Israel Part One: Tel Aviv, Haifa, Sea of Galilee

This past week Darren and I have been in Israel and we had a fantastic time.  Darren had to go to Tel Aviv and Haifa to attend two meetings that were on Sunday and Wednesday, so we decided that I would accompany him and we would try to do some sightseeing before and in between the meetings.  Even though I knew Darren's work had a good-sized office in Tel Aviv, I just never thought about the possibility that we would do some sightseeing there, but once everything came together, I was really excited.  Darren was in Israel briefly this summer while on a work trip, and while he did see some sights (mostly the Dead Sea and Masada), it was a very short trip, so he was also looking forward to going back.

The whole trip was incredible and we took over 400 pictures.  I want to remember the details as much as I want to share our trip with you, so I will be splitting this trip into multiple posts with many pictures, just to prepare you.  Also, multiple friends of ours mentioned they will be traveling to the area soon and wanted to hear about our experiences, so I will be adding in commentary and recommendations for them.  So now to begin!

We arrived Friday afternoon and got through immigration and customs with no problems.  The guy at the immigration booth even joked that he thought we might be heading to the BYU Jerusalem Center because our passports show that we were both born in Utah.  We made sure to correct him that we definitely do not attend BYU (Sorry, Dad). ;)  We picked up our rental car and attempted driving in Israel.  Wow, Israelis seem like they are unsafe drivers.  I'm not exactly sure why they have lane markers, turn signals, or parking spot lines, since most people do not use them.  I have proof, too, which will come later.  Anyway, we drove to our hotel, which was right next to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, where a lot of other hotels were located.  We stayed at the Best Western, which was not super fancy, but they had free wi-fi and (more crucially) free parking.  Most other places charged for parking.

Our hotel, Best Western, was not fancy but it worked out pretty well

Some (maybe most? I'm not sure) hotel rooms in Israel come with a small kitchenette in the room.  The reason is apparently to allow Jewish guests to store or prepare a small meal for the Sabbath since they would not go to a restaurant or even use electricity that day.  It worked out great for us because we could eat breakfast in the room every morning.  We both had cereal most mornings and we even found a convenience store around the corner that sold my favorite kind of American cereal: Quaker Oatmeal Squares.

The small kitchen in our hotel room

Another thing about the hotel unique to the country was the small box on the post of every door.  This is called a Mezuzah, which contains specific scriptures that the Jewish people believe should be on the posts of every door (see Deuteronomy 6:9).

By the time we got settled, it was dinner time, so we just ate at a place close by and then headed home as a thunderstorm was rolling in.  The next morning, while Darren was getting ready, I walked across to the street to the promenade just to enjoy the sunshine (the weather in Zürich had been a little dreary before we left) and to take some pictures.  The white sandy beaches are gorgeous and well-maintained.  The promenade stretches for miles along the coast.

The hotels along the beach

Who knew Israel was an excellent beach getaway?

Locals enjoying the water

We then left our hotel and drove up from Tel Aviv to Haifa, which is the third-largest city and a major industrial center.  It is a non-religious city, so it is a good place to visit on a Saturday, when most other cities are closed down.  Haifa sits at the foot of Mount Carmel.  We drove up to the top of Mount Carmel to see the views and visit some sites.

The view of Haifa from Mount Carmel

Mount Carmel is mentioned in the Bible several times, including when Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal (see 1 Kings 18:19).  We went to the Carmelite Monastery that is built around a cave where it is said Elijah lived for a short time.

The Carmelite Monastery chapel

The cave where Elijah is said to have lived

The headquarters of the Baha'i faith are also located on Mount Carmel.  We made a short visit to the beautiful gardens they have that extend all the way down the mountainside.

The Baha'i Gardens

After a quick lunch, we jumped in the car and drove to the Sea of Galilee.  We just passed through Nazareth and didn't stop to take pictures because while there are one or two things to see, the city is overcrowded and a bit rundown.  Plus we were running out of daylight and decided we were more interested in the Sea of Galilee.  The Sea of Galilee is actually just a good-sized lake that is Israel's main source of fresh water.  Another interesting fact is the lake is down in a valley, so its surface is actually 200 feet below sea level.  There are several small towns around the Sea of Galilee.  Our first stop was the largest town of Tiberias, which was the regional capital in ancient times.  A major flood in 1934 damaged much of the town, so there are only a few ancient buildings left.  However, the town has a nice lakefront promenade that we walked down.  The Sea of Galilee was very pretty and I could see this area being a decent vacation spot.

Walking towards the promenade

A view of the lake from Tiberias

One old building we came across, which we think is an old mosque

We then drove north along the western shore of the lake to see the Church of the Beatitudes, which was built by the Roman Catholic church on a hill believed to be near the place where Christ gave the Sermon on the Mount.  The area around the church was beautifully landscaped and also had a great view of the lake.

The view from the grounds of the Church of the Beatitudes

The Church of the Beatitudes

Inside the church

A great shot of the church at sunset by Darren

Our final stop was the remnants of the ancient town of Capernaum, where the Apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John were from.  Christ also preached and performed several miracles here.

A statue of Peter the Apostle

Some believe that these ruins below are what is left of Peter's house.  From what I remember reading, a church had been built around the foundations of the house, but it fell into ruin over time.  Over the house, a sort of church has been built with a partial glass bottom to view the ruins.

The remains of Peter's house

The structure over Peter's house

Another interesting site was the ruins from a synagogue built around the 4th century AD, which was built on the foundation of a previous synagogue that was from the time of Christ.  It was fascinating to be able to walk inside and around this structure and try to imagine what it looked like when it was used.

An ancient synagogue

Darren inside the ruins of the synagogue

A picture of sunset from the town of Capernaum

Most sites close around 4 or 5 pm during the winter months, so we headed back to Tel Aviv around 5 pm.  Just as a quick note, we ate at a great place called Orna and Ella, which served fresh and local food.  It was my favorite place we ate at while we were there and I would recommend it to anyone.

Orna and Ella does not have an English sign, so watch for this sign

That was our first day in Israel!  More to come!

Christmas 2010

We went to Texas for Christmas vacation and returned to Zürich last week.  Though this blog is usually about our adventures in Europe for people in the US, I still want to write about our trip for posterity's sake (let's face it, blogs are the new journals).  We left Zürich Christmas Eve early morning and even with bad weather and major delays going on in Europe, we thankfully made it Dallas without any problems.  My mom, step-dad, brother, and sister-in-law live in Dallas.  Since moving to Dallas 8 years ago, we started a tradition of going out to dinner on Christmas Eve with some family friends.  Darren and I had been up for 24 hours straight, so needless to say we were exhausted, but we managed to make it through the night and have a good time.

My awesome dress was provided by my super fashionable mom

We had a great Christmas morning and just like in younger days, my parents were the last ones up!  We had a lot fun opening presents and afterwards we ate our traditional breakfast casserole.  Mom surprised me by framing my Master's degree diploma, which I had requested it to be shipped to her house, but she never told me it had arrived.  It was a really thoughtful gift, but now we need to get our undergrad diplomas framed to match!

A few days later, our family from California arrived to join in on the Texas fun!  We had another round of presents when they arrived.

Our little cousin each gave us special gifts, Steve got a sheriff's badge

Darren and I gave some of our family members a gift basket that had a sampling of some things we like in Switzerland like Nutella, Lindt Chocolate, Rösti, and handmade crafts from the Strasbourg Christmas market.

Grandma and Papa opening their gift basket

Christmas dinner #2

Another fun thing we did with everyone was go to the ICE! attraction.  Just like the ice displays in really cold climates, this exhibit had ice sculptures, but with a theme of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Darren and I then traveled down to Austin to spend time with my dad and step-mom who moved there in October.  We had fun hanging out with my little brother and getting ready for my new little sister, Lauren, to arrive.

Movie buddies watching Toy Story 3

We also were fortunate enough to be in town when my roommate from college was having her wedding reception in San Antonio.  So we drove down to see them on New Year's Day.  It was fantastic to hang out with these two and participate in one of their wedding events.

Best friends and the husbands

On January 3rd, my baby sister, Lauren, was born!  She had some difficulty breathing when she first arrived, so they decided to send her to a children's hospital where she could get better care.  After a few days, her breathing improved so she is home now with my parents.

Lauren just after she was born

Dad already trying to indoctrinate her with BYU stuff

Me and Lauren

The next day we flew back to Zürich and things have been pretty quiet ever since.  It was kind of tough to leave the US and come back to our still-furniture-less apartment, but it was actually warm and sunny on Saturday so my love for Zürich is renewed!  More adventures to come for us in the short ten or so months we will be here!  Stay tuned.

Strasbourg and Riquewihr, France

This past Friday and Saturday, we went up to Strasbourg, France.  After a disappointing Zürich Christmas market, I really wanted to visit another one.  Some of the best Christmas markets in Europe are in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Copenhagen, Vienna, and Strasbourg.  We decided to head to Strasbourg because it was the closest one, being only 2.5 hours away from us.  It also ended up being part of a work trip for Darren because he had to do some testing on a new Google Maps feature for France.  So Friday morning we rented a car and drove up to Strasbourg.  We hit some heavy snow leaving Switzerland, so the drive took us a little longer, but once we got into France, it was just cloudy and cold.  It was amusing to me that as we drove into a new country, we didn't even have to stop at the border.  I mean, just driving into California from Oregon, you have to stop at a checkpoint.

When we arrived in Strasbourg, we worked on Darren's test routes for several hours while it was still light out.  Then, we parked the car and checked into the hotel.  We then went in search of some dinner and just picked a random place because we had not done any research before we left about where to eat. So it wasn't until 8 pm that we finally got out to see the Christmas markets.  Strasbourg has multiple different Christmas markets throughout the downtown area because it is so big.  The first one we stopped by had a huge, beautifully decorated Christmas tree, with a miniature Christmas village that was all lit up.  There weren't many stalls next to the tree, though, so we moved on to another market.

We then went over to the Christkindelsmärik, which ended up being our favorite one.  They had tons of stalls and they were more what we imagined a Christmas market should be like.  We really liked the things they were selling and Darren said he could have spent a lot of money here, but we just bought a few souvenirs instead.

That's me standing under the sign

The market has three long rows of stalls

These stalls are selling Christmas ornaments and decorations

Other stalls were selling holiday treats

Pieces for nativity scenes, you can even pick from four different kinds of trees

We just looked around at this market and then decided to head back to the hotel.  It was 19 degrees outside and we were pretty cold.  The weather was the one downside to the trip.  All the Christmas markets and attractions were outside and we had to walk everywhere, so sometimes it was just painfully cold.  We did try to keep our spirits up and all the Christmas cheer around us did help forget about the cold. :)

Saturday morning we got up, ate some breakfast at the hotel, and headed out to see more of the sights around Strasbourg and see more Christmas markets.  We walked over to the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg.  It is a gorgeous and breathtaking Gothic cathedral.  Construction of the cathedral began in the late 12th century and did not finish until the early 15th century.  The red stones used to build the cathedral come from the nearby Vosges mountain range.  After the completion of the single large tower, the cathedral became the tallest building in the modern world for several centuries.  The cathedral did sustain some damage during the French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, and World War II, but in general the cathedral has surprisingly remained intact from its original construction.

The inside of the cathedral is massive.  There are dozens of stained-glass windows, tapestries, and statues that are all beautiful.  I don't know many details of the things we saw inside the cathedral, so I will just show you the pictures.

Astronomical clock that was built in the 16th century and was restored in the 19th century, it still works

Stained-glass windows, they are slowly cleaning and restoring all of them

Me, next to the nativity scene

After we left the cathedral, we looked at more Christmas markets and did some shopping before we needed another break from the cold.  We ate at McDonald's.  So far, Germany has the best snack wrap. :)

After lunch, we had more test routes to do for Darren's work, so we got in the car and took care of those.  We then drove around the city to see some of the sights we missed.  There were some other attractions that we did not get to in Strasbourg, but we decided we wanted to check out some other places in the Alsace region of France based on recommendations from Darren's manager.  We left Strasbourg and drove back towards Switzerland, but stopped at an old medieval town called Riquewihr.  It can be described in one word: adorable.

Everyone should definitely visit the Alsace region.  It is great!