I finally had the chance to visit the country where my whole existence roots from. Thanks to HP, I got to visit Israel and learned more in a week then I did in my entire high school career.
The airport security is insane when you go to a country with violence. My terminal at the US airport was completely blocked off with tall plastic walls. Our carry-ons had to be researched just to get into the terminal seating area! Fucking insane. And when I got to Israel, my passport almost got me detained because of a frickin coffee stain...yes a COFFEE STAIN.
I visited Jerusalem first and then Tel Aviv and both the cities cannot be more different than each other!
this city has to be on everybody's bucket list because it is beyond words and explanation. As a non-believer, I expected to not enjoy myself very much but ended up having the time of my life! Our first stop was to Mount Olives where we saw all of old Jerusalem.
100,000 tombs of corpses waiting for the doors of Jerusalem to open. The tombs on the bottom of the mountain are like thousands of years old!
Some of the newer tombs. They are super expensive because space is limited on the mountain.
There is an area where the crucifix was placed. There was a hole that you could crawl through to touch and pray on the actual rock that the crucifix was placed in. The line was enormous so I didn't go but EW went to say his prayers. Whatever, I can express my own beliefs if I want to. I have a very scientific mind and would like to know where exactly the actual dead body is. It would be a historical find. And if stupid religious people are hiding it somewhere just for the sake of people believing that he did rise from the dead, then that is the stupidest thing EVER.
Next, we visited the Wailing Wall which is now called the Western wall. It was the wall that the Jews cried upon when everything else in their city was destroyed. It is a holy wall that many people come to pray to. You must be covered when you enter the vicinity of the wall. EW standing in front of the Wailing Wall. Shame on you EW! You're not supposed to turn your back to the Wailing Wall. It's like turning your back to God! You're actually supposed to walk away from it backwards. The wall is separated into a female and male section so that neither sex distracts the other from prayer. You can see all of the guys praying on the wall behind EW. They have all written a tiny note of prayers which they fold and put into a crack in the wall.
The minute EW had a free day, we went to the Carmel Market. Open air markets are one of my favorite places in the world. When I lived in Ukraine, I would wander through the outdoor markets for hours and hours smelling all of the different fragrances permeating the air.
We ended up being in Israel on Tel Aviv's biggest night...White Night! The whole city comes alive on their annual White Night with hundreds of free, outdoor concerts and performances until 4am in the morning. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to celebrate, drink and have fun. Who cares about John Legend when you have White Night in one of my favorite places in the world???
The main beach of city has a spectacular view from Jaffa. I forget if this was the sunset or sunrise but it was magical either way. That little tiny boat in the far distance looks so peaceful and serene. In reality, there were probably a bunch of sweaty, Jewish men trying to fish on it.
