Cellphones and Cappucinos

We spent a couple of days in Eilat relaxing and EATING! If I haven't gained ten pounds when I get home, I won't know why. I can't run because I would literally die in the heat. It was incredibly hot the whole time we were there. The nights cooled down to about 105, you get the picture. We still had a great time. We went swimming and snorkeling in the Red Sea and saw the amazing Underwater Oceanarium that is famous in Eilat. We slept 12 hours both nights we were in Eilat - all of us were completely exhausted from the heat and touring 10-12 hours a day. We have put a whole new definition to shlepping - 7 hotels here in ten nights!

The drive from Eilat to Jerusalem is unlike any other. There are miles and miles of stark desert - you are driving through the Negev - with an amazing desert beauty but not a blade of grass or anything green in sight. We drove along the Dead Sea most of the way but sadly, we never got into the Dead Sea. Going down, we were so hot we couldn't even think about it - you could not even touch the windows on the car because of the heat - and coming back, it was dark. The mountains are craggy and very majestic and there are mountains made out of dirt (I know no other way to say that) everywhere - kind of like the movies you have seen made in the Middle East. The most amazing thing to me is that everywhere and I mean everywhere, you have full cell phone service - better than I have in the Bay Area at home. Of course, I don't dare use my cell phone because it costs $2.49 a minute for roaming charges here but it has amazed me that you never lose service. The other amazing thing is that you will come upon a remote gas station with nothing else civilized for as far as the eye can see and they make cappucinos - like our espressos at home. And I mean this guy knows how to make cappucinos! He foams the milk like a pro and makes a design in your coffee like you will see in a 5 star restaurant in Hawaii. They love their coffee over here and you can find it ANYWHERE you go. So I have decided I really am a Jew - somewhere somehow I agree with so many things here :).

We spent the night last night in Jerusalem and are headed to the Israeli Museum where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept and then to the Holocaust Memorial. We are going back to Herzliya tonight to stay at a beautiful Kibbutz that has a water park attached to the hotel. We will spend our two final days there.