Up at 6:00 AM, an uncharacteristic time for me to be moving, much less awake! And out the gangway at 7:00 to meet with Israeli Immigration officials. Sounds scary. Reality...a nuisance.
All passengers, going ashore or not are REQUIRED to meet and present passport and landing card, already signed by immigration officials. AND, we have to take our passport and card with us
when we go ashore later this morning for our Crew Tour. Nevertheless, it took about an hour of standing in a queue, the deed is done and J and I had a nice breakfast with a few surprises. We must have received some new food when we were in Egypt because FRESH peaches, apricots and cherries appeared this morning! And two nights ago we had a fresh persimmon!! It was yummy...a cross between a sweet tomato, apple and peach. We missed lobster last night due to laundry...ate at the buffet that was poor at best. Some nights are better than others, and although the choices might look good, the taste seldom matches. Often, by 8:00, most entrees are dried out or lukewarm. Still, I didn't have to cook, so no complaints from me...I can always find fruit or veggies, cooked or raw.
I wanted to mention the differences between the Suez and Panama Canals...the Suez looks like a canal dug by hand. It's very wide and there are no locks. It's pastoral with a few nice bridges to pass under and the largest swing bridge in the world...like the Figure Eight Island Bridge only much much larger. One side, East, I think, is primarily desert while the other side has small villages and green, irrigated farmland along the way with small docks and fishing boats here and there. From time to time there are lovely homes with large picture windows facing the canal with built in entertainment! Both sides have guarded highways along the water's edge. The Panama Canal has all the engineering details, the locks, donkeys, and standby folks along the way in case a lock problem develops. We met one older couple this morning at breakfast who chose this cruise solely because the ship goes through both canals on this itinerary.
So, in a little while J and I will go off to Jerusalem and other points with the crew. I told Brendy, my cabin steward, not to bother cleaning my room today. He'll be on the same crew tour, and he should have the day for fun too. There will be five buses to get into trouble! Hopefully we won't be on one of them. The other difference between a passenger excursion and a crew excursion is, well...the crew excursion is more like a high school field trip! All directions have to be repeated about ten times because some folks don't listen or don't understand because of language differences. Each bus is. Like a mini-UN. The difference in price this time was $200 vs $20. Our temperature today should hold right around 80' with clear skies. 'Nuff said.
So, more about the tour when we return!
Well, it was a fast tour of the Old City, the via Dolorosa, The Church of the Holy Sepulcher ,and the Western Wall (formerly known as the Wailing Wall), Followed by a fast, late lunch stop, followed by an allotted seven minutes of shopping! Our guide was on a really fast speed, something that seems to be a common trait among guides! We had about 20 minutes to work our way to the Wall and leave our prayer wishes in the wall cracks, and find our way back to the meeting place for Bus 35...except she forgot to tell us where to meet! Other guides had big numbered signs which they held up from time to time, but our young lady forgot hers. It was hit or miss from then on. Oh, we each had a headset with one earplug so we could hear her...talking to other people, saying which way to go...trouble was, she didn't tell us where she was! This made for a pretty stressful time. Managing a camera, a headset, cobblestone streets, and very crowded pushy people all headed in different directions, was hard.
In the end, though, and after Jeff and I talked about it, we agreed that although we wanted it to feel holy, it just didn't for various reasons. The crowds, the extreme photo taking, the heat and rushed pace, along with not being able to slowly absorb the crowds and the atmosphere without wondering where we were going and would we lose sight of her. We agreed that the bazaar along the via Dolorosa and that walk felt most like it was a long time ago. But I think it would be very helpful if these very special holy places put requirements in place to preserve the antiquity and atmosphere of these places. Perhaps limiting the numbers allowed in at a time, or specific times for groups, as is done in Rome, would help people more fully experience them. I have to say that the Ethiopian priests looked totally discouraged, maybe disgusted with the crowds and their lack of reflection and prayerful appreciation and humility.
Somehow we were all able to meet in the Church's courtyard and even picked up a few people who went missing much earlier. We found the bus and made a quick run to a nearby monastery for lunch...($9.00 salads)...we had drinks instead, then were granted a seven minute shopping spree on the way to the ship. Seven minutes isn't much time, but we managed to spend a few shekels.
We were rewarded by a most glorious sunset at the end of another very special outing! Tomorrow we have another sea day in preparation for Athens on Saturday, June 22.
PS Say a special prayer for Jeff as he has a telephone interview tonight for a teaching job. Thank you!
No comments:
Post a Comment