Sunday, November 7, 2010

Baptism by ...

Entering into Israel proved to be amazingly simple compared to the departure from Canada.  Once through the initial barage of security, we were ushered out of the baggage hall and then met our trusty guide.  Ah, but I digress ... leaving the airport had to of course be delayed, thanks to some of our travel companions who had to 'steal' their way into a cup of gelato.

With the airport behind us, the next adventure began aboard a bus ... destined for the hotel not far from Tiberius (Northern Israel).  Along the way we stopped for a quick lunch at a kibuz where we met the furry rodents (aka catti felini) who freely roamed among the hungry patrons, hoping for morsels to fall from the tables of the rich.  No luck!

By mid-afternoon, we had stopped for a quick visit to the baptismal spot on the Jordan river, where we were encouraged to dip our toes (or our entire bodies if we so chose) into the holy water (which is still flowing but amazingly commercialized), and then made our way to the hotel.  It didn't take much for us to fall into semi-comatose conditions ... and it did almost take a bomb to wake some of us for the supper hour which awaited.

The food is amazing, but even that wasn't enough to hold us from the beds that were calling our names.

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