July 8, 2007

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday, dear Tianna
Happy birthday to me

Ok, really. How many people can say they had a birthday in Jerusalem and the Galilee? I really am just that cool. :) Now, on to the events of the day.

Tradition in our family deems that our birthday is the one day per year that we can actually sleep in. (Well, my dad claims Christmas is another day, but he's just ridiculous.) Thus, Murphy's Law dictates that my birthday is the one day per year that I wake up bright and early at 6 am. [rolls eyes] Not to fail this honored and time-tested tradition, I woke up at 6 am. It was still dark outside. I groaned and decided to fight tradition. So I rolled over and fell back asleep. At 7 I woke up again and realized the lamp above our bed was on. I'm pretty sure it wasn't on earlier, though. I turned it off and fell back asleep. Finally at 8, when I woke up yet again, I decided to stay up. So I turned on my computer and started catching up on my blog. It's getting harder and harder to do this now. This much detail and I fall far, far behind.

We went down to breakfast and wow, that was the best breakfast we had had thus far. But really, it doesn't take much to beat a week of corn flakes and watermelon. There were cereals and breads and fruit and mmmm... goodness. Deciding to get a start on the day, we called a cab and drove out to Avis to get our rental car. Finally! We didn't have to worry about finding transportation and paying an arm and a leg to get it. (Oh little did we now) After a bit of drama where we spent an arm more than we were expecting to rent the car, we finally got the keys and headed out to the parking lot. Now, the term 'parking lot' is a very loose term. Rather, it was a sidewalk big enough to park cars very close together. Imagine my amusement as Travis got his first taste of Israel driving while trying to 12-point turn off a sidewalk (yes, with a sidewalk-sized drop to the road) while backing into Jerusalem traffic. Think of the worst rush hour you've ever seen, and increase the speed. Now back into that traffic off of a sidewalk with no room to maneuver without hitting another car. In a rental. Yes. I was amused.

Our first order of business? The Israeli museum. First, let me just tell you the most tragic part of this museum. The archaeology portion is closed for 2 years!!! How do you do that? How can the most archaeologically rich nation close their archaeology section for years?! Ridiculous. That's what it is. Wisely, they left two major parts open. First - the scale model of the second temple. Second - the Dead Sea Scrolls. Wait... I'm sure I've talked about all this... Ok, a little bit when I saw it the first time here.

So, first was the Model City. Travis and I walked the perimeter, me pointing out different tidbits about the city and the model (like where Herod's palace was, or how they had a hippodrome in the model for a long time, with no proof that there was ever a hippodrome in Jerusalem). Travis finally found his ideal spot to set up his 4x5 and we set up camp. Rather, I hovered in the tiny bit of shade I could find, chuckling at Travis under his cloth and the security guard off to the side looking over at us curiously. Many pictures later, we headed over to the Shrine of the Book. Now, Travis picked up a bad habit this trip... taking pictures where it specifically says not to take pictures. I think just to be a rebel. Who knows. Anyway, we're not talking about the bajillion pictures Travis has of "No Camera" signs, we're talking about Shrine of the Book. It was kind of nice this time through... I didn't have other people in a big hurry begging me to hurry up. I actually got to take the time to sit and read what each display was. And every once in awhile I'd pass by Travis looking at something and hear a "click" coming from the camera hanging around his neck... even though his hands were in his pocket—not on the camera. Really, the beauty of the cord. What's it called, Trav? Cable release. Right. That. Anyway, the acoustics in the room were fantastic... at least to the extent that a tiny click from a camera actually echoed around the room. He definitely got some curious looks in his direction.

We left the museum and headed up to the Center. Now that we had a car, it was time to pick up all of our stuff. First, can I just say how nice it was to drive up that crazy hill instead of having to hike it? Pure bliss. I think that drive brought me more pleasure than most things possibly could have. If only I had been eating a coconut Nok-Out...

We had our priorities. First thing we did was pull out my computer and check our emails. Travis started poking around on the Internet and next thing I know, he's showing me an Amazon.com receipt. Purchase? Harry Potter 7. "Happy Birthday, Sis!" Yay! I had been so nervous about this book. Travis had bought me every single Harry Potter book except book 6 (which I thusly had to wait days for someone else to finish theirs so I could borrow it). Book 7 is the most important book... would Travis get it for me? Should I buy it myself? Should I just wait and borrow it? So many questions had infested my mind. It was such a relief to know that come July 21, I would be happily reading my very own copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Somethings are simply that important.

I definitely have the coolest brother ever. (Single women out there, please take note.)

We finally got all our stuff out to the car and headed out for Galilee. I was very excited about this. Galilee was definitely one of my favorite places of the entire trip. What better place to be heading to on my birthday? However, it wasn't all fun and games... neither of us had any idea how to get there. Luckily, the Center had given me maps as part of my books. So, prepped with the knowledge that Highway 6 was a toll highway (the high-tech kind that you just drive and at certain points, it takes pictures of your license plate and bills you in the mail later) we headed off on a longer, yet much cheaper route, through Tel Aviv.

The first thing we learned is that Israeli highways are not like American highways in that there is not a McDonalds every other exit. Or any food places, for that matter. As the day wore on and we got more and more hungry, we stared off every exit, hoping for some sign of food. We listened to Harry Potter 6, hoping to divert our attention, but every mention of Treacle Tart was pure torture. (I don't even know what a Treacle Tart is, but it's food. Thus, it made my tummy grumble in jealousy.) Finally, we just exited, figuring there had to be something somewhere. We found what appeared to be a promising strip mall. After learning that we had to pay for parking, but it being too late to do anything about it, we headed on in. Turns out, that cow on the sign was not advertising for hamburgers, but rather for a butcher shop. This little strip mall was full of clothing stores and a butcher shop. Does anyone else see the oddity here? The closest thing we had to edible food was a coffee shop. So we bought a couple of pastries, a couple of slushies, and a couple of bags of Doritos and went back out to the car. This was definitely a meal for the road. My slushy was surprisingly good. As was one of the pastries—it was filled with some sort of meat/pizza-like filling and herbs and spices. The Doritos were also quite tasty, though no flavor you'll ever find in America. Foreign countries tend to do that... brands you know, flavors you don't. Pringles are the classic example. Ketchup flavored Pringles are all over Israel. Apparently Doritos decided to be different as well.

Of course, as soon as we resigned ourselves to that lunch, fast food places started popping up all over the place. Go figure.

We finally made it to Galilee... Tiberias, to be exact. Following Omar's vague directions to a Christian hospice called Casa Nova, we got sufficiently lost. Finally, convinced that this hospice didn't actually exist, we started looking for other places. Tragically, every place we could find was charging an arm and a leg per night. We simply didn't have enough arms and legs between the two of us. So we decided to drive around the Sea of Galilee until we found somewhere better. Next thing we knew, we were clear out at Ein Gev. I knew it was pricy, but we decided to check it out anyway. Sure enough, it was pricy, but surprisingly, it was a very competitive rate. Enough that we even considered staying there for at least one night. We decided to buy some Internet time and spent it surfing the Internet trying to find something cheaper. Then it was back out to the car to drive back towards Tiberias. Finally, driving through Tiberias, we spotted the beautiful word, "Hostel" in bright red letters across a building. Hostel = cheap, right? Hey, we stayed in hostels in Jordan - we could do anything now.

So we pulled in, realized there was no free parking, so we forked out a shekel to the parking meter, and headed upstairs. Yes, up the stairs. The long, steep, stairs. Because there was no elevator.... and of course the hostel was on the second floor. We finally signed up for one night, leaving one precious arm behind. (Who said a hostel was cheap?! Our nice, kosher Jewish hotel was cheaper than this... or at least similar in price.) We had planned on bringing everything in from the car to our Galilee quarters, but those stairs changed our minds. Bringing up only what we could carry in one, maybe two trips, (and don't forget feeding the parking meter) we settled in for the night—determined to find something better for the next night.

A bedtime story of a Harry Potter chapter or two later, we drifted off to sleep. What better way to turn 24?