This Tastes Salty!

When we woke up we packed right away and went straight to the spa alongside the Dead Sea, where we had more sulphur baths. These ones stung like a hornet wherever you had the tiniest cut or rash. Then we went to a mud pit, where there was a bunch of mud that you could put all over yourself. There were these huge pits where you could sit and slap mud over you, or you could stand in the pits or you could take mud out of the pits and put it on you. You could even have a mud fight. The mud was really dark brown and pretty cold, but there was really nothing in it,and it was really gooey. It would have felt really good on a hot day, although today was not a hot day. Then we walked to the water of the Dead Sea, where, for about ten yards from the sea, there was only salt on the ground. We even saw a sign that seemed to have fallen into the sea at some point, but now it looked more like a sign-shaped salt lick! And you physically could not swim in the water, you could only float and paddle in it, it is impossible to actually swim! And you can't get completely under.

Then we left and went up a wadi, which is a canyon with a river that can be sometimes completely dry. We saw more rock rabbits, and on the way out we saw some ibexes. I would absolutely have loved to swim in some of the wadi's pools, but unfortunately my bathing suit was still in the car and we had no time to go and get it...

Afterwards, we went to a store that was kind of hidden within kibbutz Ein Gedi, and bought food to eat in the car ride for lunch. Then we drove all the way to Jerusalem, where we had a hotel that I absolutely loved. For dinner we went to an Arab restaurant. Because it was the New year, the people at the restaurant could not wait for us to leave so that other people could come in that were celebrating the new year.

Masada

When we woke up we packed and started driving South along the Jordan for a few hours until we were at the dead Sea. We kept on driving till we got to a kibbutz called Ein Gedi. The whole time we were driving we were going past only desert. When we got to Ein Gedi we just unpacked, and went to another place called Masada which is a famous old Jewish settlement that the Romans conquered. What they did is that they went all around it so the Jews inside could not get food or water, but the Romans still could not get in. Then they built a huge ramp up the cliff and finally broke through the wall. So the Jews decided to commit suicide, the men killed their wives and children, then they chose ten men to kill all the others, then they chose one man to kill the other nine men and himself.

Masada is built on a huge hill, and it takes about an hour to walk up it. Susan, Aaron, Amy and my dad all walked up it. My mom, John, Josh, my brother and I just took a gondola up it, which took us about three minutes. We saw a big wall around the whole top of the mountain, the palace of Herod, and some huge cisterns. I was really tired, and I felt like sitting down rather than walking all around. From the top, you could see a bunch of Roman camps that were all around Masada.

We went back to kibbutz Ein Gedi. Then my brother, Josh, my mom and I went to the swimming pool. Then we had dinner at the dining hall and turned in.

Swimsuit String

We woke up in kibbutz Bet Alfa and went to a place called Hamat Gader, which has huge sulphur baths and a crocodile farm. At Hamat Gader we found out that my swim suit was way too big for me, and, if I did not put a rope around it, it would just fall. Susan, my friend Josh's mom, gave me a piece of string to tie around my waist to hold it up. I did not really like the baths that much, because I did not like the sulphur at all, and we couldn't go under water because of the sulphur. And, it was too hot for me. So, after a while, I got out. Then my mom bought me a different swim suit and I went back him for a little bit. A really cool thing they have was that, underneath the sulphur baths, they were other, way smaller sulphur bath, where you would sit down,and all the water from the top would come down in waterfalls over the seats, so you could sit in a waterfall of hot water. But I still got out before everybody else.

After that we went to the crocodile farm, which was awesome because there were all sorts of crocodiles and alligators there. The coolest type, I thought, were the gavials which are alligators that have snouts that are as skinny as the handle of a hammer. Then we went to a lunch which, I must say, was one of the best lunches that trip. It was pizza and gelato.

Then we went to a really awesome place called Beit Shean, which is the ruins of an old Roman settlement. But it's still really cool. Right when you get in Beit Shean there is a huge street, that probably used to be the main street when it was actually inhabited. Right next to it, on both sides, it had a bunch of columns. On the sides of the columns was where everything was. On the right side was an area which is kind of like a maze, and as I said earlier I like mazes. Closer to the entrance was the amphitheater. On the left side of the columns were a bunch of big bath houses. On the very very end of the street was a big tall hill which is a tell, and which is part of Beit Shean. On the right of the tell is a really big bridge, that I had not noticed from the tell, but that I saw on the town replica. And to the right of the place that was like a maze was something that looked a lot like a graveyard, but I am not sure what it was. At the beginning we went to the amphitheater. Then we went into the area that looks like a maze and it was really fun. Then we went up the tell. But Josh and I went down way early and played by the amphitheater. Earlier we had seen a bunch of kids that were climbing over a fence that you were not supposed to go over to get to this one place where Josh and I found a hidden spiral staircase that went right by the other side of the fence, so you could go there without having to climb the fence. It also went to the very very top of the amphitheater, and to one other place that was in the middle of a few bushes.

Then we went back to Bet Alfa, and had dinner at another kibbutz next door. After dinner, Josh and I made pictures, but then Josh started helping me with mine which was a war between a supervillain that I made up called King Squiggle and a superhero that I made up called King Straightline. I thought you should know that.

Buy Sweater, Lose Sweater

We had good waffles at the Frankels, then we went to a town called Tsfat, that is completely built out of little hills. The upper town is a few centuries old, and it is inhabited by people. At Tsfat we walked around, and Josh and I both got sweaters saying "Israeli Defense Forces", in green for Josh and black for me. During lunch, my little brother was playing with a dog that he saw for the whole meal. After lunch we went back to the Frenkels, and Josh and I played in the rocks until our last moment there, since we were leaving soon. Then I put my sweatshirt down the rocks, and then got a cut on my foot which took my mind off my sweater.

We left The Frenkels, and started driving south towards kibbutz Bet Alfa, where we were going to stay for the night. We drove by the Golan hills, and to the Jordan river. When we arrived in Bet Alfa, it was night. I noticed I was missing my sweater. We looked everywhere, then I remembered: I had left it at The Frenkels. We could not go back and get it, so we just had to accept the fact that it was lost. We had a pretty good dinner at the kibbutz for Shabbat that evening.

Olive Pies

At The Frenkels, we had a delicious breakfast that was hand-made by the people there, the best breakfast we had in the whole trip. There were home made mini-croissants, a bunch of rolls, great juices, salads, home-made jams, really good fruits, and the second day there were really good waffles.

First we went to a little town in the Golan called Katzrin. Josh and I played a lot in the ruins and spied on our parents while they were visiting. There was a marketplace, a synagogue and a few old houses from fifteen centuries ago. We also saw an old olive press, and when the olives where done being pressed, they kinda looked like cow pies.

Then we went up to the hills to see the abandoned Syrian city of Kuneitra, and the border with Syria. Then we saw a memorial to all the soldiers who died in the Yom Kippur war with Syria. We had lunch in a Druze village where we had very good falafel. Then we went to Nerom Golan. It is a fighting post against the Syrians. It was really cool, also, because there were so many little passageways, old turrets, guns, and bunkers. Josh and I played there for ages. The story of the war is that on Yom Kippur, when most of the soldiers were home, the Syrians attacked Israel with thousands of tanks. Avigdor Kahalani, one commander, had only about 18 tanks and 24 men, and they resisted for 2 days and they pushed back the Syrians, until reinforcements arrived.

From there we drove further North to Mivzar Nimrod. On the way we saw a modern fort, used nowadays, that had a bunch of awesome tanks. We also drove by the source of the Jordan river in Banyas. Nimrod is a castle of the hashishins, which is where the word "assassin" came from because they were all assassins. But it was closed when we arrived. Then we went to a nature reserve, also closed. We had a great dinner at an Arab restaurant, then went back to The Frenkels.

Avocado Machine

In the morning we went to Kibbutz Ein Hashofet to visit the whole kibbutz. We went to the area where the cows were milked. We did one of the funnest things of the day, which was picking avocados. We got into a machine that had wheels on the bottom, and a crane that was holding you in a giant bucket where you could control the motion of the crane. We also saw a place where they raised all the little chicks. It was really hot, and the guide told us there were 10,000 chicks there.

Then we left and drove to a tell called Megiddo. A tell is a hill where, on top, there is the newest layer where people settled. Underneath is another layer for the people a century before, then underneath another, then another, then another... So basically, it's a place with layers from different centuries on top of each other. In the entrance of Megiddo, there is a model where you press buttons to show lights to see where things are and where parts can lift up to show layers underneath. It was a pretty cool model. Then we walked up to the tell and looked around. The oldest layers of the tell were about 55oo years old. After that we went into a really big tunnel that was hundreds of yards long, and probably at least 100 feet deep. The reason they had the tunnel was to get water inside the city because the spring was outside the city walls, and they connected the tunnels with underground springs so that, when they were surrounded by enemies, they could still get water through the tunnel without having to leave the city. The tunnel came up at the edge of the outside road, so we had to walk 20 minutes outside the tell so that we could come back to the entrance.

Then we drove to the sea of Galilee, where we were staying, at a place called The Frenkels. Right when we got there, we saw this weird animal called the hyrax or a rock rabbit that we had never seen before. Right next to the house there was a line of huge rocks that was about 100 feet long, and Josh and I spent a long time in them while we were staying there. We even made a fort in there!
In the evening we drove to Rosh Pina, which is a old Jewish settlement from the 1800s. Then we had sandwiches and hummus for dinner at home.

Technion

Today we had breakfast at the kibbutz, then went to Haifa, which took a really long time. We visited a university called Technion, whic is a science and math univeristy, where they do a lot of things with space. They help with high tech research for the army, and pretty much everything else you can think of that you can do in science.

My mom, Ruti, Josh and I left early to visit the Bahai temple, which is mostly huge gardens that are really pretty. Then we drove back, had dinner out, and turned in early.

My Tree Defies Gravity

After another good breakfast at the hotel, we went to a city called Old Yaffo, where we stopped at a plaza and waited by a lemonade stand for Josh's family. Old Yaffo is very small, and pretty much no streets, it is mostly made of tiny alleys, and all the houses are made of stone. It is also right next to the sea. While the parents went on talking, Josh and I ran through all the tiny alleys and usually would go with Kaelan to try to find us. We went through alleys, and also through a tiny little park where we could hide. We found, in particular, four very cool alleys. The fourth one was very awesome: you could go on for a very long time, then take a left, then go straight, take another left, then a right, then you found yourself in a real street with cars, on the far other side of the plaza. It only took about 3 minutes to get back to the plaza, but, still, nobody was expecting us to be so far. Also, coming back, we had a very good view, since we had to go through the park on the top of the hill. This whole alley thing is pretty complicated and I could go on for a long time. Then we walked around a bit. We saw a tree that was in a pot hanging by strings connected to other houses, which made the tree hang in the air. Because the strings were see-through, it looked like the tree was floating. We ate lunch at a really good restaurant where I had some oven baked St Peters fish that only comes from lake Kinneret, that is, the sea of Galilee, but it doesn't really matter, does it?

After lunch Josh came in our car, and we drove North along the sea until we arrived to a place called Cesarea, which is an old Judeo-Roman settlement where there are pretty much no rules, so you can go around wherever you want, and there is a beach right next to it. We went to the beach and skipped rocks for a long time. Then we went around the whole place. It was really cool because there were many places to hide and sneak around in. Josh and I could have stayed there for ages, but we had to go. There was a circus where they had chariot races along the sea. Behind all that, there was a big amphitheater. Well, it was small for an amphitheater, but it was still big. When we were leaving, Josh and I decided to climb on a big pile of rocks. When we went down it on the other side, we found a sign that said "no climbing".

We drove to a kibbutz called kibbutz Dalia where we were staying. Then we met the others at Kibbutz Ein Hashofet where they were staying. There we met a really nice kibbutz member named Ruti who was a friend of John. It was a really nice kibbutz, but I did not like the food that much at the dining hall. When we we went back to our kibbutz to go to sleep, we saw this cat who was always hanging around our door. He came back a bunch of times throughout our whole stay.

The Night we (Almost) Lost my Brother

We had a really good breakfast at the hotel, then we went to the University of Tel Aviv to meet all of my friend Josh's family. We were late because we got lost a million times trying to find it. When we got there we met Josh's father John at the entrance, and he took us to to where the others where. The others are Josh's Mom Susan, his 15 year old brother Aaron (...ooops... I mean 16, sorry Aaron!), and his 18 year old sister Amy. Amy and Aaron, if you are reading this, I'll have you know that I am only putting down your ages so that people will know you are not just one or two years older than Josh!First we saw films of how people used to live back then. Then we saw models of probably 60 different synagogues around the world, some of which we had already seen for real. Then we saw archaeological remnants of old things from the time.

Then we went to the Museum of the Palmach, which is a very good unit of the early Israeli army. In the museum, it showed their life and what was going on during the whole war of Independence. In the war, not many of them lived through. Mind you, this isn't the American war of Independence, it's the Israeli war of Independence. I really liked it because they actually had things moving and the backgrounds of the places where they were, and in one place they even had the area where we were turn into two sections. I think it was a pretty good setup.

Then our family went to see some business colleagues of my Mom's. They were really nice, and my brother danced with the woman whose name was Myriam. My brother actually wanted to stay and live with her. They gave us lots of candy and presents. My brother received a stuffed animal and some fish that grow when you put them in water, and I got a really cool game. At the restaurant, I felt a bit sick, and fell asleep in the car ride back home.

I'll order a Translation Times Two Please

On this trip we are leaving Barcelona for good. I admit I'll miss it a bit, but still I think I'll like it better in Paris. Right now we are going to Israel for two weeks before we get to Paris. We left really early and got to the airport at about 6:35 AM and barely made the plane. When we got to Zurich we had to run to get to the tram which made really weird mooing sounds by the way. We almost missed this plane too! The good thing about this plane is that it had TVs on it. That's what I love about Swissair. Any flight that is longer than one hour gives you personal TVs. We landed in Tel Aviv about 2:30PM. By the way all of the places that I am talking about here are in Israel. When we got to the airport we had a snack of Pringles (sour cream and onions) while we were waiting for my dad to get a phone chip. Then we got the rental car and drove to the hotel. My brother and I both slept in the car while my parents checked in.

I woke up on the ride to dinner which was with a bunch of my family that I hadn't met yet. When we got to the restaurant they gave me and my brother presents since it was the first time we had ever met. Mine was a Tech Deck skateboarding side bowl with metal ramps to grind on. I really liked it. We met my dad's cousin David and his wife, my cousin Yuval who is my age, and his parents Elie and Avital, who are also my dad's cousins, and mine. Yuval doesn't speak French or English, only Hebrew, so we had to talk using hands and sign language. We got along pretty well but I bet we both wanted a translator - especially him. He probably wanted two since I spoke some French and some English to him. Some of the adults spoke only Hebrew, some only English and some spoke both, plus French. You can imagine how confusing this was.

I got huge ribs to eat and I got a chocolate Marquis for dessert. When we left it was about 10:30 or 11:00 PM. When we got to the hotel I found out that for one of the only times on the trip I had my own room (attached to my parents'), and what's even better is that I had my own TV. That's pretty much all there is to say about that.

All Caught up

I am finally caught up with all my blogs so now I am working on answering all my e-mails - sorry it is taking me so long! Everytime we go on a trip I have to write a bunch of blogs AND I get a bunch of extra homework. This means trouble!

Also at the end of this week I am leaving for Israel for two weeks. Then, when I come back, we are moving to Paris. So I won't be able to post for a few weeks until I have received my computer again in Paris. So Happy Holidays to all!

I am going to miss Barcelona very much.

Superbean

We arrived in Segovia at around five o'clock. But we couldn't find the hotel and it took us about an hour to get there. On the way we saw a HUGE aqueduct (which is a thing that looks like a bridge but was used to carry water from place to place). My parents got a big suite that had a deck with a really good view. Lindsay, and Kaelan, and I got a small room with three beds. Actually the rooms were probably the same size not including their deck. But they also had one less bed so they had more walking space. Then we unpacked and went to a super good restaurant for dinner. They had the best beans that I've ever tasted in my life. They also were the biggest beans I've ever tasted in my life. They were as big as an adult's thumb! Which isn't that big, but it's still big for a bean. Then we just went to bed.

In the morning we went out and had a humongous breakfast. After that we switched hotels. Our new hotel was right on the Plaza Mayor. This time our hotel room was way bigger than my parents'! Then we walked around town for a few hours. Because we didn't eat lunch we got some ice cream. We went on to the aqueduct. It was so cold that we could only spend a few minutes up there because we were freezing! The aqueduct was 800 yards long and 25 or 30 yards tall. It is built with stone blocks the size of a big cardboard box. I don't know how but it looks like it is brand new even though it is almost 2000 years old! After that we went to dinner at a tapas bar and we went to bed.

The next morning we had a really good breakfast at the hotel then we went to a big castle that looked really new and that my dad says looks very much like Snow White's castle in Disneyland. In the middle of the castle there was a big interior courtyard that the whole castle went off of. They showed knights' armor and horse armor. The furniture looked really old and when we saw the king's bed my brother thought it was the bed for the "King" from the movie "Cars". Around the castle was a really deep moat. It also had a museum that showed how weapons and armor had changed through the ages.

We went back to the hotel, got our luggage and left. On the way back to the airport, we stopped at the Escorial. The Escorial is another castle, but this one is really enormously big and might even be the biggest in the world... Thank god it was closed so we did not have to visit it:-) Then we left Castilla la Vieja for good and arrived at the airport.

Pension Tension

We stopped in Avila very late for a late lunch, around 6:00pm. We just walked around for a while. It was freezing cold! Then we walked into a nice square. My mom got some gloves and we found a pharmacy to get some medicine for me. After that we ordered some food and things to go at a restaurant. Then we took a bunch of pictures of the city walls and left. The city walls looked like exactly what you would imagine of what you see in a Hollywood movie if they ever show knights, and they are completely together!

We drove on to Salamanca. We got to Salamanca really late, after 9:30pm. Our hotel was on the Plaza mayor, but it was really bad. By some mistake our room had no bathroom, it was really cramped with five beds in it and one bed wasn't even a bed it was a mini mattress that only a baby could sleep on. Then when we told then that we couldn't have no bathroom because my brother and I were sick they moved us into a slightly better room that had a small bathroom and five good sized beds. This room also had a really good view of the Plaza Mayor. It's supposed to be the best Plaza in Spain but I thought it was lousy.

In the morning we went out and took a really long walk. We went into a really old convent. It had a really good view of the city. It also had a small little section that was basically just tunnels in part of the roof, but I thought that it was pretty cool. Another thing was that it had a room that had very old toys. Then we walked around more. There was a big tower that was leaning over that I was scared to walk under because it looked like it might fall over. I just thought that you should know that. We walked into a church that was pretty boring. Then we went back to our hotel and got our things, we ate at a sort of buffet and then left. I was starting to feel better and I had no more fever!

Salamanca was supposed to be a really pretty city, but I thought it was actually very boring. I liked Madrid more. But my dad thought the opposite.

Sick Sick Sick

We left our house very early in the morning for a 1-week visit to Old Castille and Madrid. We got to the airport at seven o'clock, went through security, and went straight to the gate. I slept for forty five minutes and woke up right when it started boarding. On the plane I didn't sleep at all. We landed in Madrid but we had to take the subway for an hour and fifteen minutes. Our hotel was right off of a big square. At the hotel I slept for two hours. While I was sleeping my dad got a huge packet of tissues because kept having times when my nose would start running really badly. In one day I used eight packets of tissues.

We had some sandwiches for a late lunch. Then I went to the museum of the Prado with my dad. I didn't really want to. After a while I started to feel sick so we went and got a coffee and I rested a bit. Then we went back into the museum. I felt sick a lot in the museum. My dad thought that I just wanted to leave and that I wasn't really sick. There were a lot of Spanish painters but because I was sick I don't remember much about it. After we left we went to "Ben and Jerry's" to get some ice cream. Then we went to a place that had montaditos for dinner. Then we went to bed. I woke up a lot during the night and we found out that I had an eye infection and fever.

We stayed home till 1:00pm to try to recover. Late in the morning we went to a xocolateria where we get melted chocolate and churros and we are supposed to dip the churros in the hot chocolate. We walked to a big square where you could see one side of the royal palace, called the Plaza del Oriente. In the middle of the plaza was a statue of queen Isabel II on a horse, and some pretty gardens all around the statue. My brother and I ran around them and nearly coughed our brains out. Then we walked alongside the palace, which was completely white and huge. I thought it was a pretty building. Then we went back home and stayed there for the rest of the day because we were sick.

The next day we woke up early to pick up my mom at the airport. Then we drove to Toledo. Our hotel was really nice. We stayed in the hotel and took a really long nap. Then we ate some sandwiches and stayed home until dinner time. I felt really sick so I stayed in. Then we went to bed. In the morning we went to a bar for breakfast. Afterwards everyone went out to visit while my dad took me to the hospital because I was still not getting better. At the hospital they figured out that the eye infection was gone, but I still had a fever due to a throat infection, and I had to take antibiotics and a nose spray again. What a pain! Then we left for a long road trip to Salamanca.

Wine and Laundry

A few days ago we went to the Museo de Historia de la Ciudad, which means the Museum of History of the City (of Barcelona). The museum is in the Barrri Gotti district. It is in the building that used to be the Palace of the Inquisition, but they never talk about that... We got up really late, had breakfast, and went straight to the museum. It was almost noon by the time we got there. We got audiotour speakers and started the tour.

In the first room there were Visigoth sculptures from the old cathedral. The Visigoths were barbarians that invaded Spain after the Romans. The second room also had old Roman sculptures and artifacts. The third room had artifacts from the Celtiberian and Roman times, and had an old iron chariot wheel from the Celtiberian times before the Romans.

Then we went underground, which is where a lot of the old Roman city is. The excavated the old Roman city underneath the rest of the existing buildings, for example the cathedral, and then they opened it up as a museum. First we saw the old fortress walls and we were able to go into one of the thirty six towers. Then we walked into a street that was between the fortress wall and the houses. Then we saw a big laundry place, and a place where they dyed clothes. One disgusting thing was to dye clothes they sometimes used urine. Then we saw a garum factory. Garum is a kind a fish sauce that was very expensive in Rome. Then we saw a place that dried fish and sold them.

Then we saw an old Roman house. Roman houses had a big area with columns and a fountain called a peristyle that was a very big room. In the center of the house was the atrium which was like a big living room that had all the other rooms going off of it. Next we went to an old Roman church shaped like a cross. They showed a video of how the church was built. Then we saw a huge place where the Romans made wine. There were big bowls that were half way into the ground,and where they put flavors in with the wines, to mix them. There was also a big press that spun around to mash the grapes.

After that we saw a little wood model of the whole Roman city, with a model for each house, and it showed the wharves and some ships too. My brother wanted to play with it very badly, but here was a woman who was hogging it... There were a lot of other rooms, but it was closing so we had to leave without seeing all. The last thing we saw was a small chapel that was not very good because it had almost nothing in it and the things it did have looked really ugly.

I think it was really cool to go underground and see a whole part of the old city.