Amy and Andy's Excellent Adventure 2013 Edition: !ישראל (Israel!)

There aren't too many places in the world that it's possible to visit time and time again and yet it is always new and exciting.

Israel is one of them. Maybe the only one that reinvents itself every few years and yet is still eternal.

It's been 10 years since I've been there. Over 30 years for Andy.

And now for something completely different (for us): we're going on an organized tour through the Conservative movement's Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs (Seaboard Region). Never done a bus tour like this before - normally we just show up and go wandering on our own. We don't know for sure exactly how many people will be in the group; as of last June it was looking to be less than 20. Which might mean a van instead of an actual bus, which would, in fact, be awesome. Not thrilled with buses.

General itinerary (exact details requires looking up stuff and are subject to change anyway):

Jerusalem
Dead Sea/Masada/Ein Gedi (not necessarily in that order)
Tsfat (for the northern stuff - Golan, Kinneret, Akko, etc.)
Tel Aviv

Officially the tour ends on Nov 10, but we've extended our stay to Nov 14 (our return flight is 1:00 a.m. on Nov 15 - that doesn't count as a "day"). We'll be staying with friends in Modi'in (yey, visiting with Reuven and Shula Resnick!), figuring out the public transportation to whatever strikes our fancy. And somewhere in there locating and visiting my grandfather's grave.

Our flight is not till Wednesday night; we still have some packing and planning to do. In the meantime:

!לשבוע הבא בירשלים

Next week: Jerusalem!

View of the Old City from the Mount of Olives