Israel

Important Facts About The Dead Sea:

• Dead
  
• 1200 Feet below sea level
  
• Hot as Hell! (45C=113F)
  

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...

On the evening of July 25th, we had a chance to attend a game of the brand new Israel Baseball League. The League is a professional league consisting of 6 teams, mostly made up of US and foreign players.

The Bet Shemesh Blue Sox won 10-1 over the Ra’anana Express behind a dominating pitching performance from Sacramento, California native Rafael Bergstrom. Bergstrom earned his fifth win with a complete game two-hitter, giving up one run first inning before cruising the rest of the way to shut down the Express and strike out six batters while walking two.

The Blue Sox offense gave him more than enough support as shortstop Gregg Raymundo put Bet Shemesh up in the first inning with a two-run homer. Designated hitter Johnny Lopez went 3-for-4 with two RBI while rightfielder Jason Rees provided three more RBI as the Blue Sox won for the first time in four games.

As a special treat, my old friend Gadi who I had not seen in at least 15 years joined us around the 7th inning.

On July 23-24, we spent two days in Jerusalem, exploring respectively the old and new city. Our first visit was to the Western Wall.

Jordan placed a traditional good-wish message in the crack between the 3000-year old stones of the Temple's remaining foundation.

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.

Following our visit to the coastal cities of Haifa and Acre, we ended up the day in Tiberias, along the Sea of Galilee.

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...

After a long trip from Malaga, Spain via Milan on Alitalia, we arrived in Israel at 4 AM on July 19th. After a few hours of rest at our Netanya seaside hotel, we joined my brother and his son Amos and daughter Lara poolside. (Charles, Amos and Lara are joining us in Israel)

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.