Israel & Palestine

I have wanted to go to explore Israel since I was a teenager and when I saw the opportunity to go with Oak Hall I jumped at the chance. And I am so glad I did. It was a mind blowing 9 day tour that made the Bible come alive and seem to much more real. The people who I met were a whole lot of fun and I feel I have made some friends for life. This is mostly going to be a photo entry as it is a little easier to explain. Enjoy!

We started our tour in Jerusalem staying just outside the old city in the Muslim quarter across from Herod's Gate...

The Damascus Gate

The Wailing Wall. So sad to see the Jewish people crying out for a saviour who has already come.

Excavation of the south wall of the Temple Mount

Looking out at the Mount of Olives (left) and down to the Kidron Valley

Taking a break under an olive tree with my roommate, Angelica

Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Very sad to see the different denominations who use this church fighting so much that Muslims hold the key to the church.

This is supposedly where Jesus' body was prepared for burial. People come and kiss the stone and worship it rather than the living Christ. Sad. 

On the move in England

Wow it's been a long time since my last blog. Lots to catch up on so it might be a short summary, but you'll get the gist and hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves.

I spent my birthday with Drew in York. Was a fun day walking around the city walls, eating a huge, but lovely lunch at a pub and generally trying to take in the history of the place. Sue and Drew had a cake for me at the end of the day as well which was so lovely of them.

My birthday lunch of steak & ale pie

Drew and I then caught a train down to Leamington Spa and Oxford to visit friends of his. Leamington Spa was lovely, although everything seemed to be closed on a Monday. Oxford was a lot of fun and we got to walk around the colleges as Drew's friend is an alumni. We got to see a exhibition with original drawings an writings from C.S. Lewis (the Narnia books) and J.R.R. Tolkein (Lord of the Rings books).

You might recognise this dining room from the Harry Potter films

This is the lamp post that allegedly inspired C.S. Lewis for his book The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

The famous painting 'Light of the World' on display in one of the chapels

We then headed down to London and did a bit of exploring there. Caught the ferry along the Thames, climbed the Monument, went down into the Clink Prison Museum and a few other things.

And then Drew and I caught the train to Heathrow where we parted ways, Drew to fly home to Perth and I went off to Israel & Palestine.

Lovely England

So I arrived on Monday evening into London and made my way to the hotel where my friend Drew was already waiting for me. Was good to see a face from home and catch up on all the news and hear about his travels around Europe.

Next morning we caught a train up to Ilkley, West Yorkshire to spend the week with some lovely family friends of mine, the Beesons. We dropped off our luggage and then wandered around town and got the lay of the land. It's a small quaint little town full of coffee shops. You can walk straight up into the moors from behind the Beeson's house, and there is a river right below town. We've done a bit of exploring around the place and it's lovely to be in the English countryside once again.

One day we took a steam train to a village called Haworth, made famous by the Bronte sisters. We visited the parsonage where they lived and composed their novels. A very sad story with all six bronte children dying before they reach the age of 40 (2 before they turned 12), and their mother also died while they were very young. Their father outlived them all until he was in his 80s. It seemed like a very bleak sort of town and the sanitary conditions were awful in those days. Glad I live in this century.

Bronte Parsonage

Scones always make me smile :)

Haworth train station

We had a very cold, rainy day yesterday so Drew and I did some planning in the morning at the house (mainly Drew who figured out where to go and how to get there) and then found a couple of coffee shops to sit in for a while before braving the rain and having a walk by the river.

This is pretty much what our day consisted of

Today we went to Bolton Abbey and did a walk along the dales and along the river. Then had a lovely pub lunch in a village called Linton. This afternoon, because the sun was still shining, Drew and I rambled along the moors directly behind the house. Was lovely and invigorating.

Bolton Abbey

Drew on the Calf & Cow Rocks on the Moors

Tomorrow is my birthday and we're going to go and see what we can see in York, which is about an hour away by train.

The last of Berlin

So Miri left for adventures in China the day after we arrived back from Romania. I then decided to explore a bit of Berlin by myself for my last 2 days. On Saturday night there was an event called The Long Night of the Museums where more than 80 museums across Berlin open their doors from 6pm-2am for people to come through. It costs you 18 euros and you can enter as many as you want. I thought this was a pretty good deal so I went into the city around 4pm, found a world famous chocolate shop that makes sculptures out of chocolate and stocked up. I then found a starbucks where I ate my packed lunch and used their free wifi to talk to the family back home. And plotted which museums I would visit. I decided on Checkpoint Charlie, an exhibition of the Berlin wall called the The Wall, the DDR Museum, the Berliner Dome and the Anne Frank Museum. Unfortunately I realised at the Checkpoint Charlie museum that I had fogotten my memory card for my camera so my photos are not good, taken from my phone which was having issues.

Checkpoint Charlie was so interesting and inspiring to see what lengths people will go to for freedom...traveling in petrol tanks of cars, building their own hot air balloon, hiding in shopping carts and suitcases. Very well set out.

The Wall is a huge mural of photography that shows what life would have been like in the 1980s near the wall. It is remarkable how the changing lighting make it seem to real and 3D and they play audio pieces of speeches as well (although it's in German so I don't know exactly what was being said).

The DDR Museum was completely packed to the point where you could barely move around. It's very hands on with lots of displays to open and look inside and see what life in East Germany was like, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, what their houses looked like etc etc. I didn't get to see much as I got tired of fighting through the crowd.

The Berliner Dome is beautiful. They were having a live pipe organ concert when I entered and so I listened to that for a bit. I thought about climbing to the top of the dome but it was dark outside and raining so I didn't think there would be much point.

I then tried to find the Anne Frank museum. Unfortunately I didn't have much luck. By this time I was pretty tired and it was pouring with rain and I was getting drenched. So I gave up walking around the streets and found the nearest train station and figured out the way to get home.

Great night and I got to see a lot...although there is so much to see I barely scratched the surface.

The next day was Sunday. I stayed home and watched a Saddleback sermon and then joined Miri's family (Wilfred, Claudia and Simon) for lunch at a local Italian restaurant. Lovely meal of spinach and ricotta ravioli and salad. Then as soon as we got home I took off to go and explore the Pergamon museum. It was absolutely amazing! Inside they had reconstructed the gates of Babylon from King Nebuchadnezzar, and the market gates to the ancient city of Pergamon. Certainly made me feel very, very small. The museum was excellent with so much to see and a great audio commentary to go along with it.

Gates to the Pergamon market place (I think)

Beautiful gates of Babylon

 

These mosaic tiles lined the processional inside the city of Babylon

I then thought I would go over to the Berliner Dome again and see if I could climb the dome again. But they were about to start their church service so I went in anyway and sat and listened. They had an excellent choir visiting so I listened to them for a while before leaving while the minister was preaching, as I didn't understand it. A lovely last day in Berlin.

Inside the Berliner Dome

And then it was off to London to visit the Queen.

Romania

So Miri and I spent a week on a walking tour in Romania with a Christian UK company called Oak Hall. Pretty cool and I highly recommend them if you're interested in doing the tour thing. Our Romanian tour guide did not stop talking so I often tuned out automatically and missed information. Here's a brief summary of the trip.

Day 1:
We are staying in a small village (can't remember or spell the name). It rained all day. Miri and I decided not to join the others as we were tired and it rained all day. We explored the village we are staying in. Bought some snacks at the local road stalls and found an apple and pear tree by the side of the road that we raided. Was very wet so didn't take our cameras with us.

Day 2:
We visited some churches and hiked along the road walking through small villages. At the end of one of them we walked up a hill and got a great view of the Carpathian mountains. Had dinner in a farmhouse where they served us a traditional Romanian meal (including an alcoholic drink which I think you could sterilise surgical instruments in).

An orthodox church and monastery we visited 

Miri and I sat on the edge of a tombstone and ate our lunch. Pretty good view!

At the top of the hill we climbed

Day 3:
We spent most of the day in the mountains today, hiking for 6 hours. Stunning views, met some local shepherds along the way, found some wild alpine bluberries which were a delicious snack. Great day and minimal rain!

View of the Carpathians

This is my happy hiking face

Romania is a land of stark contrasts...farmers still use horse and cart while luxury European cars pass them by

A shepherd's cottage

We still like each other after almost 4 weeks together

Day 4:
Today we went to Bula Lak which is an old ski resort. We had to ride a gondola up the mountainside and then hiked up a very rocky mountain. It was pretty precarious and I'm not such a fan of heights, but I did it! Once up the top it was freezing and we weren't able to make the summit as the clouds had rolled in and the wind had really picked up. We had lunch by a lake and then made the descent, where we bought hot chocolate to warm ourselves up. Wish the clouds hadn't been so low as I'm sure the view is spectacular and there is an amazing waterfall we couldn't really see.

Kinda felt like we were disappearing into the clouds on the gondola

This is my 'trying to look happy while really feeling like I could get blown off the mountain at any second' face

This road is more like a snake. Top Gear drove cars at ridiculous speeds on it for one of their shows

 

I was SO cold up there

Day 5:
We explored the history and German/Saxon influence on the town of Sibiu. Got some free time to wander around. Miri and I have seen a lot of old stuff lately so we decided to order a pizza, stock up on grocery supplies and then find good coffee. In the afternoon we found a road to hike along. It rained heavily the whole time and became very muddy. Was interesting trying not to slide around it. The road led to a small resort so we stopped to dry off a bit and have a hot chocolate (only they ran out so I had a few sips of Miri's instead).

A church - we saw a lot so can't remember the significance of this one

Streets of Sibiu

As you can see...very wet beside the river.

I can jump puddles

Day 6:
We traveled back to Bucharest via visiting some churches...again. Spent most of the day on the bus. Our last night together we were treated to a fancy meal at a restaurant that featured some traditional Romanian music and dance. Was a lot of fun with some really great food!

Outside another church with our friends Sarah and Clare who we met on the trip

Last night dinner with (L-R) Miri, Jane, Sarah, me and Clare. These girls are fantastic. Love new friends!

Traditional dancers

Day 7: Miri and I waved goodbye to the group as they went on a tour of Bucharest. Our flight left earlier than theirs. We went for a run (Miri left me in the dust) and then caught a taxi to the airport.

GREAT trip with some spectacular views of the Carpathian mountain ranges and was great to see a lot of Transylvania.