planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

I've had this trip planned for over a year and I'm there now (it's day 3). I'll post more exciting shots in a few hours. I've been taking both pics and videos and missed one prime video of arriving in Tel Aviv due to a dead battery...and I just found out why a few moments ago after downloading my files. Apparently after taking some pics in the plane, I accidentally hit the "record" button as I was setting down my camera. now I have 3 consecutive files of 20:26 and one file of 7:04 with nothing but me chatting with my seat neighbors and making other noises/momevents, which I shall not describe! No wonder I didn't have any power left!!!! Tomorrow we go to Caesarea.

I wanna go too!


From STL - first time seing the great lady




6 hrs later - first time at JFK


Almost there...


First meal in Israel - I'll try to send more pics later tonight, but the internet is EXTREMELY slow at the hotel (a former movie theater) and it took me literally over an hour to post these ones

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tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.

I would love to go to Israel someday, but will probably never make it. So many photo ops. Question what was the food in the plate. Thanks

Tom

AuntieM Loc: Eastern NC

Look forward to more posts of your trip. I hope you find a place that has better internet connections.

dennisallard Loc: Southern Maine

That Statue of Liberty shot is outstanding.

Susan yamakawa

👍👍🗽🗽🗽

sailorsmom Loc: Souderton, PA

I love all your images, planepics! Is that your kitty you took with you?? Looking forward to seeing more!

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

I wish i could have taken my kitty with me, but she wouldn't like the bus rides! I will be downloading my pics in a few minutes. Sorry for the delay, but we've been busy and this is the second (and last) night in our second hotel. We are in Haifa now and tomorrow we will be in Nazareth as well as Israeli-controlled Syria at a kibbutz, for a day and a half and have a meal with a Druze family. The internet here seems faster, and I'll post a few pics in about 1/2 hour or so. Sorry, but I won't have time to do much PP as I have to re-pack for tomorrow. Today I had one foot in Lebanon and one in Israel when we went to the Rosh HaNikra caves and the Crusader city of Akko (sometimes incorrectly spelled 'Acre') and had lunch at a seaside restaurant. Three pics forthcoming...i hope that will be enough. It's almost midnight STL time right now.

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

Here are some bonus pics besides the original three I promised.

Part of the breakfast and happy hour area of our current hotel (rated #4 in Israel and the best in Haifa - had free neck massage tonight :))

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Crusader fortress at Akko (please forgive the smudges on the lens...I don't know how it happened)

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Mosaic floor, Herod the Great's castle, Caesarea

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Partial view from our restaurant at lunch

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Church of the Annunciaiton. Nazareth (actual stairs to the second floor of Mary's house in background)

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Rosh HaNikra Grottos - needed to take this one to PSE 12 to fix

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sailorsmom Loc: Souderton, PA

These are wonderful, beautiful, interesting photos! Keep 'em coming!

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

I enjoyed your cat on the suitcase lid.

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

To tshift: It was on the menu as a healthy salad - chick peas, tomato, cucumber, some kind of lettuce or parsley, some type of seeds and tahini (a sauce made from sesame). Today's highlights were a home-hosted meal with a Druze family (Arabic food) a visit to the Trail of Tears (Yom Kippur War), the Gamla ruins and getting to our spot for the next two nights, a kibbutz on the hills above the Sea of Galilee - a stunning view - individual cabins w/kitchenette and a Jacuzzi tub and two bedrooms (wine, cookies, apples, tea and coffee were waiting for us in the cabin). Tonight we will see the sunset at a special lookout, tomorrow morning we will be brought a huge basket of breakfast delivered to our doors, we will learn about kibbutz life and might get to buy a specialized spa treatment that isn't offered anywhere in the area. From the explanation of how long it takes, how it feels and what it costs, it sounds like it's a great deal. Tomorrow is my birthday so it would be a present to myself. My tour guide says he's done it three times and fell asleep twice...he said most people do. A saltwater soak followed by a freshwater soak (accompanied by some kind of soft rubbing/scrubbing) watching the sunset - after waking up - and having some dried fruits and wine. Here are some pics from today.

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

I also liked the Grotto shot, too.

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

I tried to post, but the internet took too long. I will try again later. Here is the last pic I was going to send...the view of the Sea of Galilee from the front porch of my cabin.

view from the front porch of my cabin

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sailorsmom Loc: Souderton, PA

What a beautiful view from you porch, planepics! You're seeing places where Jesus walked!

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

Yes, we do that tomorrow and our hotel after tonight will be in Jerusalem. It's 1:30 pm here. At 6 I'm scheduled to have a spa treatment. It cost me 200 Shekels ($51.76), but what the heck...today's my birthday. Ten of the 15 in our tour group are having it done. Tomorrow we tour the Galilee and visit several churches and sites, including, if there's time, the site of the feeding of the 5,000 with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread as well as take about a 20 minute tour on the lake (the biggest source of fresh water in Israel). It seems Orlando is having a public relations problem right now, with first the gay bar shooting and now man-eating alligators. The next FIVE nights will be spent in the same hotel in Jerusalem (the most of any), 2 nights at the Dead Sea, and then back to Tel Aviv for the last night - the same hotel we started at. Only a week left...Boo-Hoo. Hot today (low-mid 90's) but will be cooler tomorrow. We've hardly seen a cloud all week. If it works this time, here are the other pics I promised. PS It's taken me over an hour to finish this message.

Meal with a Druze family

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My cabin at Kibbutz Kfar Haruv (don't ask me how to pronounce it!) - directly above Kibbutz Ein Gev, across from Tiberius

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Israeli moon, from the Sea of Galilee (not the quality I was hoping, but it's a 12 MP camera) The good thing about it is that it's not giving me the neck/back ache my DSLR gives me


Relic of the Yom Kippur war...

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or is it?

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Gamla settlement (from the Arabic word for 'camel', since it's between two large hills)

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