

On Sunday morning, we visited Kyoto's Golden Temple (made out of real gold!) 
then took the bullet train back to Tokyo to see the Tokyo Yakult Swallows crush the Baystars 6-2...
The excitement came in the 6th inning when Jordan and Sveta were featured on the scoreboard....
Tomorrow is our last day....
Kyoto (and more Tokyo Baseball) remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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From the top of the mountain, one can catch glimpses of the elusive Mount Fuji, which appears and disappears throught the clouds in an instant.
One the other side of the mountain lies lake Ashi, where we cruised the lake on a replica of an old ship. 
In the afternoon of the third day, we also visited the great Hakone open air museum
and then ended up taking the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto with top speeds of 160 miles per hour... 
See you in Kyoto...
Hakone Area remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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Tokyo remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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That's it. Japan is next.
Shanghai remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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At the end of the day, we visited the carved Buddhas of the Longmen Caves
including the largest Buddha which is 25 feet in height
The following day, we visited Kaifeng, home of the best documented Jewish community in China. We met with a couple pf descendants of the community and learned of efforts to revive the community. We also visited the 700-year old Iron Pagoda 
Luoyang & Kaifeng remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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The next two days, we visited some of the attractions in Xi'an, including the Great Wild Goose Pagoda 
the lesser wild goose pagoda 
a bike ride on the 600-year old city walls
and a visit to the Feng Shui museum 
We left Xi'an by train for the 6 hour ride to Luoyang where Jordan displayed his social skills... 

Xi'an remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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Guilin remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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and the Great Wall of China 
In addition, we experienced other sights of Beijing, including he famous Pandas at the Beijing Zoo (like the Moscow zoo, they could use some help) 
We also tasted the deliciously famous Peking Duck 
but stayed away from some of the street food...
Beijing remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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Sunday afternoon, we also visited the Moscow Zoo. Quite frankly, many parts of the zoo are in need of serious attention. as the wolves below decry... 
The bear did not care so much... 
Moscow remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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Футбол!! remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>Not only is the Hermitage a great museum, but it is also an amazing palace with hundred of opulent and lavish rooms.
We spent a few hours admiring the amazing art ranging from roman statues,
to rare Michelangelo statues,
to the Dutch Masters...
Finally, at 4 PM, we boarded the express train for Moscow
Hermitage remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>It looked very familiar. When we introduced ourselves, a nurse said she did not remember Sveta. When we talked to the Director, she vaguely remembered but we could not find her name in the register. This is when we discovered that we were in The House of Children #11 (Detsky Dom) as opposed to the Children's House #11 (Dom Rebenke) - The Director had no idea where this other place was. Back to ground zero.
We search the internet in Russian and found a list of Children Houses but no Number 11. We called #14 and they said they used to be #11, so we went... Wrong number 11, but there we found a nurse (Valentina) who remembered Sveta and used to work at #11.
We spoke to the Doctor in charge at #14 and they gave us the phone number of the Doctor who signed Sveta's orders 14 years ago in #11 (she is now director at #2) So we went to visit her at Children's House #2
It turns out that Children;s house #2 (they are a lot nicer inside now)
is 200 meters from the original House #11 where Sveta was, which was closed and is now turned into a dental clinic.
Mystery solved. The next day, we printed pictures of the reunions with the Dr, and Valentina and gave then a framed copy as a souvenir. ![]()
A bit of investigative work... remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>Then comes the statue to Peter the Great presented to him by Catherine:
followed by the famous Aurora ship, involve in three Soviet wars
Here we are posing across from the Hermitage museum
On other days, we ventured outside the city to visit the famous PeterHof
and then Catherine's Palace in Pushkin:
They know how to do palaces...By the way, all these palaces were nearly destroyed in WW II and the Russians have done an incredible job rebuilding all this.
Saint Petersburg remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>Anyhow, we had a lovely time at the Dead Sea, the Lowest Point on Earth
We visited the fortress of Masada, where Jewish rebels fought the Roman army in 66 CE.
then some of us took advantage of the nearby En Gedi spa for a delicious mud then sulphur bath...
Dead Sea remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>As a special treat, my old friend Gadi who I had not seen in at least 15 years joined us around the 7th inning.
Baseball! remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>The next day, we visited the Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Museum in the morning,
and the Israel Museum in the afternoon, including the home of the famous Qumran bible scrolls.
Jerusalem remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>The next day, we visited the area, including the Gamla bird sanctuary across the lake which hosts the endangered Griffin vulture (Nesher) mentioned in the Bible.
To Jordan;s delight, we visited the river named after him...or is it the other way around?
and spent the rest of the day trying to cool off at a local water park
The next day, we visited the old city of Bet Shean on our way to Jerusalem... Temperatures exceeded 42 degrees celcius...
Tiberias Area remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>The next day, we departed Netanya and stopped along the coast in Haifa where we visited the Bahai temple and its gardens,
and the coastal town of Acre and its ancient citadel as well as the newly excavated Templar tunnel. Acre is a well known crusader fortress in Israel dating to the 12th and 13th century.
Arrival to Israel and Coastal Area remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>Day at the Beach remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>The Alhambra includes the Nazrid castle, the fort, the gardens and Charles the Fifth's palace.
Following the visit, we saw the Granada Cathedral which took 180 years to build.
Granada remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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Flamenco remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>The Alcazar is also an amazing palace with a mixture of Arab and Western styles.
In between our visits, we enjoyed traditional Spannish food, including tapas (small portions) at the "Belmonte" pub. Above our heads was a reminder of what happens to the bulls at the corrida...
Seville, Spain remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>First we came across these eerie windmill farms that populate the very Southern tip of Spain, near the Straights of Gibraltar, where I suppose Don Quixote use to work a while back
Between Algeciras and Cadiz, we stopped at Vejer de la Frontera, one of the beautiful "white villages" of Andalusia.
Our next stop was the city of Jerez de la Frontera, famous for its many many distilleries, including Harveys Bristol Cream, Sandeman Sherry, and many many others. Below is the statue of local hero TIO PEPE adoring a city square: !!
No sampling for us though... we are either driving or under age. Maybe next time.
Road to Seville remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>The next day was devoted primarily to crossing the Straights of Gibraltar from Tangier to Algeciras where we spent the night.
Here is Jordan on the boat with a faint view of Gibraltar in the background. It takes about 2.5 hours on the slow boat (ours) to make the 11 miles + crossing. Then you land in Spain where it is two hours later than in Morocco, so you have pretty much spent the whole day...
North to Tangiers remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>Fes remains copyright of the author svjorber, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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