Jstor

Enjoying our lunches and some pastries at a little bakery we have started to frequent in the Jewish Quarter of the old city called Sambooki.  The food is delicious, and it is air conditioned so it’s a win-win.  After we ate we walked around the Old City and bought some souvenirs. My shirt was a real hit with the shopkeepers as we walked around.  Instead of yelling “Lady, come into my shop,” like they usually do, I got a personalized name of ‘strawberry’ (or cherry if their english vocabulary did not include strawberry).  Quite the treat.

The food is so delicious Lindsey couldn’t stop eating long enough to smile for the camera.

We visited a couple museums that had the remains of some very large houses that belonged to wealthy priests of Herod’s temple.  Inside one of the museums they had made a miniature replica of what the house would have looked like in it’s prime.  It is probably one of the best miniature things I have ever seen, and a couple of us girls were loving how tiny and detailed it was. Even though this is a terrible picture that doesn’t even capture how great it was it deserves to be posted.    

The stairs leading up the double archway that was used during the time of Herod’s temple.

The original rim of one of the arches of the triple archway. 

You can see a little bit of all three arches behind us. 

The classic reading while floating in the Dead Sea pose. 

Notice that no one really has their shoulders under the water because it’s pretty much impossible to.  You could go out to the deepest part of the Dead Sea and still look like your standing because no matter what you do, you float. 

The Dead Sea felt like a hot tub, which was not the most refreshing since it was 109 degrees outside.  Despite the heat we all got in and had a great time.  A few people cut their feet on the rocks covered with huge salt crystals you have to walk across to get in the water which caused them a lot of pain in the water so I was glad to have my sandals.  The feeling of floating in the Dead Sea is almost impossible to describe. When you swim on your stomach it feels like you are gliding across the water and your feet keep popping out of the water because they can’t stop floating.  

The water wasn’t the most pleasant so no one stayed in for too long.  We were all light headed and thirsty when we got out and the lone man who was selling popsicles was not a fan of all 80 of us coming to make a purchase at the same time. 

We have now been able to swim in the Red Sea, Dead Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. 

I’m officially ready to come home.