Odds And Ends From Israel Trip

Let me repeat something I wrote earlier. Jet lag is real.

As of this writing, we have been home a little less than 24 hours. The clock and bright daylight tell me it’s mid-afternoon, but my body tells me it’s time for bed. In addition, my wife and I both feel like death eating a brick, a line I’m borrowing from an old friend. Don’t know if it’s that wonderful recirculated air we spent 14 hours breathing on Delta yesterday or what, but I’d have to start feeling a whole lot better before I could even say I feel worse.

Know what I mean?

Anyways, this is my next-to-last scribbling on the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. And this one won’t focus so much on any one aspect, but instead will offer a bunch of quick hits on a whole lot of tidbits. So without further ado, let’s go.

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ONE QUESTION we asked was why so many stories from the bible occurred inland? The Mediterranean is a beautiful area and we wondered why very few stories originated from there? The tour guide smiled and said things weren’t a lot different back then. The rich lived on the coast and everyone else lived inland. Hmmm, the more things change the more they stay the same!

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IF YOU THINK we have a lot of roundabouts in Indiana . . . what’s the old saying . . . you ain’t seen nothing yet. There are roundabouts EVERYWHERE. And believe me when I tell you that drivers have no fear. If we drove that way over here road rage would be worse. MUCH worse.

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SPEAKING OF driving, tour bus drivers (of which there are many in the Holy Land) can park tour buses in spots a Smart car would have trouble with.

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WE ALL know from bible school how Jesus and his disciples traveled from village to village, almost completely on foot. Now that I’ve seen the hills, the rocks, the mountains that they had to go through, over and around . . . well, “impressive” is an understatement.

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WE SPENT very little time in Tel Aviv, but I was surprised by the lack of smokers there. Not sure why I expected more, but there was little to no evidence. However, when we went to the markets in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, it was hard to find someone not smoking.

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ANOTHER SURPRISE was how small the Jordan was. Sugar Creek is bigger in some spots.

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WHEN WE were up north in Tiberias on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, the tour guide told us that the sunrise over the sea and mountains would be spectacular. So the next morning, I waited on the deck watching . . . and watching . . . and in a little bit got a blanket because it was chilly. We were on the 8th floor of our hotel and I watched the street lights blink off as the sky began to lighten. The street sweeper looked small from that high up. The sky was a pale blue with hints of yellow and orange to the east. The smell from the eucalyptus trees was fresh and inviting. The closer the clock ticked to 6:15, the more the hills behind us began to take on definition. And then the big moment arrived, and the sun peeked over the horizon – DIRECTLY BEHIND THE HOTEL to our east.

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FOOD? I found I like falafels – even after I found out what was in them. Basically, these are deep-fried balls (they look like hushpuppies) made from chickpeas and beans, all ground up. I also fell in love with schnitzel – a thinly sliced boneless chicken that’s breaded. Yeah, I ate about as healthy there as I do here. Oh, and the stuffed tomato they served at breakfast . . . wow!

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FOR HOLLYWOOD fans, we went by one of the cemeteries where the final scene from Schindler’s List was filmed.

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WHEN WE were walking through Jerusalem and went from sites of the Last Supper, the trial of Jesus, the crucifixion, the place where Abraham was going to sacrifice his son, the rising of Jesus on the third day and more, it begged the question: Is there one spot on earth that witnessed so many things of epic proportion in such close proximity?

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JERUSALEM IS a city of just under 900,000. Just south of there is smaller Bethlehem with its population of around 75,000. These two cities used to be miles apart, but Jerusalem has grown to the south and Bethlehem has grown to the north and now it’s hard to tell when you leave one and go into the other?

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NOT SURE about politics over there, but there was a definite anti-Russian sentiment in regard to the war on Ukraine. One bumper sticker read: Putin Khuylo. Being the intrepid journalist I am, I dove into learning what that meant (I googled it) and found out it has something to do with comparing the Russian leader to a body part.

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ALONG THOSE lines, we asked our tour guide if missile strikes were of concern. He said they had not had any in a while and didn’t think we needed to worry . . . unless Russia’s aim is really off that day.

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THE CHURCH of the Holy Sepulcher is maintained by six churches and represents nearly 2 billion people – almost a third of the world’s people. The six are the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics, the church in Egypt, Armenians, Ethiopian Christians and Syrian Orthodox.

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AND WHILE we are talking about Ethiopia, our tour guide said he is of the belief that the Ark of the Covenant may well be in Ethiopia in a church.

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THE WEATHER was wonderful. I wore shorts on all the days that modest wear was not required. Temps were mostly in the 60s and 70s.

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WHILE EATING lunch at an outdoor market (we almost always ate lunch at outdoor markets) we heard a frantic woman screaming, and then another. The cause? A little boy had wandered away and his parents (I assume) could not find him. Suddenly, another woman came running up dragging what looked to be a 4- or 5-year-old by the hand. The boy, who looked scared to death, started crying as his mom rushed in and swooped him up. No interpreter was needed. Any parent watching could tell she was ready to hug him to death and then fan his little bottom.

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically on Wednesdays in The Paper. Timmons is the publisher of The Paper and can be contacted at [email protected].