land of the pharoahs (or something): October 2006

agazat-ii f-isra'il wi falastin (vacation in israel and palestine)

the second half of my 'eid vacation was with my friend erin. we went to israel and palestine for a few days. we were mostly in the old city in jerusalem, which is where we stayed at night and where all the historical biblical sites are. we went to palestine twice: once to go to ramallah and the second to go to beit jala. it was an interesting experience, we never felt unsafe, and we got to see the things for ourselves. as a bonus, we managed entry into israel without getting our passports stamped, which some of the other aucians couldn't seem to swing, so we don't lose the chance to visit other countries in the area.

at the wailing wall, but not a photograph of the wailing wall; don't be misled

we met drew at our hostel and he became our traveling buddy for the day. if you want to get close to the wailing wall, and if you don't have a kippa of your own, you've got to put one of those paper ones on your head.

the dome of the rock, the rock being the one on which abraham was to sacrifice isaac/ishmael (depending on which book you read); it's a mosque now, and since sharon came to power it's been off limits to non-muslims.

a chandlier in the church of the holy sepulchre

the tomb of jesus in the holy sepulchre, where his body was laid before his resurrection. it's tiny, and there were other people who i didn't want to bother with a flash, thus the fuzzy

one of thos people lighting a candle in prayer

jerusalem looks beatiful everywhere, but especially so from the Mount of Olives at sunset

israel puts walls up along its borders with palestine

going from ramallah back into jerusalem is like being in prison for a few moments, and more than a few if you're palestinian (this picture has to be tiny; that's just how it goes)

beit jala is a palestinian town near jerusalem. there's not much in it, but there was one restaurant with the best hummus i've ever eaten in my life.

jerusalem is that way

agazat-ii f-il-aswan w-al-luqsur (vacation in aswan and luxor)

for the first part of my 'eid el-fitr vacation (the holiday at the end of ramadan), i went with some friends to upper egypt (in the south) to aswan, abu simbel, and luxor, where they keep most of the history intact. i figured i deserved something nice, since i fasted the whole lunar month.