Fabulous Weekend!

I’m going to start this post by telling you that today is the most beautiful day in Jerusalem: sunny, warm, light and breezy (but not hurricane-like winds we’ve had recently), and just plain gorgeous. I went for a run this afternoon to take advantage of the weather and while going through a park with the most incredible view of the Old City I heard the Muslim call to prayer echoing off the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, reminding me what a spectacular place I am in. As if I could forget.

But that’s not the point of this post. The point is to tell you about my awesome weekend!

My uncle picked me up on Thursday afternoon after my classes were done, and while I thought we were going straight to his house we actually went first to the City of David. My uncle’s friend does excavations there so while the two of them went off to check out some newly discovered stuff I was led around the main archaeological park by my own tour guide. While tons of stuff in Jerusalem is really old, the City of David is the REALLY old stuff—dating back to (as the name suggests) the time of Kings Solomon and David (if not before). It’s incredible the kinds of things they’re finding there. For example, the tour guide told me about the relatively recent discovery of several clay seals that depict the names of individuals that match perfectly the story in chapters 37 and 38 of Jeremiah (where he’s thrown into a pit outside the king’s palace because he gives a prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem). Basically anytime they find something like this they turn to the Bible to see if they can make sense of it and the types of stuff they’ve been finding corroborate perfectly the ancient text. It was really incredible and I cannot wait to go back (because we only got to a small portion of everything there is to see!) Also, my uncle gave me this amazing book on the City of David and the story of Jerusalem so I can learn more and fill in the details I didn’t get from this tour.

On Friday I went with my cousin and some of his friends down to the Negev, in the northwest portion, really close to the Gaza strip. There was a huge crater-like geological formation in the middle of the desert that, though it was winter, was filled with wildflowers. Apparently people come from all over to see these “Callaniot” and I can tell why—they were beautiful. We hiked down into the canyon and all around inside it, then climbed up to an old water tower, had a picnic lunch under some trees in a meadow of flowers, and wandered through what I feel like were really varied landscapes for being in the desert. We would go over a ridge and all of a sudden there would be really green cultivated fields, then we’d be amongst a bunch of trees, then on a plane with some ruins of buildings, and then back in the desert again. It was breathtakingly beautiful and a really interesting place. Afterwards we went to a kind of park with natural springs which were also really beautiful. The weather was incredible so I was glad I got to spend the entire day outside—it’s the first time I’ve really gotten to be out in the sun and enjoy good weather for a whole day.

Saturday was another family filled day: a whole bunch of us went up to Caesarea, which is on the coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa, and famous for the remarkably intact Roman ruins. There are also remains from other time periods as well, but the most impressive (at least in my opinion) were the Roman bathhouse complex and amphitheater (which has been rebuilt and now holds concerts in the spring and summer). The weather was gorgeous again, and the place itself absolutely beautiful. There’s something about the combination of the historic remains juxtaposed directly next to the sea that is so picturesque. I don’t think it can be beat. And, it was of course so great to spend time with family, who I unfortunately don’t get to see often at all.

The weekend ended with another trip, this time from Jerusalem with my friends here at school. We (after much confusion and miscommunication about bus schedules and bus companies) went to Abu Ghosh, the hummus capital of the world and site of the restaurant that holds the record for making the world’s largest vat of hummus. After such beautiful weather Friday and Saturday, Sunday was beyond terrible and by the time we got to Abu Ghosh there was zero visibility, brutal wind, and pelting freezing rain, so we ducked into a restaurant, ate our longed-for hummus, and left. It wasn’t the most thrilling of trips, but I will certainly return on a day with better weather and see what the city itself has to offer (there’s supposed to be some pretty churches and historic things there as well).

All in all, and incredible weekend!! Lots more pictures on facebook if you're interested!