Dead Sea and Jerusalem

Floating in the Dead Sea has to be one of the funniest experiences ever, particularly the first time  you take your feet off the bottom and they pop up to the surface.  And then trying to figure out how to get your feet back ON the bottom once you've rolled over...  Painting yourself with black theraputic mud only adds to  the hilarity of it all.  Next stop was a couple  of days in Jerusalem, where we stayed in a convent in the old city (and missed the rocket  from Gaza that landed in Ashkelon).  What an amazing place to learn about religion and history.  Kids' favorite was the tour the Western Wall from the tunnels below the Muslim quarter, while I particularly liked the Israel Museum.  And it's been wonderful to have company on our excursions, first from friends who joined us on the sail from Turkey, and then some of the other liveaboards in the marina, especially the wonderful Israeli family with four kids!



Road sign near a Bedouin village



Late afternoon float in the Dead Sea

Old City in Jerusalem,

Western Wall and Dome of the Rock





The Western Wall:  seemed a bit sacrilegious to wear

a kippa if you're not Jewish, but head coverings were

mandatory (and complimentary).  Here are John and

Hugo trying to blend in, while Maggie and I went to the 

much smaller women's section, where women stood

on chairs to peer over the fence to the men's side



Jerusalem's Old City at night from the convent roof

Boat jungle gym