Jerusalem, Israel: Remember those notes from the previous post? Yep, same thing here. Leaving the Temple Mount area we then exited the Old City to look at the Lions’ Gate. The origins of the name Lions’ Gate are a bit unclear. In fact, the animals carved into the stone are supposed to be leopards not…
Read more Old City of Jerusalem Part II – Week 4 / Day 26 / Feb 5
Jerusalem, Israel: A couple of notes before getting started with today’s activities: 1. This is the most hotly contested bit of real estate in the entire world. Although I have read a fair bit about it, I am no expert on the history of, or validity of claims to different things. With that awareness, I…
Read more Old City of Jerusalem Part I: Week 4 / Day 26 / Feb 5
Jerusalem, Israel: Yep, that’s right “Super Bowl Monday.” With the game starting at 1:30 AM, it is Monday. I have watched the Patriots play while overseas twice before – once for the AFC Championship Game two weeks ago and once for the Super Bowl two years ago while in Vienna with my daughter Kelly. I am…
Jerusalem, Israel: Time for another travel day. Today I am heading over the border from Jordan into Israel. There are only four crossing points between the two countries and I will be using the one at the Allenby / King Hussein Bridge (name depends on whom you ask / are talking to). It is supposed…
Amman, Jordan: Today will be a trip to the old Roman city of Jerash. Before heading there I walked around a bit downtown and got some breakfast. Breakfast was at a famous restaurant called Hamesh. Despite its fame I did not really see much difference from what I had eaten yesterday. Looking at the picture…
Amman, Jordan: I decided to take a stroll around some of markets again this morning. Although not as chaotic as the souks in the Marrakech medina, things can still be a bit crowded here. I have always been a bit self-conscious about taking photographs in market areas. Taking pictures surreptitiously is difficult to do and…
Read more Roman Amphitheater and Markets: Week 4 / Day 22 / Feb 1
Petra, Jordan: We slept in a bit more than planned and got kind of a late start. The breakfast at the hotel was good, but not spectacular. This is very clearly a tourist place as there was a lot of English to be heard and the hotel breakfast was packed with people who are clearly…
Wadi Musa, Jordan: Today will mainly be a travel day as we are headed down to the town of Wadi Musa for a visit to the old city of Petra. Our first task of the day was getting a hold of the rental car we will be using for the next two days. We had…
Amman, Jordan: Before doing anything too major we decided to get out early in the morning and get our bearings in the city. Based upon our host’s instructions we headed down the hill into the center of downtown and began to walk from there. Although it was not too early (about 8:30 AM), I was…
Read more Exploring Amman and the Amman Citadel: Week 3 / Day 19 / Jan 29
Amman, Jordan: We spent another night in the Doha airport (a phrase I did not think I would ever be saying) on our trip from Tanzania to Arusha. Given that Linda will probably fly through here on her way back to the US at the end of the week, she will end up going through…
