A pointed question from my brother

It wasn’t stated as a challenge or a rebuke, more as an assumption, something similar to, Have you had a chance yet to check out the new sushi joint in the mall? – because it would be only a matter of time before we, with chopsticks aloft, were stuffing sashimi into our mouths.My brother was simply asking me if I had participated in any of the demonstrations here in The Land against the so-called ‘judicial reforms.’ I know you. Sooner or later, Fred, you WILL show up because that’s who you are. You were never one to watch from the sidelines.

Continue reading →

Whether it was because someone had a wry sense of humor, perhaps a feeling for the mysteries of the Infinite that few of us possess, or whether it was only because they were a few minutes bus ride apart, the fact is that on the morning of day three of our tiyul we were off to first visit a mosque in Ramle and then head to the Karaite Center nearby. If it had been up to me – which it certainly wasn’t – I would have stopped first for a few minutes to take a gander at the nearby shuk. We don’t need to stop there; we can always go to Machane Yehuda. That was the prevailing sentiment from our bus mates. Take it from me, they’re not the same. It would be like comparing Madison Square Garden and the playground on Mosholu Parkway in The Bronx. But I digress….

Continue reading →

Who knew? That’s a question that keeps popping up, and, as I was beginning to realize, that expression of unfamiliarity could have been the theme of this article.  For example, every time we’ve gone on one of these AACI study trips, we’ve left from the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem and, shortly after, made a pit stop at Elvis, the café, gas station, and convenience store off route 1, not too far away, where one can get some coffee and use the facilities. But who knew that, nestled behind the gas station, is the moshav Neve Ilan, and, at the end of the road, a large, fancy-looking hotel, where we would be staying for the next three days while we toured the surrounding area. I’m sure some people knew, maybe lots – judging by the throng of people chowing down breakfast and dinner in their spacious dining hall – but I certainly didn’t have a clue.

Continue reading →

What time is it, Fred? It’s time for me to collect my thoughts about our trip, now that we’ve been back in The Land for five weeks or so. If a bunch of us were sitting around the dinner table on a Friday night, and I was asked to summarize what we saw and what I came away with and to do it concisely before someone interrupted and changed the topic – which is what usually happens when people get together over a meal – what would I have to say? I might commence with a platitude, Glad to be back. But everyone assembled at this fanciful dinner probably assumed that. Nobody actually thought that I would want to spend the rest of my days on the banks of the Nile. Yeah, you can live there like a pharaoh on a pittance, but no thanks. I don’t do Third World. (Third world, couldn’t be prouder/Third world, let’s honk a little louder)

Continue reading →

It’s all a blur…..

I can definitely say without fear of contradiction that our merry band of travelers visited Deir El Madina and Ramesseum on Feb. 6, 2023, not because I actually remember where we were on that day, and not because that’s what it said on the handy-dandy sheet we were given at the start of our journey – which got changed daily as we went along. Every place we went to has an entry fee – no surprise there – and we got a ticket to present as we went in. For some of the major sites, Shepherd Travel had purchased said tickets back in January, good for one year from date of purchase. However, for some of the smaller sites, Migo and John bought tickets when we got off the bus and handed them out as we walked to the entrance, and those show they were printed on Feb. 6, 2023, and valid on that date. Each ticket got deposited in my backpack after I flashed it at the gate and got bundled with the rest of our tour material when we returned to The Land. That’s the only reason I know what we did on Monday, the last day before our flight back, because it says so on the ticket. Which leaves me to wonder when we stopped at Medinet Habu, because it doesn’t say and it’s all a blur.

Continue reading →

I can imagine some friend reaching out to me: Fred, I’ve been reading your series of articles about Egypt, and you’ve gotten me all excited. I never thought about going to Egypt, but now I’m considering it. Trouble is, I can’t do it the way you’re doing it. You’re with a group and you’re spending enough time to see EVERYTHING there is to see. I’d just like to see some of the main attractions, and if I don’t get the same kind of detailed explanation that you’ve been getting, that’s OK too. It’s like going to a museum. You’re not going to see everything in one shot; that’s why some museums will point you to the highlights of their collections, and you’d be more than happy to stick to their suggestions. At least, I would. Anyway, which places are the ones, in your opinion, I DEFINITELY would have to go to?

Continue reading →

A site at night

Visiting the Luxor Temple at night, I was reminded of a similar jaunt a few years ago when we, with a different group, visited the ruins of the Roman city in the national park at Beit Shean, a few hours’ drive from where we live in Ma’ale Adumim. In both places, whoever is in charge used lights and special effects to create a magical moment, something different from the prosaic impression one would get in broad daylight. But here at Luxor, the only sound effects one could hear were those made by the tourists, lots of them, visiting the site. The volunteer guide at Beit Shean shone his laser beam at a spot near the top of a very tall pillar. Where I’m pointing, he said, that used to be ground level, and the little bit of the pillar that was above ground level was one side of our goal post when we played football.

Continue reading →

I didn’t think the question I posed Dr. Google was that difficult or complicated. How far is it from Aswan to Luxor? But I got several different numbers. OK, the as-the-crow-flies distance (as in taking a plane) is 181km (112 miles). But what if you’re going by bus, as our group was, is it 215 km or 238 km? As we discovered, the answer depends on who you are. If the traveler is Egyptian, it’s the shorter distance; if you’re us, strangers in a strange land, it’s the longer one. Huh?

Continue reading →

If your tour group is traveling for over a week up and down the Nile, it would be inevitable that, sooner or later, you’d be riding ON the Nile. And because Egypt is not known for having the latest technology, you’d be riding on the Nile in small boats that, while picturesque, have an engine that seems to have made the journey once too often and, in our case, whose slogan should be taken seriously.

Continue reading →