Our Travels

I have many, many pictures of our travels in Israel. And a few early morning drawings, too. However, I cannot seem to upload to my website, either through WordPress or through Dreamweaver. So I may need to wait until I return to the U.S. to start to post photos. Update: I just got a free ftp program to upload a picture for me (FileZilla). So a few pics will be posted soon.

We spent a whole week in the Galil, a few days in the lower Galil on my cousin’s yishuv (a settlement in which almost everyone goes outside of yishuv to work, and families own their own homes, as opposed to a kibbutz, which is jointly owned) and a few days in Kfar Blum, a lovely kibbutz hotel. Breakfast at the hotel was splendid: fruits, salads, cheeses, a variety of breads and spreads, scrambled eggs, sunny side up eggs, omelets made on the spot, fluffy pancakes, croissants, orange and grapefruit juice, tea with fresh mint and lemon on the side, and good coffee, too. But my laptop didn’t talk to the hotel’s wireless.

We hiked Tel Dan and Banias (in the Golan). Tel Dan worked out better than Banias, because it had a combination of cool shade and a bit of archeological digs that were in sunnier spots. There was a great wading pool at Tel Dan. At Banias, my husband had memories of swimming there in 1975. Unfortunately, we didn’t read the brochure, which clearly said “NO SWIMMING”. So my kids thought they were going on a short hike with a swim at the end, and we went on a long hike with a lovely waterfall at the conclusion, but no swimming allowed. So unfortunately my kids will have frustrating memories of Banias.

Before leaving the Galil, we went to Rosh Hanikra. I have great photos from that lovely spot up in the farthest north-western spot of Israel. The British built a railroad here that was supposed to provide transportation to Turkey and then further up to Europe, and it brought military aid in the fight against the Nazis. Some survivors from Nazi Germany were able to make it through the tunnel and into Palestine. During the war, however, the tunnel was blown up. It is a shorter distance to Beirut from Rosh Hanikra than to Jerusalem.

We also visited Tsfat, one of my favorite spots in Israel, Tiberias, and Luna Gal, a waterpark near the Kinneret. On Friday we went to Neot Kedumim, an archeological and nature park with many signs of phrases from Tanakh (Bible) and from the Talmud. This is being posted from Hashmonaim, a town about one-third the size of Highland Park. Quite a few ex-Highland Parkers have made this town their home.

We will be spending the last few days of trip in Jerusalem.