!st Day

I flew with my friend, Kathryn Witts to Jerusalem on Nov. 12.  We left early in the morning and flew in to Istanbul, Turkey on Turkish Airlines and then on to Tel Aviv, Israel.  I'll be truthful, I was a little nervous about flying on Turkish Air but it was lovely.  The food was amazing.  They serve Mediterranean style dishes and the service was very good.  Flying in to Istanbul airport was amazing because we could see the ships in the port.  No matter where you go in this beautiful world - port cities are always busy cities whether by sea or river.  It was very interesting to be in predominately Muslim country.  Every woman is wearing a headscarf and the men are in their dress.  That has been one of the most amazing things about being able to travel is to have my eyes opened and my mind opened to different cultures and religions and to appreciate that we are all alike yet all different.

When we arrived to Tel Aviv we had to get a shuttle bus to take us on our hour journey to Jerusalem.  We had been told that the shuttle would take us directly to our hotel which was the 7 Arches.  When we spoke to the shuttle driver he told us that he could not take us to the hotel because it was in the Arab sector of Israel and he was Jewish but he would arrange to take us to the Damascus gate and transfer us to a taxi there that would be able to take us on to our hotel.  It was a little disconcerting to hear that but then at the same time - I felt very peaceful and didn't worry at all.  When we finally arrived at the hotel we were given a room with a lovely view.  We were right on top of the Mt. of Olives and just had the most glorious panoramic view of the city.  I'm posting pictures of both day and night looking out our window.  It was funny because every morning we would wake up and all the tour buses from others staying in the city would be out front to show their tours this view and all we had to do was open up our window.  Yep, I was very happy with this blessing on the trip :)