Monday, July 19th (continued)
Today we enjoyed the wonderful hotel breakfast (they have an espresso bar-two double espressos to go!!) and of course the wonderful spread of breads, cheeses, eggs, fish and for Emily-Israeli salad).
This morning's activity was Zip lining (see photos). We took a cable car up a mountain and then were harnassed on to Zip down. We all (well most of us) did it and the girls went together. It was pretty cool...you can go as fast as you want and feel as if you are flying through the air. The Cantor went upside down (see photo!). A jeep ride takes you back up the mountain, but I decided to hike it with the Cantor. Probably not a great idea. It was only about a 15 minute hike, but steep. Very steep. When we got back to the busses he had a touch of heat exhaustion....fully recovered now, however.
After the ZIp lining, we went up further north, all the way up to the Israeli-Lebanon border. We sat at the border fence which is on the property of a kibbutz. The furtherest northern Kibbutz. We heard from a Kibbutz member about the struggles with Lebanon and Hezbollah. He was a 70 year old crotchety guy who emigrated from Cleveland (!) in 1940. His view was that there will never be any peace. From where we were sitting we could look over into Lebanon and see their houses and Mosques. It was eerily quiet. No movement on the roads but we could hear the sounds of the Mosques in the distance.
After that we headed to Kiryat Shmona for lunch. We all inhaled falafels and Shwarma (turns out it is turkey, not lamb?) in pita with yummy salads, hummus and fried eggplant inside. And then ice cream of course before getting back on the bus to come back to the hotel. Our bus decided to spend the afternoon at the hotel but the other half went to Akko....we just wanted some down time. On the way back we stopped at the Naot factory (shoes) and many (Emily included) purchased a pair of sandals. They are like Israeli Bierkenstocks. Cute walking sandals.
Back at the hotel (our clean clothes waiting for us in our rooms!) we quickly put on bathing suits and headed for the pool. Swimming with the Cantor. What could be better. Watermelon poolside. It is pretty hot here but not as humid as Tel Aviv. 33 C, whatever that is!! A nice breeze up on the mountain though. And of course the bus is well air conditioned.
Tonight dinner is at the hotel and then we are hearing from a former commander in the northern army to give us an update on the current situation up here (should we have had this talk BEFORE we ventured up here??) And it is Tish b'av tomorrow. So we have an optional short service tonight. Tomorrow after a visit to a kibbutz we are going biking int he Hula Valley or ATV..not sure what we will do. Stay tuned.
Today we enjoyed the wonderful hotel breakfast (they have an espresso bar-two double espressos to go!!) and of course the wonderful spread of breads, cheeses, eggs, fish and for Emily-Israeli salad).
This morning's activity was Zip lining (see photos). We took a cable car up a mountain and then were harnassed on to Zip down. We all (well most of us) did it and the girls went together. It was pretty cool...you can go as fast as you want and feel as if you are flying through the air. The Cantor went upside down (see photo!). A jeep ride takes you back up the mountain, but I decided to hike it with the Cantor. Probably not a great idea. It was only about a 15 minute hike, but steep. Very steep. When we got back to the busses he had a touch of heat exhaustion....fully recovered now, however.
After the ZIp lining, we went up further north, all the way up to the Israeli-Lebanon border. We sat at the border fence which is on the property of a kibbutz. The furtherest northern Kibbutz. We heard from a Kibbutz member about the struggles with Lebanon and Hezbollah. He was a 70 year old crotchety guy who emigrated from Cleveland (!) in 1940. His view was that there will never be any peace. From where we were sitting we could look over into Lebanon and see their houses and Mosques. It was eerily quiet. No movement on the roads but we could hear the sounds of the Mosques in the distance.
After that we headed to Kiryat Shmona for lunch. We all inhaled falafels and Shwarma (turns out it is turkey, not lamb?) in pita with yummy salads, hummus and fried eggplant inside. And then ice cream of course before getting back on the bus to come back to the hotel. Our bus decided to spend the afternoon at the hotel but the other half went to Akko....we just wanted some down time. On the way back we stopped at the Naot factory (shoes) and many (Emily included) purchased a pair of sandals. They are like Israeli Bierkenstocks. Cute walking sandals.
Back at the hotel (our clean clothes waiting for us in our rooms!) we quickly put on bathing suits and headed for the pool. Swimming with the Cantor. What could be better. Watermelon poolside. It is pretty hot here but not as humid as Tel Aviv. 33 C, whatever that is!! A nice breeze up on the mountain though. And of course the bus is well air conditioned.
Tonight dinner is at the hotel and then we are hearing from a former commander in the northern army to give us an update on the current situation up here (should we have had this talk BEFORE we ventured up here??) And it is Tish b'av tomorrow. So we have an optional short service tonight. Tomorrow after a visit to a kibbutz we are going biking int he Hula Valley or ATV..not sure what we will do. Stay tuned.
posted by csmcid at 8:20 AM
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