Last Day in Israel

Today is my last day in Israel. I'm flying out of the country at 7 PM.

I had an amazingly meaningful time here. Out of our 9-day vacation, Boyfriend and I spent 1 day in the mountainous Negev Desert, two days in Eilat (the southern touristy city by the Red Sea, neighboring Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Jordan), one day by the Dead Sea, one day visiting his various relatives in the vincinity of Tel Aviv, and then remaining time in Jerusalem.

And today, we hope to spend the afternoon in Caesaria, an ancient Roman town on the Mediterranean Sea.

So far, my favorite has been Jerusalem. Boyfriend and I spent nearly every day wandering around in the beautiful Old City, with all its houses built in the yellow-white stones . I'm not exxaggerating when I say that every inch of the Old City is covered in history. There are ruins everywhere, some labeled (like the Roman Columns in the Jewish Quarter), some unlabeled (like the over 20 different layers of the city wall that was built and rebuilt over the past 2,000 years.

The Arab markets were particularly fun, and lined all the major and many minor streets and alleys in the Old City. Boyfriend and I spent considerable time walking through them, not because we particularly wanted to buy anything (I for one was terrified of haggling with these aggressive and sophisticated sellers) but because to get anywhere we seemed to have to go through their streets).

We also went to the Western Wall (of course), and the Via Dolorosa (re-traced Jesus's steps) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We wanted and tried several times to go to the Temple Mount, but it was open only at very limited times during the year, and we were never able to make it.

We also spent considerable amount of time in the German Colony, wtih nice cafes and restaurants. Locals told us that nearly all of the cafes on the streets were subject to either deadly bombings in the past few years or unsuccessful bombing attempts. It's amazing that the street was as lively as it was.

On Shabbat, everything really did shut down in Jerusalem. Not even gas stations were open. However, in the considerably more liberal Tel Aviv, we were able to find coffee shops and stores that were open even on Saturday morning. And then, after Shabbatt on Saturday evening, all the stores were open once again and the streets were filled with cars and shoppers.

Our flight is going to reach London this evening and we are spending 12 hours there, then flying tomorrow morning. I'm missing my first day of classes at school, but I don't feel to bad about it since I sourly needed this vacation after the hellish Christmas break I spent studying for torts, crim, and civ pro.

And this has been such a meaningful experience. I really hope to come back someday, and soon.