Paul & Luiza´s World Tour

So, we end up staying in Amman for 5 days. The city is nice and the people very friendly. We walk around and find the very nice eateries. We leave in the morning for Israel. A taxi ride to the border, out of Jordan, a bus ride to Israeli immigration and then – suddenly, no information AT ALL, so many people pushing you around, the officers take your bags and passports and don’t tell you anything, you go in, huge line and the all young female and very unfriendly officers keep on disappearing from behind the counters, no explanation given, no information available at all. After a long time (nearly 1.5 hours), we are seen, we hand over our Australian passports to the unfriendly chick and get our 3 month visa, no questions asked. Very different from most of the other guys in the line, who were grilled and asked everything, including a Japanese couple in front of us. Gotta thank Johnnie Howard for joining the coalition of the willing, gotta be good for something! A nice minibus ride to Jerusalem, less than one hour, and we are there. We check in to the very expensive ($80 for very basic hotel - no TV, no minibar and tiny room) and go for a walk around the old city of Jerusalem. It’s all so beautiful, people from all faiths and funny hats… Long walking days around Old Jerusalem, Churches, Mosques, Synagogues, the Via Dolorosa (Stations of the Cross) and all the faith surrounding us is just amazing. I confess that, not feeling anything makes me feel a bit empty and a little sad. Still, surrounded by such beauty is really something. We go back to the hotel and have a nice time talking to a Brazilian family we met this morning, later on we are also invited to share a lovely meal cooked by a Philippino/Australian missionary. What a great experience, not to mention the food, satay chicken, rice and an amazing noodle salad. Next stop, the Garden Tomb (an alternative site for the burial/resurrection of JC). We were invited by Jardelina, Jeferson and their daughter Rebeca, our new Brazilian friends for a tour of the site. Then we go on to the Holocaust Museum. We need to rush the visit towards the end as it closes at 2:00pm and we wasted an hour trying to find the entrance. When we get back, we find out that a Palestinian guy had been killed and eight others wounded during protests at the Wailing Wall (we'd just been there the day before)!!! Later we go to the bus station to buy a ticket for the Sinai in Egypt via Elat in southern Israel, and in spite of a huge line, the lady sold us our tickets and told everyone else behind us in the line that she would be closing due to Shabbat (Jewish weekend) We got or tickets go on to the Jewish markets for a cold beer and a few kibes and walk back to the old city with our tickets in the pocket. Next day, Mount Olive, what a view of Jerusalem and the Old City. Next stop, Egypt!!!