Friday, January 22, 2016

Shalom

By popular request (and if you didn't request it, you still get it!) Some fine photos taken by radiomattm during our trip to Israel! In the beginning, we arrived in Tel Aviv. This is what a middle eastern dessert looks like after you allow a bunch of Jews to ride roughshod over it for the last 68 years:


Ben Gurion Airport:

A view of the Mediterranean from our hotel:

The Kosher pizza joint where we dined with the wonderful Annie:
Moving right along, last year in Jerusalem: The Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives:

The Jewish Cemetery on the Mount of Olives:

The Church of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives:

Olive Trees on the Mount of Olives (I know, I was shocked too!)

And so on this day of the Jewish sabbath I'll leave you at the Kotel:

And the beautiful boy celebrating his Bar Mitzvah on the day we visited:

Many, many, many, more photos to come over the upcoming weeks. Please let me know if I'm boring you!

19 comments:

  1. Oh, and click on the photos to see full size.

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  2. Wonderful photos Fay - thanks very much on behalf of the non-Facebookers!

    Interesting to see all the cranes in the background of the Temple Mount photo...

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  3. So glad you like them lewy. The cranes were everywhere in Israel. The interesting tidbit concerning construction in Jerusalem is that every building's exterior has to be clad in Jerusalem stone. This makes it almost impossible to distinguish old buildings from new.

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  4. On one of our taxi rides in Jerusalem the driver pointed out to us the Holyland Park complex case that Ehud Olmert was convicted of corruption. The complex is extremely ugly and is situated at the peak of one of Jerusalem's many hills.

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  5. Jerusalem is much larger than I had envisioned.

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  6. Fay, thank you for these fabulous photos! I've seen them before on Facebook (and of course in real life) but I always love to see pictures of my country through a visitor's eyes.

    Re the Holy Land complex - I agree, it is a revolting monstrosity. Just looking at, you can see that there had to be bribery and corruption involved. There's no way that any Jerusalem city planner would have allowed it to be built otherwise.

    What hurts me more than anything is that on the original site, where there once stood the beautiful pastoral Holy Land Hotel, is where I got married, in beautiful gardens with a stunning view of Jerusalem in the background.

    I'll see if I can dig up a photo.

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    1. What hurts me more than anything is that on the original site, where there once stood the beautiful pastoral Holy Land Hotel, is where I got married, in beautiful gardens with a stunning view of Jerusalem in the background.

      Aww annie, that must be really annoying every time you see that complex. I hope you find a photo to show us.

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  7. You're not boring me! I LOVE these photographs!

    I've always envisioned Jerusalem as a small, quaint town too. I guess in reality it's a big city like any other big city, isn't it?

    Annie, I'd love to see your photo too. It sounds so gorgeous!

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  8. I finally managed to scan and upload a couple of photos from my wedding. Trouble is the colour has faded over all these years (35 and counting!).

    Here is a picture of our Chupa, the wedding canopy, before the ceremony. If you squint hard, you can make out the panorama of Jerusalem in the background. This is what the new Holyland monstrosity is now hiding.

    imgw:"http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y169/annekl/b6e8dc5a-7e98-415a-bfe6-0894760e4200_zpsy3fmysab.jpg"

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    1. You got married six years before you were born?

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    2. LOL! I was an early starter. :) OTOH we did just have our 12th grandchild...

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  9. And here is a photo from the reception, where - although the food is front and center - the scenery is clearer, though still not brilliant.

    imgw:"http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y169/annekl/827b442a-b243-45dd-880d-06b852f12f3a_zps9zcwvuyq.jpg"

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  10. And to finish up a wonderful day, today we had another granddaughter! Our son and daughter-in-law (the famous Z&E :) ) had a girl at 3 pm, weighing in at 3.66 kg (I think that's about 8lbs). She's gorgeous!

    She's girl no. 6... LOL. My son is surrounded by women! He even lives in a pink house. :))

    Picture to follow soon...

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  11. Here you go, by popular request (i.e. if you didn't request, you will be blooming unpopular!!) :p

    here is the latest addition to our family:

    imgw:"http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y169/annekl/Baby_zpsgar7fyqh.jpg"

    Her chubby cheeks and round face have been noted by the family as having a strong resemblance to.. erm... her grandma! :))

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    1. Oh how wonderful annie. Mazel Tov!

      What a beautiful new Zionist ;)

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  12. Replies
    1. Heh :-) Thank you Fay and Matt!

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