Visting Home Part 1

We have just come back from an amazing visit back home (Israel). When I heard Ken was going back for a work visit I just had to go too. It's been over 4 years since that adventure... and we have dreamed of it every day since. Once we booked our flights I started to consider what to do, where to go... and of course I already had a list of who to see. Bethlehem and a couple of National parks made my list of things we didn't get to do while we lived there. A float in the dead sea, and visit to the old city were places I wanted to re-visit. And 4 days in Haifa seemed like enough time to see old friends "family" that still live there. Sometimes when asked though I would say I'm really just going for some fresh squeezed orange juice, schwarma, and a certain Nestle ice cream bar (which has proved impossible to find anywhere else). We have such sweet memories, but I wondered how far they drifted from reality with nostalgic thought. We arrived Sunday afternoon and made our way to the old city for the first night in Israel. After finding our hotel and checking in, we made it into the old city for the fresh OJ and schwarma. It was just as good as I remember it! It was a real treat to be in the old city later in the evening as we were always headed back to Haifa by 4pm when we lived here 4 years ago. Tonight the shops were already starting to pack up and there weren't many tourists in the streets. We were able to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of what is usually a bustling city. Our heads hit the pillow by 8:30pm. We couldn't stay awake any longer. Monday we started the day off with a walk on the Ramparts. Basically we walked on top the old city walls, overlooking the roof tops and into the old city. It was again a peaceful walk (since we started at 9 early). After our self guided tour, we visited to the wailing wall (which was quite busy with Barmitzpha celebrations) and then arrived at the Kotel Tunnels for a tour under the old city. This tour walked through the history of the temple mount and the old city walls. The guide was very captivating with her "dramatic presentation" of the material. Ken had not done this tour before and I enjoyed hearing it a second time. Following the Tunnel tour we went our the Dung gate and down to the city of David... the original settlement of Israel. We walked through the ruins of what might have been King David's palace and then through Warren's Shaft and Hezekiahs' Tunnel. Ken hadn't done this tour either so it was fun to experience it together. The tour was a bit longer than I remember it and we were the last group to go through the tunnel for the day. We had to use a little flashlight and walk through water that was up to the middle of our calves to get to the end of the pitch black tunnel that was almost a mile long. After our adventures in the old city we found our car and headed up to Haifa for the week. Traffic seemed to be much worse than we remember it and we stumbled into Haifa around 8pm hungry and tired. But we wanted to make a quick stop and visit our old neighbors and drop off a few things we brought with us for them. It was such a sweet reunion! It was so good to see Ima and Mor and they had actually prepared dinner for us so we had a tasty spread before heading off to find our hotel.