Polas on the Go

Israel: A two week visit turns into a month long stay.

Our decision to go to Israel was actually pretty random. Mike had been there years ago and liked it, we wanted the kids to get some exposure to history and religion and the plane tickets were priced right.  So, we decided we would head there for about twelve days. Whenever I asked people what we should do while there, they generally responded with a version of the same answer. "There is so much to do, you can't go wrong" or "oh, there are so many choices, you are going to love it". That was great and all but we needed some specifics. 

With time, and with the help of a fantastic concierge, our itinerary was quickly outlined. Israel does an amazing job showing off its country. There is such pride and it is amazing how all the places make learning incredibly interesting and engaging.  Some examples include “A Time Elevator” that walks visitors through a journey of the 3,000 years of Jerusalem’s history and feels more like a ride at Disneyland than history lesson, a stroll through the Hula Nature Reserve, an important resting and “refueling” place for migrating birds on their annual trip from Europe to Africa and back that starts with an engaging 3D movie, the Palmach “Museum” where guests walk from room to room as they are virtually recruited to join this army that was the "silver platter" that handed Israel to its people.  The list of places to see and experience goes on and on. (Side note: This is one country where, in order to really appreciate it, you need to pay the extra money to get a guide.  We did that several times (including the Dead Sea/Massada and Jerusalem’s Old City) and the kids managed to stay engaged for several 7-9 hour long tours.)  Clearly, not an easy task.

We quickly realized that we could not do all we wanted to in just two weeks.  Since we are so fortunate as to have the luxury of time, we ultimately ended up staying in Israel for a month and could have easily stayed longer. I can now say, “wherever you decide to go in Israel, you really can't go wrong".  However, we do have our favorite spots and many of those are in the posts to follow.

  

Around northern Israel... 
 
         
 

Visiting a cheese farm...

            

Near the boarder of Lebanon...
    

 
The Tel Aviv Waterfront...
  
   

 

Petra/Jordan

 
 
                   

A trip to Jordan was never on our radar but once we were in Eilat, “a lot” of people were venturing to Petra for day trips. Described as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage” and ranked as one of "the 40 places you have to see before you die” how could we pass it up?  We passed through the Israel border under the usual scrutiny and were met by our guide Amin-a great guy who soon became a friend.  As we drove through Aquaba, people waved and smiled from the side of the road.  Everyone wanted to talk to us. We were invited into a grungy bakery where they insisted we come downstairs- personally I feared ending up in a Bundt cake but they were so nice they let us watch the pita process and help make some.  I guess OSCHA doesn’t exist in Jordan as five foreigners rolled their hands in dough and made pitas…

  

We spent the next hours driving out to Wadi Rum-a Bedouin desert camp in the middle of the desert where we could’ve/should’ve stayed the night but instead settled for an amazing jeep ride through the most amazing desert with its tall dunes, steep cliffs and multi-colored sand.  The amazing part was we were the only ones there and we had this spectacular area (where Indiana Jones and Laurence of Arabia were filmed) all to ourselves.

   
 
                                   

 

 

      

       

Next was a night at our hotel followed by a whole day in Petra.  Petra is known for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BCE as the capital city of the Nabataeans- it is a symbol of Jordan and remained unknown to Westerners until 1812.  It is truly spectacular to see an ornate city carved out of rock.

    

 

                                             

     

                        
 

We spent the night on a “Petra by night” tour where we walked back into Petra by candlelight.  Very beautiful but very cold at night in the desert air.

 
 

 

Club Med in Eilat, Israel

           
 
   
  
On a complete lark we decided to spend a week at Club Med, Eilat.  Knowing nothing about Club Med except for its all-inclusive destinations (and the fact they were running a deep discount the week we were interested) we arrived with little expectation.  We were amazed at how well run it was. 

Club Med felt a lot like the Lair only with slightly older counselors.  All the staffers were from different countries (a lot from Israel and France) and they couldn’t have been nicer.  They would eat with us, play board games with us and stay up late while arguing with us as to whether or not most Americans are like those they see on “Jerry Springer “and “My Super Sweet 16th birthday”  (both very popular amongst the staff). 

We ate like royalty and had tennis lessons in the morning followed by windsurfing and snorkeling.  The Club even had a high trapeze which is a lot harder than it looks.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpD1-x4rs-E (Nate in action. 35 seconds)

There were plenty of other kids around so the Pola boys quickly found a whole new international gang of scoundrels to run around with. 

                            

                             
 
     

Mud Huts in Tzukim, Israel (By Nate)

My Mom told us that we were going to the desert to make a house out of mud. I thought she was joking.  But, apparently not.  Before we knew it we were in the middle of nowhere looking at a fence in the dark and wondering how we were going to get in.

  

Rinat, the person in charge, came down and opened the gate for us and looked exhausted. We didn’t know why because it was only 8:00PM but on the last day we would be more tired than she was at 8pm.  She made us a delicious dinner (every night, actually) and we learned about where we were and what we were going to do.  Tzukim, aka desert, is an eco community that was founded about three years ago. 95 percent of the visitors are Israeli’s and don’t  build huts.  They come to stay for vacation.  It normally takes two people three months to build a hut.  Rinat came up with the idea of having us make a big playhouse so that we could do all the steps and see a finished hut. It tooks us three days to do three layers and the decoration layer.

First we started with a few stacks of hay and we stacked them up so they were equal and formed the shape of the hut.  We put frames for the door and windows in the hay.   We also stacked the hay in a way so there could be a mini window.  And then we started making the mixture for the hay. The mixture is water, hay and earth.  (A bucket of the mixture would cost $100 if we wanted to buy it.)   My Mom and I were the ones who mainly put the mud on the house.  It is a bit challenging at the beginning because it was our first time and you had to slather it on the hay. If you didn’t put it on right it would fall on the ground and if you put too much on it would be too heavy and fall.  My father and Gavin were working hard to make the mixture and Brock was very busy burying his cars in the dug up pile of earth.  

Here you can see a video my mom took of me showing the play house and how we made it.

                                             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKnvNq4VrdA

  Stage 1:   Stack hay, put in door frames and create the shape you want.

 

Stage 2 Create the first layer of mud and fill gaps in hay with bottles.
    

Stage 3: Put on another layer and even out the sides and add the roof.

                              

 

Stage 4: Put final (smoother and thinner) layer on, decorate and play!

                                              
 
 
 

I am really proud that four people (plus Brock for moral support and entertainment!) made a mud hut in only three days. If anyone ever goes to Tzukim, find a gate in the middle of the dessert. You will see two pathways – take the left one. Follow the path and you will find an area where it looks like people will eat. Walk around it and you will see a little hut with two people on it and a sun.  It says “Kids Only” in Hebrew and English. If you are with kids, hopefully they can play there and enjoy it. 

Now a few pictures of Tzukim:

                               
 
 
      
   

Jerusalem

 

   

A trip to the Holy Land that nearly didn’t happen.  Following the usual Pola Planner™ urgency, we started looking at hotel rooms 1 week before XMAS.  Failing to realize that half of New York and a stadium full of Jeff Foxworthy loving southern Christian evangelists had booked all the rooms months prior, we were starting to look like Mary and Jesus willing to settle for a manger (with Wi-Fi preferably) to rest our weary heads…when our first XMAS miracle occurred-an available room magically reappeared on an internet site a day before we were to leave Spain and we grabbed it immediately.  We were off!

Arrived in Tel Aviv at 2AM and our driver was nowhere to be found.  The next morning another “friend” who told us to not pay for high priced guides and agreed to show us Jerusalem’s highlights couldn’t be reached.  We were stuck…when the second XMAS miracle occurred-Super Ilan, the concierge, miraculously called us out of the blue and we cried to him that all our plans for XMAS week were gone.  He went to work and within 2 hours had us set up with tickets and guides for all the Jerusalem “must sees” including the following which I will elaborate on briefly and assign a (1-5 yarmulke “ ᴖ “for each):

• David's Citadel excavation with a  great light show (ᴖᴖᴖᴖ)
• Church of the Holy Sepulcher is also a must see-Jesus's body was laid after the Crucifixion, and the rock where the cross was stuck is also in here (ᴖᴖᴖᴖ)
• City of David/Hezekiah’s Tunnel-took a tour underground-not for the claustrophobics or “big boned” (ᴖᴖ)
• Wailing Wall-most moving experience for me and appreciated separation of men from dames (ᴖᴖᴖᴖᴖ).
• Other sites including 4 quarters tour-interesting but everyone was tired out (ᴖᴖ)
• Food-some excellent Israeli favorites for everyone (ᴖᴖᴖᴖ)
• Prices- The $USD not holding up too well ( ). (“no yarmulkes”)

 

 

                   
        

  

 

                                        

Christmas Day

Imagine the difficulty in trying to find a XMAS tree in Jerusalem.  What Liz and I feared would be a depressing reminder for the boys of what they were missing back home turned out to be one of the most memorable XMAS’s we will ever have.  Everyone had been collecting and carrying with them gifts that each had collected in various cities along our journey…and although I was amazed by how much Nate and Gavin had squirreled away in their small backpacks…I was more amazed by the thought that went into each.  Aside-I now have enough back rub coupons to open up my own spa when we return.

                                                   

After the gifts we were opened from underneath the "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" we had to rush downstairs for our next personalized tour-Masada, Ein Gede and the Dead Sea.

• Masada-highlight of the tour-inspirational story and equally amazing architectural feat (ᴖᴖᴖᴖᴖ)
• Ein Gedi-nature reserve-cool waterfalls but too many Israeli’s in underwear (ᴖᴖᴖ)
• Dead Sea-lowest point on earth and fun to float-not fun to itch later.  Must do once (ᴖᴖᴖ)

 

  

 

 

  

 

Mahane Yehuda

The Jewish shuk (shopping area)-sweetest fruits I have ever tasted and amazing collections of foods and goods- Gavin bought Super Mario brothers novelty yarmulkes (ᴖᴖᴖᴖ)

                            

                                                                                                                 

Third XMAS Miracle

 

As we were preparing to leave to Jerusalem, we had a rental car reserved for our trip to the desert to build mud huts.  As the Hertz employee drove our car toward us, we knew we had a huge problem-the car was a Honda Civic….for our family of 5 with 3 huge travel bags and 6 other backpacks/bags of crap.  We were in trouble!  We had to be at our next place that evening and there were no other larger cars available.  Liz was convinced we should take a bus….but I had a newfound faith after a week in Jerusalem…and said we could make it work.   After an hour of Tetras-like precision, I had every bag placed inside the car-now if we could just fit the kids in.  We were given the ­third Christmas Miracle  and everyone squeezed in and we were barely able to fit in the car.