11:03
AM
I
woke up twice this morning before I got up. I woke up at 5:44 and I
noticed that Mike was gone, and he was still gone when I woke up at
7:15. I finally woke up at 8:12, as Mike was returning from
breakfast. He informed me that I had plenty of time to catch
breakfast. I got ready, and got down to breakfast at approximately
8:30. They had just about everything for breakfast: cottage cheese
with fruit, fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled eggs, cheese, olives,
yogurt, bread, fish, etc. I didn’t eat everything, but what I did
have was really good. At breakfast I sat and talked with Mark
Schaffer, and Dr. Germano showed up at about 8:40. Breakfast was
supposed to close at 8:45. It was a good, help yourself style,
breakfast.
After
breakfast I came back to the room, sat on the balcony overlooking
Bethlehem, and read in my bible a little. I heard noises in the hall
and looked out to see if it was any of our group, and I saw Mr.
Stahl. He had just gotten up, and I invited him to come look off our
balcony, because his room doesn’t look the same direction. He
really liked the view. Mike has been sleeping since he came back from
breakfast.
 |
| Daytime view from the room, looking toward Bethlehem. |
 |
| A few of our group taking a Sabbath walk on the hotel grounds. |
11:51
PM
I
went and took a walk around the place and found the pool. I was
surprised at how packed the pool was on the Sabbath. They even have a
water slide here. Lunch seemed to be leftovers from last night’s
dinner. After lunch we took a walk to the war memorial, which is 3
olive trees on top of three tall columns. After the walk, it was
about time for church, so we had to get ready.
Church
was held at 2:30 in the television room. We had one guest, Jonathon
Rudder, who is from Dallas, and is traveling around the world. We all
talked for quite a while after church, then we went to change for
dinner.
After
dinner, and after I watched the sunset, I changed $40 into 106.4 NIS
(New Israeli Shekels). When the bus showed up (8:30) we went to Ben
Yehuda street. Dr. Germano paid the bus fare for everyone. Ben Yehuda
street is full of shops, and people. My only purchase was a Maccabee
beer, it was also the only thing the Michael Whitmire bought. One
exciting thing was when Michael asked an Israeli soldier if he could
take a picture of him. The soldier said yes, and was more than happy
too oblige. The soldier was from New York and had only moved to
Israel 6 months ago. After I took Michael’s pictures with the
soldier, the soldier let Michael hold his Uzi. I had my picture taken
with the soldier, but I didn’t hold the Uzi. We all met together at
11:00 and rode the bus back to the hotel. Mike and I came back to the
room and turned on the TV. The only thing on is Jordanian TV.
-------------
Sadly I don't have more photos for this day. The photos with the soldier were taken with Michael's camera, and I don't have a copy to share.
It's good to be updating this again, hopefully it won't take so long before the next installment.
