The Adventures of Granny Smith (Grandpa too!)

 It’s very awe inspiring to see the pyramids in person, even though you share the experience with hundreds of other tourists.  We started the day at the Saqqara necropolis.  The walk through hieroglyph covered burial chambers made Teresa and Scott jump for joy in front of the Step Pyramid.   Pat and I remained a bit more grounded while John babysat the “lollipop while our guide ran errands.   The next stop was the Great Pyramid of Giza. We opted to take the low-ceilinged uphill trek to the center of the pyramid to see the burial chamber of King Khufu.  It was hot and I’m going to have a few sore muscles, but it was well worth the hike. We are all smiling about our pyramid day and it’s not even lunchtime. Also out of time and Wi-Fi, so these pictures count as 1000 words and I’ll continue later.

On our first full day in Egypt, we were fully immersed in history, culture and the Egyptian way of life. The first stop was the Cairo Mosque and Citadel. We learned about Muslim religious practices and enjoyed panoramic views of Cairo. One observation our guide shared was that many devout Muslim men have a dark patch on their forehead caused by bacteria from the prayer rugs. I looked at mens foreheads for the rest of the day! Or next stop was the Egyptian Museum where we saw the famous funerary mask of King Tutankhamen (no photos allowed) and wandered through galleries of artifacts. I needed two days here to fully explore the museum, but had to settle for two hours. This small sculpture of King Khufu, builder of the great pyramid at Giza was one of my favorites. Our evening jaunt to the Khan Il Kahlili market in the old city was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Narrow streets and alleyways were lined with vendors hawking everything from housewares to souvenirs and more. We wand...

 Pyramids at night as seen from the plane on our approach to Cairo. The Nile River from our motel room.

 This morning we packed up our luggage, checked out of the King David Jerusalem and walked over to enter the old city via the Jaffa Gate. We enjoyed an idyllic and meandering stroll down lanes where market stalls were just opening up.  The tour groups hadn’t arrived yet so there was room to roam. I stopped at a small metal doorway to snap a picture of a cat basking in the sun.   A women invited us to come on through and visit a small chapel that housed a relic of John the Baptist. We would have passed by without knowing it was there.  We bartered with vendors for a few trinkets and then walked on the road to Damascus. Look for one modern image that was painted on the mural. At the end of our exploration it was off to the airport to catch our flight to Cairo.  Next stop Egypt!

 Well darn it, my body clock hasn’t adjusted to the ten hour time difference, so here I am wide awake at 4 a.m. It must be time to add to the blog! Visiting the Western Wall aka the wailing wall was one of the highlights of our first day in Jerusalem.  It was inspiring and touching to see people of so many faiths praying shoulder to shoulder in accordance with their beliefs. Praying at the wall is segregated by gender.  The men go to the large sunny area on the left.  Women have access to the much smaller area on the right that was in the afternoon shade during our visit. The guys put on the required head covering before approaching the wall. Here are Scott, John and Pat at the wall. Tradition holds that you write your prayers on a small scrap of paper and tuck it into a crevice on the wall.  I must say every crack is well chinked! Teresa cleansed her hands in preparation for her prayers at the wall. You are supposed to face the wall and back away after you pray...

Olive trees were the unifying theme of the first day in Jerusalem. Our first stop was the Mount of Olives where we overlooked olive orchards in the Kidron Valley.  Our next stop was Gethsemane which  means olive press! Who knew? A garden grove of olive trees stands adjacent to the Church of Gethsemane.    The olive oil pressed from this holy place is sent exclusively to the Vatican.  Olive trees featured prominently in iconography is inside the church. Olive trees reproduce by root sprouting.    In the grove at Gethsemane there are eight trees that date back to the betrayal of Jesus. This was one of the Silent Witness trees. Later in the day we crossed from Israel into Palestine and visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  Our last stop was at an olive wood factory.  There were some amazing hand carvings, but my practical side settled on some spoons. Bonus Hmmmmm.  There were two Starbucks wannabes on the street between the bus ...

  We are still looking pretty good in spite of being in transit from Vancouver, Portland and Bend for over 24-hours. Our traveling group is Teresa, Scott, John me and Pat.   We have a nice view of the old city from the roof of our motel! We left home at 2:45 am on Wednesday. We flew from Portland to Denver and then on to Montreal. The final 10.5 hour flight but us into Tel Aviv at 10:15 am local time on Thursday. There is a 10 hour time difference.  We cleared customs and found out that Teresa’s suitcase was vacationing separately in Canada.  We travelled by van to Jerusalem and arrived at the motel in the early afternoon. We got settled into our rooms at the King David Jerusalem motel and had an early dinner in their restaurant.  I’m a big fan of Mediterranean cuisine, so I had a side dish of  Freekah, because I liked the name. It was delicious.  Sorry, no food pictures yet, I’m sure they will be coming in future blog posts!   After dinner, we al...