced me to write with my right hand. We skiied till the lifts stopped, with a quick break for lunch. The temperature change was sooo apparent once the sun started going down! Made us wonder how much impact Mr Sun has from soo far away on our little planet and on us. We wanted to spend some time of the evening in Aspen, having read so much about nightlife in Aspen. Both me and DH being party poopers, with little interest in gourmet food and absolutely no interest in western music shows, Aspen had nothing much else to offer. We chose an Italian Restaurant where we had salad and soup and brushcetta. Before that we went to an Espresso place to have Coffee and cookie. Roamed around in the bitter cold weather, in the quaint little town that Aspen was, soaking in the rich culture.
If you didnt know, many famous figures like Donald Trump have their holiday homes in Aspen. We were supposed to go on a Lifestyle of the Rich or some such tour in Aspen but it got cancelled at the last minute. We drove back to our hotel, in the night, same icy roads, same old "slow-a po DH! paathu po DH! apdi break podadha DH!!". Had a good night's sleep watching Kung Fu Panda, our bodies were aching big time.
Day 3
Our initial plan was to go to Hanging Lake, but a little research told us it was not so safe in the winter. We decided to go to Glenwood Springs Caverns. We had a hard time finding the place itself, because we thought since it was an adventure park we would see it from faraway also. But turns out, the address we got was that of the tram station. We had to take the tram up to the top of Iron Mountain, where the park was. The tram took us over the top of the scenic Glenwood Canyon, with the Colorado River flowing right in between. We went on the Cavern tour. We werent too excited about it, I will spare you of the pictures, as we have been to Mammoth Caves before, which is one of the largest caves in the country. The Guide was a funny one, she kept the kids in the tour entertained. One has to be very creative in the caves. The last part of the tour was the best, she had saved the best for the last. With lights in appropriate places, the different formations lit up beautifully. Another highlight of the tour was exclamation point. The view from the balcony in the middle of the mountain was truly breathtaking and made me exclaim, thus the point did live up to its name. ;--) After the tour we went on the Alpine Roller Coaster Ride, it was truly awesome. What was different about the coaster was, we had the control, we could break or accelerate as we wanted. DH clicked some pics of ourselves which came out really bad. ;--) We had lunch at the Look Out Restuarant which had a great view of the valley down below. But ya, both of us had salads, the story of our lives.
We started driving towards Denver in the afternoon. The scenery was beautiful. While coming we had driven through all the beautiful scenery in the night. The huge walls of red rocks with snow on them, as the road meandered in between, it was heavenly. I wonder how great an artist the guy who created it all should be ;--) So I clicked away to glory. Then it was my turn to drive. All through this time I had not taken charge of the wheels, fear being the only reason. And when I did. Roles changed. ;--) DH was like,"SK Slow-a po, SK, apdi break podadhe, SK romba orama pogadhe" I was like, " Yaaro enna madhiri pesara madhiri irukku" And DH was quick to retort," Yaaro enna madhiri car ottara madhiri irukku" :--))
We reached Denver in the evening around 5PM. The best part of our stay in Denver was our hotel, stay tuned to hear more about it. :--)
(To be Contd.)
This is a good place to stop, although I am more than half way through the trip. I am pressed for time. Hopefully I will be able to finish the travelogue and not leave it incomplete like my last year vacation.
Before I forget most of the details, I would like to log another of my trips in this space.
The holiest place, or may be the second holiest place for Christians, after The Church of Holy Scepulcher, where Jesus was crucified, is the Church of Nativity, where Jesus was born, in Bethlehem.
Me and DH finished half a day of Jerusalem tour and in the afternoon, headed towards Bethlehem (Please refer to map from earlier posts). There is a huge wall being built separating Israel and Palestine. Bethlehem is in Palestine although its only 10 kms from Jerusalem. The guide said, Jerusalem is now a bit safer for tourists only because of the wall, else we all wouldnt be visiting Jerusalem. We were to get off our van near the wall, at the checkpoint, go through the checkpoint, show our passports, and into Palestine. Our guide was not allowed inside Palestine. No Israelis are. Another guide and van, from Palestine was waiting for us to take us to the Church of Nativity.
A sense of sadness crept into me as I saw 'Peace be with you' written on the Palestine walls.
The moment we entered Palestine, we were able to sense the poverty. There were little kids trying to sell soveniors and postcards, brushing by you, begging to buy. The place looked rundown.
I had my own doubts of whether we needed Israeli Visa to get back to the other side. We had a Single Entry Visa you see. And it certainly didnt seem like fun to be stranded in Palestine. I found the guide and the driver to be very friendly, with lot of warm smiles, unlike those in Israel.
The Church was not magnificent, or splendid, it was an old simple brick structure and we had to enter through a very small door, called the Door the Humility. we had to bend ourselves to enter the holy place. The Church itself was Greek Orthodox. Inside it was very well decorated. We had to go underground, to see the place where Jesus was born and the manger were Jesus was kept. Most of the places of significance we saw was under normal land. The whole story flashed in front of my eyes.
We came back up to see the architecture of the Church, which itself was built many hundred years ago, and had its own history. I said my prayers, we took some pictures and headed out. Once outside, we heard some 'pat pat pat pat' sounds from faraway like gunshots. Most of us got scared and asked the Guide what that was. He laughed and told us it wasnt anything serious.
Most of the colleagues at work had scared me saying its not safe to visit Bethlehem. I was scared too, but what the heck, I probably wont be visiting these places ever again in my life, and these are places worth visiting atleast once in a life time. I decided to just wait for DH to visit and go there together, so that even if something happens, it will affect both of us. Yes, till death do us apart. ;--)
We stopped at a Souvenior shop, did some shopping. I felt sorry for anyone I saw there. I have read about Palestinians and how much they are suffering, and how much injustice was done to them. And here they were going about their normal lives. This is also another first time for me. First time to be in a place of so much tension and dispute. I wonder how they are able to take it. Suddenly they are thrown out of their own homes, and are restricted to this little piece of land, not allowed to use the facilities of the country, like they are not allowed to use the Ben Gurion Airport apparently. The other border countries, like Lebanon and Jordan have been helping them looks like, but not enough. I dont know much about politics, so I cant comment. But I do feel sad to know that these people are not able to lead a normal life.
I havent read much about the Kashmir issue, but I suppose its similar there as well, between India and Pakistan.
Till I visited Palestine, I was afraid of going to the Arab areas in Israel. I guess the fear was instilled into me by people around me. That its unsafe. Well, what about people living there, in 'unsafe territory' day in and day out, every day of every year.
We headed back to the checkpoint. On this side of the wall, which I missed seeing when we entered, was a drawing of a hand, with five fingers, with GOD written on the palm, and on each finger tip was written, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist.
I dont know, I guess its complicated. I suppose its the play of the politicians for money, as some said, playing with people's lives.
The soldier at the checkpoint let us into Israel, as we showed our Passports, they didnt check for Visa. Our guide was waiting for us, we were glad to be back, although my heart was definitely heavy. We were stopped by some more Israeli soldiers, one of whom got into the Van and asked us all to show our passports. And then we were back on our way to Jerusalem, then towards Tel Aviv. These places looked so much nicer and richer compared to Palestine.
Thus ended yet another journey into history.
After I was back I read some more about Palestine. And I read this news. A shiver went through my spine.
It does hurt to see so much grief and dispute.At work, as I have said earlier, all Isralis are supposed to spend three years in army after their schooling. and army calls people to work on Reserve Duty, like how in US we get Jury Duty calls. I have seen people take off from work for weeks. But I am not sure what kind of tasks they are given, mostly desk jobs? They are also caught between the safety of Israelis and the humiliation of Palestinians I suppose. I have no words to say.
****
On a totally different note, today is a special day. SK's budday. What is special about this budday, I realized only now, is SK turns 28 on the 28th of June. And it happens only once. Or who knows, there may be sequels. ;--P
I enjoyed showing around the places I have come to know in the past month to DH. It really felt like the first time when he was in the US and I was showing him around my little city of Madison, its buildings, my work place, the coffee shop, the Union South, the lakes. This time I showed him the crazy drivers on the road, laughing at how they drive always with atleast a wheel on the white line, never within the lanes, the tallest building of Israel, the hotel which happens to be the third tallest building, the stink in the parking lot of the hotel, the guy at the lot entrance who is now a friend, the lady who brings a dark chocolate every evening to my room and so on and so forth.
I without any mercy, made him get ready for a tour at 7:15 the very next day he landed. He had slept for a couple of hours the whole night, and had, ahem, apparently watched me sleep, on and off. But he didnt complain.
We went to Jerusalem first, I showed him all the interesting places, and explained most of the history to him. He said I was his own personal tour guide. We headed off to Masada near the Dead Sea which is the eastern side of the hill on which Jerusalem was located. This other side, was absolute barren land. The green bushes became scantier as we went farther away from Jerusalem. After a while it was as if we entered a whole different picture. A proper desert. without any sand dunes or fine sand. In this desert live a group of people, the Bedouins. They are a nomadic Arab community, which do not like to live in concrete homes. Their homes were literally, sticks with sheets for walls and ceiling. They have very little necessities and their means of living is raising livestock, sheep, camel and donkeys. Only these people live in the scotching Jordean desert.
I was appalled at the way they lived. I tried to relate it to India, and DH said there are poor people living by the dirty river of Chennai day in and day out.
A little history about the Dead Sea. Dead Sea is formed by a natural rift which is supposedly part of the rift between Africa and Asia. As the two continents separated a small rift formed the Dead Sea. It is the lowest point on earth on dry land. 400meters below the sea level.
We crossed the point which was exactly sea level, and there after within 20kms distance we went down 400meters. My ears popped! It was not like going underground, it was just like driving down a mountain slope. Apparently all the extra oxygen in this part below the sea level is good for one's health. Also the harmful rays of the sun cannot reach this place, and hence this place is good to heal skin ailments.
Our first stop was the Ahava factory outlet store. They sold all kinds of cosmetics made from the Dead Sea mud, which is supposed to be packed with mineral salts.
We also saw a couple of Oases, yes, real ones, in the middle of a real desert! A group of palm trees, green in the middle of barren yellow. We also passed by the Caves of Qumran where the original Bible scrolls written many years ago was found intact recently. Long history, no enthu to write. I think we passed through WestBank, not sure, as we did see signs to Jericho, which is in WestBank.
There on we headed to the Masada. It was a fort cum palace built by Kind Herod. Err, just the remains of the fort as it was built over 2000 years ago. It was very very hot. We took a cable car to the top of a cliff where the fort was built. It is history that a group of Jews found refuge from the Romans and hid here, and Romans spent many months trying to destroy the barriers and kill the people in the fort. Long story short, the 1000 people in the Fort didnt want to be killed by the Romans and hence killed themselves. All this history might be interesting for the Amrikans, not for us Indians right.
So we looked around the ruins, the bathhouses, the Palaces, the cisterns to hold water, the ramp the Romans built to break the Fort etc. It was super hot. The Dead Sea was visible far away, looked forlorn, not at all deadly, but sad and mysterious.
It was a relief to get back into the AC in a shop for lunch. My God, I wondered how the Bedouin people live, and how the people lived in this fort so many years ago. It was really really hot, 100 plus F for sure. Which makes me wonder if the overall temperature of the earth was lesser than it is now, what with global warming and all. Imagine, these people were these long robes, fully covering themselves, they must be insane to do that in this hot weather.
DH loved the falafels he had here. After lunch we set off to a Spa near the Dead Sea. So the dead sea is land locked with the inlet being the Jordan River and the only outlet being evaporation. So the concentration of the minerals and salts in the Sea has been increasing for years now. Dead Sea is ten times more saltier than normal sea. And hence it supports no living organisms and hence its name.
We stepped into a Sulphur pool, which was at 100deg, first before entering the Dead Sea, floated for ten minutes. They warned us to take off our Silver ornaments, or gold coated silver ornaments, as sulphur turns silver black.
Then we headed to the Sea itself. It was super hot, impossible to step on land without slippers. DH headed to the swamps to cover himself in mud. Hehe, yes, it was a green-black mud, near the sea, which was supposed to be very good for the skin. The Ahava people make mud masks and other cosmetics out of the Dead Sea mud. I covered myself with the mud as well, and took the customary, dipped in mud pictures. Our guide said that after a few minutes with the mud on and a dip in the dead sea, we will look atleast five years younger.
Dead Sea shore is shared between Israel, West Bank and Jordan. The Sea might have looked beautiful but for the haziness, it was definitely not fog in this weather. The guide said it was hazy because a lot of evaporation was going on. The other side of the Sea is Jordan.
We went into the water. It was muddy, but the mud was supposed to be healthy! It was super exciting to find my legs automatically be lifted up, it was so difficult to sit or stand, but easy to float! It was unbelievable. We floated on the water, DH danced a little, wiggling his body, it is definitely impossible to drown in the Dead Sea. The guide warned us not to try to swim, as if the water gets into the eyes, one might be blind for a few minutes.
We got back to the buildings showered, and had cold icecream for the heat.
I have heard of Dead Sea and read about it before, but I never thought in my life that I would actually see it for real. Not only see it but also experience the increased density of water, causing me all my weight to bob like a cork.
PS: And I just realized with all the fun we had I forgot to click pictures for the blog, there are no pictures without us of the Dead sea up-close! The floating pic is from Wikipedia.
I visited Jerusalem yesterday. It was an intriguing, emotionally exhausting, thought provoking and finally, haunting trip.
I know not many like to read winding tales with minute details of the trip, so I will try to keep it short and precise.
Drive
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is about 60Kms only, it took 45mins to reach Jerusalem. It is very near Palestine border, infact they wanted to split Jerusalem into two parts and then somehow they decided to keep the city whole. Lot of police on the highway and lot of security, as Mr Bush was visiting and he was due to go to the airport, fly to Saudi. Israel Museum in Jerusalem was closed as thats where he was having his meeting. Jerusalem is beautifully set on top of mountains. We had to drive between Mt. Judea and Mt. Samaria. The drive was beautiful in its own way. Not lush green or magnificent, but it looked like it had seen a lot, endured a lot, if you know what I mean. We drove past the place where Jesus was supposed to have appeared to two of his disciples after his resurrection. We also drove past the place where Elizabeth, John the Baptist's Mom and Dad had lived. It was mind blowing to think that characters that we read in the Bible, images of whom are in my mind from the Episodes of Biblical stories shown on TV, lived and walked in this place, over 2000 years ago.
Holocaust Museum
The museum was made to look like a concentration camp. I knew what to expect, as I had read about it a lot. I kept my heart hard and went. I held my forte, my emotions for most of the museum. But I broke, when I came to some videos and pictures. Videos that break your heart, that trigger anger towards those who did not treat human beings like human beings. I shed a few tears. 6million Jews were murdered apparently. The guide said not to think of it as just a number. For reference, there are currently 6 million Jews in Israel. Calculate the magnitude. A whole country was murdered. There was a Children's Memorial as well. 1 yr, 2 yr old kids were killed as well, and they were used for medical research. This quote I remember "There were no Children in the camps. only little Jews".
New Jerusalem
We drove past new Jerusalem. It mostly had the parliment house of Israel and all the other important, but uninteresting buildings like Defence Ministry, Foreign Affairs etc. As Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. We drove past the rich neighbourhood of Jerusalem where all the big politicians, actors etc lived. More importantly I was able to observe the homes in Jerusalem. They were different. All the homes are made of stone. And built like in the olden days. All buildings were stone colored, the uniformity is beautiful.
Tomb of david, Room of Last Supper
King David built Jerusalem about 3000 years ago, 900BC. The Star which is the Jewish Symbol and which is in the flag of Israel is the Star of David. This is the only place where there is a Synagogue, a Church and a Mosque in the same building. The ground floor was the tomb, which is a Synagogue, first floor is a church, the room of Last Supper. The actual place where Jesus and his disciples sat and ate the day before Jesus was crucified! The church here is also the first ever Gothic structure built. Gothic structures are characterized by the arches, you see in most churches. I didnt any any magnificent structures, because most of the structures are of historic significance. I saw a group from India, Christian Tamilians on a Bible Tour, aunties in sarees. My parents will also probably do this trip once.
Old Jerusalem Streets
We got out of the bus, and entered the Old Jerusalem through the gates. They have tried to keep Old Jerusalem as old, save the old structures as much as possible. We passed through the Armenian Quarter and went into the Jewish Quarter. Old Jerusalem is split into four Quarters, Armenian, Jewish, Muslim and Christian. In the Jewish Quarter we saw the Cardo (cardio), which means 'heart' of Jerusalem during David's time. the road which was the main road of Jerusalem, was preserved. And yes it is over 2000 years old. It is very easy to get lost in the Old City, as its all tiny streets, what we call 'sandhu's. We also saw remains of the Jerusalem Wall, also built thousands of years ago. We passed the Muslim Quarter and then went to the Christian Quarter. Here we had our Lunch at a local shop. Shawarmas are supposed to be very famous here, I had Falafel in Pita for 25 shekels. The cheapest meal I have had in Israel, if I dont count the times I skipped meals.
Tour group
Let me stop to say a little about the tour group itself. The guide was ok, cannot match our Guide, Luc, in Europe, but still ok. There were two other Indian guys. One guy came and talked to me, the other didnt. I made friends with an Aussie Lady. She was good company. Atleast I was able to talk with her and relate with her. She was quite well travelled, made me want to travel more. There was a Polish guy I made friends with too. He looked very lost, and geeky. Others were from UK, South America, Turkey, Italy and US as far as I knew. Yeah, the friend, wasnt interested in coming, so I went on my own. I thought I would feel like a loser, but surprisingly I quite enjoyed the tour.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
After lunch we set off to the Church of the Sepulchre or the Church of Resurrection. This Church is built on top of the stone on which Jesus was crucified. Again, pullarichifying. Saw various places of significance with respect to the crucifixion. The Church is being fought over between many Christian denominations apparently. Its pathetic. I have to visit this Church again, some other time, without a tour guide to rush us. This is supposed to be the Holiest of places. We could get anything blessed here.
Via Dolorosa
Via Dolorosa also known as Way of Sorrow is the path taken by Jesus from where he was sentenced, to the Golgotha the rock on which he was crucified. They are the Stations of the Cross. Every Friday before Easter, we pray concentrating on the different Stations in the Church. And now I actually walked the real, stations of the cross! I have no words to describe what went through me. The way is now filled with shops and all, but still. The image that came to my mind is from movies. I have to come here too again.
Western wall
We passed through security to visit the Western Wall. For those who are lazy to click the link to know what it is, here is a gist. So King Solomon son of David, built the First Temple of God 3000 years ago. It was destroyed. And then Herod rebuilt it. That was also destroyed. I dont know how many times it was destroyed but now, there stands a Mosque,called Dome of the Rock, which is actually once converted from a Church. So much for the holiness of the place itself. Of the destroyed Second Temple, which is Holiest of the Holiest place for the Jews, only the Wall remains. The belief is that God resides in that Wall as well. The Guide said it is the Almighty God, not specific to a religion, so anyone can go and pray. There were separate entrances for Men and Women and I had to wear a shawl to cover my arms before entering. I touched the wall and prayed for the well being of everyone. People stick notes in the crevices of the Wall. God reads them apparently. The bottom of the wall, is very old, and then over it for some height was the wall built second time, and then the top was all rebuilt and not so old as the bottom part of the wall.
Mount of Olives
Here on we got into the bus to drive to Mt of Olives. This has much significance in both Jewish and Christian faith. This is where Jesus was praying when he was arrested. I havent been to those places yet. I have to make another trip to Jerusalem. For some more History, the Guide said this, I am not sure how true it is. Adam and Eve when they were thrown out of the Garden of Eden, came into this world here, the place where the First Temple was built, and where the Dome of the Rock stands now. So Jews and Christians also looks like believe that God will come to the Valley between the Mt Olives and the Jerusalem, on Judgement Day, and hence the Mt Olives side looking the City of Jerusalem is a Cemetery with lot of Jews buried here.
Last but not the least I saw a real Camel for the first time in my life! I wanted to go on a ride, but I will have to do it another time.
There is so much history, most sites here are Archeological Sites. I was awestruck when I visited the Vatican City, the St Peter's Basilica, but this experience surpasses that. It was a wonderful, thought provoking, one-of-a-kind experience, that I will remember for years to come.
Phew! I thought I will never be able to finish this post. But I did. I left out a lot of details, but atleast I could write this much. I wanted to post lot more pictures but I am losing patience with blogger's picture upload.
Err.. and I just saw the size of the post, it is huggge. A special thanks to those who reach the end. I guess such trips can never be written concisely. Sigh!
I was dreading this weekend, as it was a long weekend. 3.5 days of holidays. Wednesday was Fallen Soldiers Memorial Day, Thursday was Israel's 60th Independence Day, Friday and Saturday the usual weekend.
As is obvious, the patriotism amongst the Israelis is immense. All of past week I saw cars with the flags on them, buildings having huge flags hung on them. The whole place near the hotel looked very festive, all decorated.
But we were not sure it would be safe to go anywhere on Independance Day especially Jerusalem, as it was feared that there might be attacks on Israel on this day. There was extra security at the border of West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Friday, myself, B, and two other colleagues set off to Rosh Hanikra, at the Israel Lebanon border. Since I didnt plan the trip and since there is not so much information online on these places and also as I am still am not able to relate to distances in Kms, I realized how much of Israel we had covered only when I saw the map. ;--)
The yellow border on the top is the Lebanon border. The Red border in the middle is the WestBank border. Click on the pic for better resolution.
We started near Tel Aviv at around 8AM, I think. I dont have a watch. My time references are the clock on the TV in the room, my laptop, time in the car. The cellphone has some random time, and I havent bothered to check how to fix it. So if I am outside, I am clueless about the time.
We crossed Herzliyya, Netanya, Haifa, got lost a little in Haifa as we had to go through the 'downtown' of Haifa, Akko, Nahariya to Rosh Hanikrah. I liked Haifa instantly. Grass is always greener on the other side I suppose. Our Haifa site overlooks the Mediterranian Sea. Haifa is like the Silicon Valley of Israel. There is Technion in Haifa which is supposed to be the MIT of Israel.
By 10:30 we were near our destination. We saw a sign which said, "Caution, Border Crossing ahead!" There were these mountains beyond which was Lebanon. I had to wonder, how the people near the border lived every single day at the edge?! This area was war prone only two years ago! It must be like living in Kashmir?! I am not able to comprehend how powerful the rockets that went all the way from Lebanon to Haifa would have been!
Israel borders so many countries, I am sure I will 'see' them from a distance even if I dont visit them ;--)
Rosh Hanikrah is a place where there are grottos, caves formed by sea water currents gnawing into cracks on rocks by the sea.
Rosh Hanikrah is a tourist place, only for the locals and not for international travellers like us. ;--) International tourists mostly visit Jerusalem, for religious reasons. So one person was curious to know as to how we landed in this place.
This is a view from the top of the cliff of the road we took to reach this place. The drive was a coastal drive, with many 'natural' beaches along the way, with the coastline giving us company. We couldnt get lost. We had to take a short ride in a Cable Car to go down to the Sea. The fee is 42 Shekels, expensive in my opinion. We went into the caves and saw at different places where the sea was gushing into the grottos. The camera was not able to capture it all that well.
Once out of the caves, we were out on the rocks looking at the sea. The rocks were limestone I think, the white color looked amazing against the sea color. Then we went to the tunnel where we saw a video of the formation of this place. It was in some language, we didnt have the patience to wait 30mins to see it in English.
Ok, now for some History lesson. This place was actually a tunnel built by the British in 1941 for transportation between Tel Aviv and Beirot in Lebanon. In 1948 when Israel got Independance, they blew the tunnel at this place, to prevent terrorists apparently. We went to the end of the tunnel, the other end of the tunnel was Lebanon. I have never been to the border of any country, so I was a good experience for me. How do they mark these territories? Till here is Israel, from here is Lebanon?
We saw some markers, floaters on the sea as well, we thought it might be the border in the sea as well. We were not sure.
Here is a picture I took of the mountain which separates Israel and Lebanon. You can also see the Israeli flags on cars in the parking lot.
By noon we were out of there. We drove to Haifa, and looked for a place to eat. We saw this beautiful place which really stood out from the rest of the place, as we were driving, and I realized it was the Bahai Gardens of Haifa. Haifa is a city set between the Carmel Mountains and Sea. There were many houses in the mountains slopes, with a great view of the Sea. We saw some tall buildings on the slopes as well, wondering how such tall buildings stood on the slope.
Back to the Bahai Gardens, it was news to me that Lotus Temple in Delhi is a Bahai Place of Worship as well. Although I have been there, and I remember that it was a place with lot of seating, where people just come and sit in silence, I didnt know aboutBahai Faith then. It is always nice to visit a place with the back up of all the information, so we can appreciate the place much better.
The place was very well maintained, the garden looked beautiful from outside, even from far away. We were on the street right in front of the Bahai Gardens, we had to grab something to eat. There were a lot of restaurents on the street, it was a German Colony. Israel has Jewish Refugees from all over Europe. Friend B said this place was a Mafia place, and that all the restaurents were owned by them, only after we were back.
We went to a Lebanese-French Restaurent. Had amazing food and dessert, with some Indian Chai. After the food we just wanted to lie down and sleep! We were in no mood to walk the slope to the Temple. But we did. The front entrance to the Temple was closed, and the guard said the garden entrance is open. He showed us some back way to enter the Gardens. We climbed a bunch of steps. The steps seemed never ending. So many, I was huffing and puffing by the time we reached the top. BUT, I got to see more Israeli homes, middle class homes. I saw an Arab girl with her head covered walk by, so may be it was an Arab neighbourhood, I had no idea. There were homes on the sides, I wondered how did these people manage to bring stuff to their homes?! These stairs were killing.
We were disappointed that after walking so much, only a teeny portion of the Garden was open, it was soo not worth the walk. We were not even able to get a view of Haifa from the top, it was not so good. But my exercise for the day was done. We came down the same way back to the German Colony. We got to our car to realize we had gotten a ticket! Apparently there was a parking ticket machine, where we had to buy a ticket, to park. What the heck! Everything is in Hebrew, how the hell would we know?! We didnt understand the ticket as well as it was in Hebrew, we stopped a passerby to ask and they said we had to pay a 100shekels fine! It was a bummer.
We reached our hotels by 5PM in the evening. A day well spent. Finally I got to see the real Israel, not the fancy schmancy pseudo Israel.
**
Today I got to see real Israeli Soldiers with big guns! While I was going to the Church in Old Jaffa Tel Aviv.
Most Israeli people have to be in the army after high school. It is mandatory. After serving for a few years they return back to college and work. Which is why most of the people at work look older inspite of being less experienced in work. Even women have to be serve in the army.
We havent seen many beggars here. I think its because everyone gets to be in the army and earn some money.
Israel Independance Day is known as the Day of Catastrophe for the Palestinians as that was when they were thrown out of their homes in Israel.
I am beginning to like trying out different restaurents to eat. As that is the only pass time for us. Food is expensive. A decent meal cost about 80shekels. Buffet at the hotel is 150shekels!
Boss back home, when he heard we are not going out much on weekends,gave us 'improvement required' for 'having fun in Israel' :--)
Only when I go out with others to see places, I realize how much nicer it is to go with DH. I am glad DH is as interested in travel and history as I am.
The long weekend is almost over, back to work tomorrow.
