Jackson in Israel and Jordan

Hi Bloggies, hope that you enjoy my blog!



We left Egypt on Feb 7 and took a taxi to the Egypt/Israel border and walked across the border .  Then we caught a taxi on the other side in Eilat, Israel to take us to our hotel.

In Elliot we arrived a day earlier than planned to watch the Packers win the Super Bowl!  The next day despite being very tired, we took a taxi to the border of Israel and Jordan, walked across and hired a car to take us to the ancient city of Petra... We had to walk through a cavern to get to the ancient city where everything was. The first thing we saw was a temple. It was really big. And to follow it was some more temples, all made out of colorful sandstone. There was also an amphitheater.  There is not a lot of information know about Petra, for example it is not clear where the people actually lived. On the way back we took a hoarse ride to the entrance. Then our taxi driver picked us up and drove us back to the Jordan border, where we had to walk across again and get a taxi in Eliat.



Jackson makes some friends in Jordan



Entrance to Petra - Amazing!!



Ancient Ampitheatre at Petra

 

Jackson riding a horse out of Petra





The next day we took a four hour bus trip to Jerusalem. We found the apartment where we were staying which is close to the Old City Walls, so the first thing we did was walk to the Jaffa Gate. We looked around and decided to come back the next day when we had more time and get a guide. So the next morning we walked back to Jaffa Gate. There we found a guide. Our guide named Abraham told us that the wall surrounding the old city was built in three different zones. First there was no wall until the Romans came along and ruled Jerusalem and built a small wall. Then when the Crusaders ruled Jerusalem they built another wall on top of the roman wall. Then when the Turks ruled they topped off the wall. So now there are three sections to the wall, all slightly different. Then our guide walked us through the Christian, Muslim, Armenian and Jewish quarters. He also took us to most of the Stations of the Cross which was the route Jesus took when he was going to be killed.  After that our guide took us to a holly place to the Jewish named the Wailing Wall. It is called the Wailing Wall because it is part of a wall that supported a temple that was destroyed twice. To the Jewish it was the most important place but now there is a Muslim Mosque (Dome of the Rock) where the temple once stood. At the Wailing wall the Jewish and any other visitors, write a wish on a piece of paper and stick it in the wall. Our guide told us that some Jewish cry by the wall and that's how it got the name Wailing Wall.

Another day we drove out of Jerusalem to the West Bank, controlled by Palestine, to see the city of Bethlehem where Jesus was born.  Jesus actually was born in a cave not a barn.  There is a church built on this site, so went to the Church of the Nativity and got to go and touch the stone where some people believe is the exact location of where Jesus was born.

The spot where Jesus was born

Church of the Nativity in Bethleham

The next day we found a taxi driver named Sam and he offered to take us to some places. First he took us to The Mount of Olives. The view of the Old City of Jerusalem was amazing from the height of the Mount of Olives.  Then he drove us to the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus and his disciples are said to have prayed the night before his crucifixion.  He also took us to the Church of the Ascension where Jesus was said to have been raised from the dead.  Sam lived in this area, so we also got to see his house.

Next, Sam took us to Masada, an ancient city high on a mountain.  We took a cable car up to the top of the mountain. It is important because the legend is that the Jewish people that lived at Masada knew the Romans would eventually get through their fort and rather than be taken prisoner, they all committed suicide.  It was exciting to see the ramp the Romans built along the side of the fort to get up high enough to knock through their walls  From the top of Masada, we were able to view the outlines (remains) of the Roman camps that encircled Masada.

Jackson at the ruins of Masada

View of Roman camp ruins from the top of Masada

Our next stop was at Qumran, near the Dead Sea, which is a place high in the mountains where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  It was interesting to see the first cave where some of the scrolls were found after seeing the actual Dead Sea Scrolls in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Ancient Latrine at Quram

After that we stopped at the Dead Sea to go swimming.  The Dead Sea is 1400 ft below sea level and is so full of salt that when you swim, you can only float. At the bottom (which was not deep where we were swimming) there were piles and piles of slippery mud. It is suppose to have healing powers so everyone rubs some on their bodies, but since the Dead Sea is the most salty sea in the world, it was really painful on any rashes or cuts you might have on your skin and you can get sick from swallowing the water.  It also really stings your eyes if you happen to get splashed.

Daddy & Jackson floating in the Dead Sea!

For our last stop of the day, Sam took us to Jericho, which is also in the West Bank, part of Palestine.  We took a cable car to the top of mountain to see a Greek Orthodox Church that was built on the site where Jesus is said to have stayed for forty days and forty nights while being tempted by Satan.  

The next day we walked to Mt. Zion, just outside the Old City Walls and close to our apartment.  This is the place that people believe Jesus had the Last Supper.  Later in the day, Dad, Savannah and I went on another tour of the Old City, with a group of people.  We saw same stuff as we did the first day, but the guide spoke better English, so I understood more.

On top of Mt. Zion our Jerusalem apartment in the background

Place on Mt Zion where they believe Jesus had the Last Supper

We also went to the Holocaust Museum, but to me it is too sad to write about.

After about five days in Jerusalem, we rented a car and started to drive north toward the Sea of Galilee.  We stopped at a place called Bet She ‘am which were very well preserved ancient Roman ruins.  The best preserved part was the amphitheatre. We also walked to the very top of the site and were able to have a great view looking over the ancient city. We then stopped at a Museum at the Sea of Galilee to see a 2000 year old fishing boat.  The story about how they preserved it was very interesting.



Jackson, Paul & Savannah at Bet She'am

 

The next morning we drove to Akko, which is an ancient city on the Mediterranean Sea in the Northeast part of Israel.  The weather was very bad – rain and blowing and we had trouble finding all of the places to see in Akko, so we saw what we could, including walking through the cisterns underground, but then decided to leave.  On the way looking for our car, we walked through the Akko’s fish market. They had a lot of fish some fruit but they were also selling sharks!!!!!! They were really scary.  

Sharkes at the fish market in Akko

 

We decided to try our luck by driving to Sepphori, which is another ancient Roman ruin, with some very well preserved mosaics.  The weather was much nicer.

The next morning we drove to Tel Aviv to catch our afternoon flight to Istanbul. I really liked Israel and I hope I can come back again.



Savannah in Israel and Jordan

One our last day in Dahab, (Feb 6)  we drove to the Israeli border and walked across, which I thought was really cool. We then went to our hotel in Eliat. After we settled in, Dad, Jack, and I went down to the seafront to check it out. There were mostly just stores. We saw some wild parakeets, which were really pretty.

The next morning we hung out until the afternoon, where we drove to the Jordanian border and crossed over. From there we found a driver that drove us first into a little bit of the Jordan desert before taking us to Petra. The desert there was really different from the Moroccan desert. There were a lot of amazing mountains, the ground was covered in little half dead plants, and there were a lot of big herds of camels owned by the Bedoin. We even went to Wadi Rum, which is the place where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. It is an area with a lot of beautiful rock formations.  The driver took us to our hotel right outside of Petra. We had to drive up in the mountains and then down again. Up in the mountains it was really cold. The guy driving kept saying “very high” “very cold” “what you think” “better than Egypt – no?” “very beautiful” then a few minutes would go by…… “very high” a few more, “very cold” and so on. Once he even woke Dad up to say “what you think?”

We got up early to go to see the ancient city of Petra. We walked through a big, long, narrow rock formation with swirls of different browns and a little red in it. At the end of that, there was the main part and most preserved part of Petra, Khazneh. It was amazing! It was all carved out of sandstone. After that we saw the smaller, less preserved tombs, the royal tombs, and a theatre. My favorite part of all of it was the Silk Tomb. The Silk Tomb is a small tomb that is part of the royal tombs, and the colours that are swirled around it were amazing! There was red, blue, yellow, pink, and white. Jackson and I collected a lot of colourful rocks, and on the way back we got to ride horses. Overall, Petra was beautiful and amazing.

First ruin we saw in Petra - amazing!

Close up of beautiful colors in the sandstone

Savannah & Paul leaving Petra

Horseback for the last part of Petra

            When we were walking home, we saw a place that sold some little glass bottles with pictures of camels and mountains in the dessert, made out of colored sand. The guy there even made one in front of us, which was really cool! I ended up getting a little bottle. There were also some really cool vases that were actually made out of the coloured sand from Petra mixed with glass, and they are mostly bluey greeny, but when you put a candle in them, they look yellowy orange!

Savannah in Jordanian head scarf

After Petra, the same taxi driver picked us up.  When we were driving back through the mountains,  we stopped a few times to look out and see all of the mountains and desert below.  The driver took us back to the border and then we crossed back over from Jordan to Israel.

We went back to the same hotel and the next morning, we took a five hour bus ride from Eilat to Jerusalem. When we got to Jerusalem we went to the Jaffa Gate, which is one of the gates that enter into the Old City. In the Old City we didn’t get very far before a guy came out of his shop and managed to sucker us in. He was very nice and got us drinks, and he showed us all of his jewelry. I got to try some green tea, but it had fresh sage in it, which was really good. When we left his shop, he showed us a good place for dinner, where they served shwarma.  

We went back to Jaffa gate the next morning and found  a guide that took us around Jerusalem. The most interesting thing about the Old City is that it is made up of layers and layers of different cultures, religions, and people, because it was conquered at least 38 times, and the different people just built a new city on top of the old one. When you look at the Old City wall, you can see three or four different layers. We went to a lot of different layers of the city, and you can see the difference in architecture. In the Roman layer, the streets are made of cobblestones, in the Turkish layer, there are little mini bridges in between the buildings, and so on.

Old City Jerusalem - door with Cross of Jerusalem

We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where we saw the bath where they bathed Jesus before burial, and we got to touch the rock where the cross stood.

We also got to walk the Via Dolorosa (Stations of the Cross), which is the path that Jesus walked with the cross, and we learned that you can rent a cross to carry along like Jesus did. We went to most of the stops, including the one where Veronica wiped his face, Simon helped him with the cross, the three times that he fell and the time where he saw Mary.

Station of the Cross where Jesus meets his mother, Mary

We also went into the markets, which were a little bit like Moroccan souks, but the stores were bigger, and they seem to sell more food. We tried some oblong shaped sesame bread shaped and fresh squeezed pomegranates.

We then went to the Wailing Wall.  The men go to one side and the women to the other. The Wailing Wall is inside the Old City walls, and it used to support the place where the Jewish Second Temple was built, but now there is a Mosque (Dome of the Rock) on the site. The Wailing Wall is a place where Jewish people go to feel close to their most holy place, where the first and second temples were built and eventually destroyed and is the place they believe the third temple will be built.  The wailing part comes from the fact that the Jewish people are crying because they can’t get to the Holy Place because it’s under the Mosque.  People write messages and prayers on slips of paper and put them in the wall because they believe that they are writing a message to God.

Wailing Wall in Old City, Jerusalem

The following morning,  we hired a taxi to take us to Bethlehem, which is in the West Bank and part of Palestine,  meaning the Jewish people are not allowed to go there. We were able to drive straight there without getting out. When we got there, we hired a guild and went straight to Church of the Nativity, which is the church built on the site where people believe Jesus was born. We learned that, despite everyone thinking he was born in a barn, he was actually born in a cave! The cave is now inside the church, and we went in and saw the spot where Christians believe is the spot where the manager was. The church itself was very pretty and decorated really nice. In some places, they had uncovered a mosaic floor. After the church, we grabbed street shwarma (which were really good) and went to a place where they make nativity scenes out of olive wood, and we bought one for our new house.

Savannah and Jackson outside of the Church of the Nativity

Back in Jerusalem, we went to the Holocaust Museum, which was one of the saddest places that I have ever been. It is so sad that someone could do those things to people! After we went through the main part, we went to the children’s memorial. It was beautiful, but extremely sad as well.  It was a maze of lights and mirrors and a voice said each child’s name out loud.

We also went to the Israeli museum, which was a really nice and interesting museum. First, we went to see the Dead Sea scrolls. It’s amazing to think that they were written  between 150 BC and 70 AS by some ancient Jewish people called the Essenes, and  and then discovered by accident in a cave.  In the same exhibit, they also had  little gas lamps, (one of them still had the remains of a wick!) combs, beads, lots of pottery, (dishes, etc.) and other daily used items. After the Dead Sea scrolls exhibit, we wandered through the rest of the museum, the Roman, Greek, Ancient Egyptian, paintings, etc. It was a great museum!

 After lunch, Dad, Jack, and I did the same tour of the Old City as before, but this time we had a different guide who spent his childhood in New York, so obviously he spoke great English. We went to the same places as before, but this time, we understood a lot better.

One day we went in on a day trip in a taxi with a really nice guy named Sam.  Before leaving Jerusalem,  Sam took us to the Mount of Olives.  We stopped at a few different places, the Garden of Gethsemane, and a viewpoint of Jerusalem. In the Garden of Gethsemane, we saw the place where Jesus was arrested, and we went into the church that was next to it.  The Assention Church was built on the spot where Jesus rose to heaven, and we saw what people think was his footprint. On the side of the mountain we stopped and looked out at Jerusalem, and the view was breathtaking! We had a great view of the Old City and some of the gates, and a great view of the Dome of the Rock. Before going down, we also drove past the place where Sam lives on the mountain.

View of Jerusalem from Mt of Olives

Sam then drove us to Masada which is a fortress on top of a mountain. We took a cable car to get up, and on the top we walked around and saw all of the ruins. One of the best parts was the bathhouse, which even had a steam room!

View of Dead Sea from Masada

We also made a stop at Qumran,  which is the place where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.  We went up to see the ruins where the Essenes people lived and spent their days working, bathing (they did a lot of bathing), eating, and making the Dead Sea scrolls. Almost two thousand years later two Bedouin shepards went after a sheep that strayed from the herd,  when they discovered a cave and that was the start of finding many caves in the area and many of the ancient scrolls.

Savannah, Paul & Jackson at Quram, in front of cave where first of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found

After Qumran,  Sam took us to a beach on the Dead Sea.  It was one of the coolest parts of Israel, but unfortunately, my hands were chapped really badly so the salt stung really badly.  At least I managed to float once before having to get out.  Daddy enjoyed it the most of all of us.

Paul covered in Dead Sea mud

Our last stop was Jericho, which, like Bethlehem, is on the West Bank (In Palestine).  It is one of the oldest continually inhabeted cities in the world and is also below sea level. First, we went up a mountain by cable car. On the mountain, we climbed a little bit to get to the a Greek Orthadox Monestary at the Mountain of Temptation.  It was said that Jesus spent 40 days and nights here while being tempted by Satan.  After we took the cable car down, Sam insisted on taking us to a place that sells fruit and givin us some saying that the fruit from Jericho was the best in Israel.  We also bought some Jericho dates to bring back to the man who rented us the apartment as his is Jewish and no longer able to go to Jericho.

Savannah & Jackson at Jericho City sign

After five days in Jerusalem, we rented a car and drove to Nahariya, which is in the northeast part of Israel on the Mediterrainian Sea. On the way we stopped at Beit She’am, where there are some really well preserved Roman ruins. The best preserved building was the theatre, because during the earthquake that ruined the settlement and buried everything under ruble, two of the three sets of seating were buried, and because of that, it basically wasn’t touched until now. The seating is stone benches in a semicircle around the wooden stage and orchestra section. Above the two sets of seats that are still there, there are the entrances to the theatre and private boxes. There used to be a big building behind the wooden stage that hid the view of the main streets from the people in the theatre. The building was used as homes for the actors. Behind the theatre is one of two main streets that is street in the middle, and it is lined with columns behind which is the pedestrian walkway that is decorated with mosaics. Behind that street is the bathhouse, which contains the public toilets, public bath, and steam room. At the end of the big street, there is another one that goes across; together they look like a cross, but in Beit She’am the top of the T backs up to the base of a hill. When we climbed up the hill, we could see all of Beit She’am. It was really cool to look out at all the ruins.

Jackson Paul & Savannah in Ampitheatre, Bet She'am

After leaving Beit She’am, we had time for stop at a small museum by the Sea of Galilee, where there is a two thousand year old boat. Two guys were walking along the shore of the sea during an unnaturally low tide, when they found a nail and a small chunk of wood. After that, there was a whole process of digging it up and because they were scared that as soon as it hit air it would crumble, they had to be extremely careful. They think it could be either a boat that transported Jesus and his disciples across the Sea of Galilee, or just a fishing boat.  

The next morning we drove down to Akko, but it was raining and very windy, so we only looked around a little before leaving. We did get to go into a cistern, which was really cool. It was underground and it was more like a tunnel, but on either side of the walkway there was a little water. After that, we left Akko and went to Zippori (Sephorra), which was some more ancient Roman ruins but this time there was a lot of extremely well preserved mosaics. It had the same cross shaped Roman style main streets and a theatre and all of the ruins surrounding it, but those weren’t as well preserved as Beitshe’am, the main and best part was the mosaics, and those were amazing! There were patterns as well as pictures. In one place they even had what is called the Mona Lisa of Israel, because just like the French one, the woman’s eyes follow you wherever you go.  

Mosaic "Mona Lisa of Israel"" at Sepphoris

On February 17, we left IsraelL. We drove to the airport and flew to Turkey. The bright side of leaving Israel is that we get to see Auntie Lynn and Uncle Graham in Turkey!

Jackson's Egyptian (Mis)Adventure

Hey bloggies!  It’s me, Jackson. For our Egypt trip, we started in Cairo and ended in Dahab but I’ll get to that. In our days of Cairo these were my favorite things I did.

Our first day (Jan 27) we got a guide to show us some of Cairo. The first place our guide took us was the great pyramids of Giza. The pyramids were casting huge shadows because there so big.

Then Savannah and I got to ride a camel but this time the seats were really comfy.

After that the guide took us to another pyramid and Savannah, Dad and I went in. The air was nice and cool in the pyramids and the ceiling was low. We saw a couple chambers but since the guide was not with us we could not tell which one was the tomb. Our guide told us that the Egyptians put granite in the walls to help keep the walls from falling down and Dad spotted the granite.

When we got out of the pyramid our guide took us to the Sphinx!!! The Sphinx has the face of a pharaoh named Cheops and the body of a lion. Most people think that an Arabic man shot of the nose of the Sphinx. While we paid the Sphinx a visit it was being restored.

When we done with the Sphinx our guide too us to a perfume place. When we got there we saw a man make a glass perfume bottle. Then we were brought upstairs to test perfumes. All the perfumes smelled lovely. Then our guide took us to a papyrus store where there were lots and lots of papyrus scrolls. My Dad said he once came to the same shop the time he came to Egypt alone. I bought a little papyrus scroll with the solar boat on it. The Egyptians thought that the solar boat would take the spirits of the dead to the afterlife.

Our last stop was the very first pyramid to be built. People call it the step pyramid because it is made of 6 steps. At the front of the pyramid was a courtyard with two B shaped structures. It was probably what the Heb Seb festival looked like. The Heb Seb festival is when the king has to prove to his people that he is the rightful king of Egypt. To do this the king has to run around the B shaped structures 30 times. After this the king has to defeat a bull.  

    

 One day later we were evacuated into another section of Egypt called Dahab.  We got to Dahab in a car. 3 of our bags fit in the back. Where did the fourth suitcase go you ask? It was unfortunately on our laps. It was a 7 hour drive. When we arrived at Dahab we stayed in a hotel by ocean.

In Dahab we walked along the boardwalk that is next to the ocean. On the boardwalk there were loads of restaurants. At a lot of these restaurants you could either sit at a table or on pillows on the floor, which is traditional Bedoin seating. At a lot of these restaurants there were a lot of cats hanging out on the floor, hopping to get a good meal.

Our favorite restaurant was called the Jasmine. They had amazing chocolate milkshakes and it was full of a lot of nice cats. Almost every time we went to the Jasmine, a lot of cats slept and sat on our laps. The first time we ever went to the Jasmine we made a big mistake. Our mistake was not guarding our food from the cats. One of the cats, who we later nicknamed “the thief,” because he ate part of our starter, main meal, and dessert! He was a naughty cat, but we later loved him J.

Another day at the Jasmine it got a little scary because one cat clawed my sisters face. Two of the other cats at the Jasmine got to drink milk that we ordered for them. They were little black and white kittens. Another day we met a friendly dog named Gina, and on our last day we found her on our doorstep.

On our last day it was really cool when my dad wandered onto the beach and discovered that the beach was covered with starfish!

 Another day we went snorkeling. It was really cool because we saw lots and lots of fish. Some of the fish were sergeant majors. I also saw a gar fish. The place we went snorkeling was called the Blue Hole, and the reefs there were beautiful. We swam through a whole school of sergeant majors. One of the sergeant majors looked at me from about two inches from my face.

One of the other days we found a little tiny baby kitten that had been born about a week ago. The kitten had no mommy with him. That night we wanted to see if his mommy had found him yet. When we found him, he was on the side of the path. We went to the owner of the Jasmine and asked him what to do. He said to put the kitten back in an area that was him home. When I carried the kitten, he pooped on my arm, but he was still cute.

Another day we went to a monastery at the bottom of a big mountain called Mt. Sinai. The monastery has monks living in it. As well at the monastery there was a place where there is a bush that represents where the burning bush was suppose to be located in the story of Moses. We then climbed Mt. Sinai. Some of the rocks were humungous! It was a big mountain that was very hard to climb. It took around four hours to get to the top, and two and a half down. Near the end, we had to go up a whole bunch of steep steps, which a monk built. At the top of the mountain, there was a Greek Orthodox Church. On clear days, people usually watch the sunset on the top of the mountain. There are a whole bunch of other mountains around Mt. Sinai.

Another day, I had my very first massage. It was really fun in Dahab and I don’t think I’ll ever find cats as cute as the ones that were at the Jasmine.

Savannah's Short but Sweet Visit to Egypt

Today (Jan. 27, 2011) we landed in Egypt! I am really excited because Egypt is the place that I am most looking forward to. When we landed, we took a car to our hotel in the very early hours of the morning.

            In the late afternoon/early evening, we left our hotel and went on a Nile dinner cruise! The dinner cruise was really cool. After standing out on the deck for a long time, we went back down to dinner. At dinner, all of the other guests ate all of the food before we had touched our main course! After dinner, we had three different people entertain us. The first person was a belly dancer. She was really good! After her there was a guy who was twirling around and around and the huge multicolored skirt he was wearing flared out and the colors mixed together. The next guy did the same twirling in the same outfit, but he did a lot of cool things with his skirt and other things. The coolest thing was when a guy from outside threw him a tray, and he balanced it like a waiter but tilted, then in came a cup and a big bottle of water, and he balanced them at an angle, (he is still spinning!) and then he opened the big bottle and poured it! Then, he closed it and drank the water in the glass! Then he threw it all back and kept spinning. That was the coolest part of the night!

            The next day (which we later learned was our only day of the tour we planned that we could do.) we had an incredibly nice guide whose nickname is Sheco who is studying Egyptology (so cool!) and driver Mohamed, that took us to Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Djoser Step Pyramid, a shop that sells essence, and a papyrus museum.

            The Great Pyramids were AMAZING!!! It was really cool to see them in person. When we got there, we walked up to the biggest of the three and touched it. A few years ago, you used to be able to climb to the top and sit on it, but not anymore. When you see them up close, you realize just how hard it must have been to build. After that, we went to a different one, and we went inside it! You have to bend over and climb down, but the inside is not too bad. We were only allowed in three or four rooms. They are completely empty though. When we were done inside, we drove to a spot pretty far away, but we could still see them. Jackson and I went on a camel ride, which was surprisingly more comfortable than Morocco. Sheco took shots of us “holding” and “eating” the pyramids, which were pretty funny.

            The Sphinx was another amazing monument that was great to finally see in person. We couldn’t touch it though. We went through a temple to see it. We learned that Napoleon actually didn’t shoot off its nose, but that someone from another Middle Eastern country broke it off to embarrass the Egyptians and prove that he had conquered them.

            In the essence shop, we first saw someone making one of the little perfume bottles by blowing glass. Then, we had a person who showed us around and let us sample a couple different smells on our skins, including frankincense, meuir, lotus flower, citrus, papyrus flower, and many others. After that, we brought a couple things.

            The Djoser Step Pyramid in Sakkara is really cool for a few reasons: it is the oldest pyramid ever discovered, and the only step pyramid ever discovered. The architect that built it just kept layering big blocks smaller and smaller. The architect that designed it liked his king so much that he even built him a huge courtyard and a temple. There is a huge wall around the whole thing. The courtyard is probably made to look like the Heb Sed festival. In ancient Egypt after a king has ruled for thirty years, the public kills him, because they think he is not fit to rule anymore. At the Heb Sed festival, the king has to prove himself. What he has to do is run around two formations thirty times, (thirty back then was pretty old, and in the heat too.) and if he manages that, he has to wrestle and kill a bull. There was one guy (Rames II?) who had to do it twice!  The pyramid itself was amazing. From a point up on a hill we could see the Red Pyramid, and one of the failed tries to make a perfect pyramid that the king after the one that build the step pyramid had ordered to get made for him.

            Our last stop, the papyrus museum was really cool as well. We saw the papyrus plant that is used to make the scrolls. Jackson and I each got a piece of stem to try and break, and we got a few paper cuts. Someone then explained to us the process. After that, we got to see the completed and painted scrolls.

            On the way back, there were a few police blockades, but there was no problem and it didn’t seem unordinary or anything. When we did get back to the hotel, our guide tried to break the news as nicely as possible. We were not able to take the overnight train ride to Aswan we had planned. Instead, they said that we would have to stay another night at a hotel while they tried to get us on a morning one. They were so incredibly nice about it though. The hotel that we stayed at last night was getting renovated and there were no doors, just tarp type things, so we had to go to another one just around the block, but it was after curfew! It was a little creepy, because the streets were practically empty and silent too. There is still no internet or cell phone service.. In the room we could hear tear gas and we saw a road a few streets away with a big group of people, presumably headed to the protests.

            The next morning we learned that we were actually not going on the morning train, and we would get another call at five. We had CNN or BBC on constantly, and they were just showing the same pictures over and over. At noon we got a call saying that they were trying to get us on a bus to a resort city called Dahab tomorrow, because the best thing to do was to get out of Cairo. At least we were able to get out of the hotel for lunch. There were little groups of people on every corner and shopkeepers building walls in front of their stores with anything they could get their hands on, mostly bricks, but we did see one made of cases of water bottles. After lunch we sat in our hotel room all afternoon. We could see military vehicles, tanks, and hear more tear gas, and even some gunfire. It is pretty scary. The only event that happened was when mom tried to send dad out for diet coke after curfew with the escaped convicts and all sorts of people taking advantage of the situation around.

            The next morning I awoke to the sound of gunfire and people relatively close by yelling. I am really worried but I know that we are safe. When the time came that we were supposed to leave on a bus, we learned that it is too dangerous for tourists to leave the area. We then waited for a driver. When the driver does show up, it is in a tiny car, but assuming that it is just taking us to the bus station; we cram everything in and put a suitcase across mom, Jack, and my laps. We eventually do figure out that we are doing the full 8 hour drive to Dahab in this car! We had to drive to the Sinai Peninsula, which Dahab is in. The peninsula was amazing! It was full of beautiful mountains that ranged from different sizes and shapes, and the colours were all different yellowy sandy colours. Along the way, we saw a lot more tanks, and a lot of police blockades. We went through the Suez tunnel (which was not closed) which was really cool. I was really upset about leaving Egypt, but I definitely understand the situation. 

Waiting to Leave Egypt

            There wasn’t much to do in Dahab, but it was really nice just to relax. These are the main things that we did:

            Swimming: Since it is the middle of winter in Egypt, (same as us) we didn’t do much swimming. We went to the beach once, which was fun. Jackson and I jumped in the pool a couple of times, but it was FREEZING!

            Snorkeling: One day we went to the Blue Hole to snorkel. It was really cool, but nothing like north rock in Bermuda. We saw lots of cool coral and fish though. Mom didn’t want to go in, and as she sat in the little restaurant, she met a twelve year old boy named Mohamed. Mohamed was really nice and he made really pretty jewelry.

            Mt. Sinai: On our last day, we went and climbed Mt. Sinai. It was really hard, but the views were amazing! We had planned on watching the sunset, but since it was a really cloudy and cold evening, we decided to get some of the climb down over with in daylight. On the top I was amazed to find that they sold snicker bars and Pringles. We had a really grumpy camel named “toot” (you can guess why) that carried our bags for us. There were a few other people doing the climb with us, including a couple that carried their eighteen month year old (really cute) little girl named Chloe up with them.

Almost there!

Made it to the top!

            The Jasmine: The Jasmine was my number one favorite place in all of Dahab. We went there at least once every day, just to hang out. The Jasmine is a restaurant with the traditional Bedoin seats (pillows on the floor with low tables) like all of the restaurants have, and although the food was nothing special, they had cold beer, great chocolate milkshakes, (but nowhere near as good as my grandpas) and …………………………… cats! The restaurant was full of cats that would climb all over you. Some of my favorite cats were:

·         Two little black and white kittens that were adorable and always tried to climb on the low tables, and we always had to pull them off.

·         An adult black cat that always sat on dad and slept the whole time. At the end when dad tried to lift him off, he would climb back on right away. One night we learned that he was the two kitten’s mom because they were all on my lap and the kittens started suckling.

·         A young white, blonde, and black cat that after the first visit we nicknamed “the thief” because on our first night, he managed to steal a piece of calamari, a huge piece of pizza, and a piece of melon.

      Kitten: One day, we went to the grocery store, and Jack and I found a little kitten wandering through the grocery store, and when I started stroking it, it climbed up onto my lap, and I picked it up and held it in my arms. It was ginger, and a little bit smaller than the black and white kittens at the Jasmine. It purred a lot, and at the end I had to pry it from my arms.

      Newborn Kitten: One day as we had just escaped from the Funny Mummy, we saw a little tiny kitten smaller than my hand that had barely even opened its eyes! It was soooooooo cute!

            Massage: One day, Jackson and I got our first ever massages! As mom said, we weren’t too keen. It was relaxing though. 

            Starfish: On our last day it was low tide and our dad wandered out onto the beach in front of our hotel, and he discovered that it was covered in starfish!