The Rhone and the Rhine

On our way to Switzerland we took a detour through the black forest of Germany. It didn't knock our socks off or anything, but it was enjoyable to see the architectural and geographical scenery change from France to Germany and then to Switzerland. The drive through the Alps was as phenomenal as our camp cuddled between the mountains of the Alps in Interlacken.

We slept in and then spent 8 hours hiking from Lauterbraun to Muren. Around every bend was an amazing view of snow capped mountains and the villages in the valleys. One part of this trip that happened to be planned well was the diversity of our experiences. Villages to big city. Long car rides to long hikes. Camping to hosteling to hoteling. Along the hike we enjoyed swiss cheese and swiss chocolate. Now all we need is some Swiss Miss.

Paris

Rick Steve's says you can't do everything in Paris no matter how much time you have. That meant we were in luck, because we never have much time in a city. The Louvre was at the top of our list of course. I almost didn't go to see the Mona Lisa, because it seemed to cliche and I thought it would be great to be that guy who went to the Louvre and was able to live above the ways of the normal tourist. I quickly realized that either way it would be about what I would tell people at home and not about actually seeing or not seeing the Mona Lisa and I was therefore doomed either way. My favorite painting was actually directly across from the Mona Lisa: the Wedding at Cana by Veronese. I spent the most time at this work trying to capture and understand as many details as possible. I actually didn't intend to spend much time at that particular work, but I kept seeing details that fascinated me.

My favorite part of Paris was a visit to two churches: Notre Dame and Saint Sulpice. We happened upon Notre Dame in perfect timing just before a mass. The Cavaille Coll organ had my attention the entire time. Our visit to the second church was more intentional. We arose for the Sunday morning mass, arriving after the prelude just as the service began. The church is just barely smaller than Notre Dame and is known for its Cavaille Coll, one of the most impressive organs built in the French symphonic style. The church also has an impressive history of organists, most notably Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupre. After the service, a short choir and organ concert followed. The guys were also generous to allow me to wait in line to see the organ. The history and music present in that place made it probably the single-most exciting adventure of the European tour.

Madrid

Let's just say Florence to Madrid isn't a hop skip and a jump away. The scenery, however, was grand. The Pyrenees are beautiful mountains along the border of France and Spain. The weaving roads were a blast to drive through as the sun set with a beautiful array of colors. We passed through Andora without realizing it was a country. Its a small city with French exit border patrol on one side and Spain entrance border patrol on the other. Its greatest boast is its gas prices - the cheapest we've seen in Europe by far. After 11 hours or so of driving we crashed (not literally) inside the border near the autostrasse.

At 6 in the morning it was time to go. Jordan's plane was due to arrive around noon and we were excited to greet him. We joked as we drove about how we half expected him to depart the plane with his guitar and nothing else. We also had a vague hope that Luke would be standing behind him to join us last minute.

We spent the evening settling down in our hotel, a quaint little place on the fourth floor. That is, the entire hotel was on the fourth floor. After walking around to see some of the sights in the neighborhood we returned for a siesta, something Asa had been looking forward to since the beginning of the trip. At 11pm I awoke to Matt asking if our siesta was over. As unusual as it might sound, it would not have been outrageous for us to arise and spend a few hours in town at that time of day. Everyone, including the older generation takes a few hour siesta in the early afternoon and then stays up until the early hours of the morning. A few moans from us, however, indicated that we would be going straight from our siesta nap to bed.

As usual, we flew through Madrid. We began with a few hours at the Prado where I saw a few works that were studied in Art History class at Wheaton. Paintings by the great Spanish artists such as Goya and Velazquez were along side others such as Rubens. It was a feast for the eyes. After checking out a few churches and the Plaza Mayor, we spent the bulk of the rest of our time at the Palace Real, the official residence of the King of Spain. The palace was complete with an armory which displayed dozens of sets of armor for horses, knights, and jousters.

Our day was complete with a trip to the bull fights. The offices in the center of Madrid were out of tickets so we went to see if we could find a few for sale outside the building. Our hopes were low since it is currently a festival time of bull fighting and Spaniards scramble to see the show. Nevertheless, we did find some surprisingly cheap tickets in the colloseum-like arena. The experience was a must-see for any travelers to Madrid. We saw three matadors fight against 2 bulls a piece. The second bull fought so bravely that within minutes the crowd was cheering to set him free, which was granted. Rumor has it that such hardly happens and the bull would be off to spend a happy life grazing with no worries. The whole event is quite exciting - the matadors, the capes, the spearers on horses. One can easily see how it developed out of the days of the colloseum when animals would fight men bringing about very different results.

Florence

This is Italy. Small streets, wafting smells of pasta and meat, rod iron on the windows of tightly packed houses. We quickly jumped in line to see David. As we waited in the short line, we met a man from Britain who was happy to talk about recent politics, the pros of social welfare and the problematic damages of Reagonomics and Thatcherism. Two women from the southern states chimed in. At first we assumed them to be republican crazies, but when they said they wished Hillary would have made it to the presidency, we were plain old confused.

Part of the collection in the Galleria Accadamia included a few instruments that were of special interest to me. There was the first known upright piano, stringed instruments made by the famous Stradivarius and various paintings of the medici court.

4.5 Minutes and then David

I'm sitting at the bathroom door of our camp Michaelangelo. Unfortunately the bathroom has the only available power near the snack shacks wifi service. Since I've also got a bit less than 5 minutes I can share some news about as brief as we have been seeing the sights.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but it can be seen in a day. We checked into our hotel which gave us their last room for the first night: a two bedroom, 2 bathroom, suite with full kitchen (including dishwasher). We were living fancy for a night. We arose to conquer all of Rome in just one span of daylight. The vatican was what I was most excited for and it met my expectations. I wondered how many of the tourists around me were believers. St. Peters is one of the most impressive building structures I have ever seen. Its massiveness and decorated interior are beautiful. The museum complex leading into the sistine chapel is a bit overwhelming. Art and statues are compressed into the corridors as if they weren't famous. Then, of course, the Sistine is breathtaking. The colloseum was a must see, but rather disappointing for one who had his hopes too high. The famous fountains, statues, and buildings that we walked past were lost in the shuffle of three men with only one day in Rome.

We drove to Florence yesterday. Up til now we have been avoiding the autostrada and the back road highways have given us a beautiful view of the countryside. I love the little villages, farms, and fields. Around every rolling hill is a vineyard and a small town perched on a sunny slope. Of course this drive is partially pleasant because of our vehicle upgrade to a Mercedes 350. Yesterday we splurged on a meal in Florence which consisted of merely prima pasta. We skipped the antipasta (appetizer), second pasta, and main course of meat that would have brought our bill into the triple digits. We were pretty happy with just one dish of the best pasta of our lives...

Now to see David.

Athens

The dozens of people outside customs with tour group and guide names gave Matt and I the idea to make signs greeting Asa to Greece. We acted like we didn’t recognize him until he walked right up to us, and his oblivion made things awfully awkward. A short bus ride took us to one of the best hostels in Greece and even the world. It was basically a communal hotel with a shower that flooded the entire bathroom.
After settling in we went out to see the city. The acropolis towers over the city being visible from most parts of modern day Athens. We circled to the opposite side and sat down to enjoy a meat platter including sardines, squid, and lamb! The lit acropolis just a few hundred yards away was in sight as we maxed out our food budget for the next two days. Peanut butter and jelly it will be for the next 2 days. Seriously.
In the morning we got an early start touring the acropolis, ancient agora, roman agora, Hadrian’s library, and multiple ancient theaters where the great works have been performed for centuries. By the time afternoon came around we were both tired and satisfied with our adventures.
After a siesta we decided to go to the ancient Olympic stadium. Little did we know that it would be one of our favorite sights of Athens. A free walking tour was informational and our run around the track was thrilling. A stadium has been since ancient Athens, but this one was built for the 1896 Olympic games – the first of the modern Olympic competitions. It was then used again in 1904 and more recently as part of the Olympic torch procession. Walking where the athletes have walked through the approach tunnel and on the track, I think we were all pretty impressed.
This morning we arose for a long travel to Bari, Italy. It began by a 3-hour bus ride to Patras, Greece. There we stopped for a terrible fake coffee and had a short chat with the Romanian barista who immigrated to Greece 15 years ago. She told us of the challenges of immigrating and now getting a wage that is low, but much better than what was available in Romania. Our trip to Bari is now being completed by a ferry ride arriving at 8am tomorrow morning. The boat seems almost as great as I would imagine a cruise ship to be. Except for size, attractions, and tourist stops, the boat has a wonderful lounge and the lack of crowds has allowed us to have large flight chairs in which to sleep tonight.

Poverty?

When we arrived near Cairo the sherut stopped under a bridge and tried to hand us over to another taxi. The background of the story is that we had agreed on 100 Egyptian pounds with our first driver from the border and he had already transferred us into another sheruts hands. Since we had given him 75 pounds, there was only 25 pounds of payment left as far as we were concerned. The driver almost broke down in tears as we argued about the agreement, knowing full well that 25 pounds was little more than 4USD for the last two and half hour ride. When the deal was complete we gave him 10 pounds (less than 2USD) each and got into the taxi for 15 pounds (little more than 2 dollars each) to take us the remaining 10 miles.

The poverty and low cost of living is incredible. When we arrived we grabbed a bag of 6 pita for 33 cents. Yet everyone is dressed nice and very few people are outright begging for money (instead they try to wash your car or take your picture and then demand payment). The food is so cheap, I wish we could eat it. Here one can get a lifetime disease from consuming anything with a trace of the water. If we wanted, we could get steak for 5, ice cream for 1, and probably feed the country for a day on 100 or so. The fresh fruit looks absolutely incredible and is dirt cheap! Instead we stick to bags of whole bags of chips for 50 cents.

Today we visited the Gaza and Saqqara Pyramids by personal taxi for 200 pounds (less than 40USD). Our driver was very kind and dressed well regardless of the fact that he was getting 35 dollars to spend 9 hours driving us around in his vehicle. Everywhere we went people tried to make a pound off of us. Everyone wanted us to ride a camel or buy a trinket. 2 boys told us that they just wanted to take our picture. They loaded us on their camels and dressed us up spend 10 minutes taking photographs with our cameras for us. Then they were frustrated that we would not pay them. I was not surprised, but didn't know how to respond. We told them from the beginning that we didn't want camels and didn't have money. Throughout the day we became more dogmatic. Arabs would begin a tour of a particular tomb and we would tell them, "You don't need to show us, we have no money." They would have a quick comeback with pleading eyes and then finally leave us to ourselves. Every once in a while we would hear, "I give you good price. No tourists anymore. Any money."

The final departure

As I walked through the border leaving Israel for the last time, memories of the semester flooded my mind. I remember looking over the topography of the Old City for the first time from Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives. I remember the first views of the wilderness, the Dead Sea, Nazareth, Cana, and Capernaum. There were class periods that went by so quickly because I was fascinated with the way that I was beginning to understand the Biblical narrative as well as class periods that went by ever so slowly in which I would play hangman with my fellow students. I remember the first time I walked through the maze of barbed wire and the towering wall into Palestine to hear my taxi driver tell of his family's house that was destroyed for the wall's construction. I think of the Jews who I have lived so close to and observed so intrigued. I think of countless conversations of how the Jews everlasting covenant will be fulfilled when "He who does not know the Son, does not know the Father."

The bus rides were rather long: 5 hours to the border and 6 hours to Cairo. At the Egyptian border we were told that we would have to go back to israel to obtain a Cairo visa. This was a problem for we had checked the embassies website, talked to various people, and come to the conclusion that we could get the visa at the border. To make matters worse, th embassy would be closed so we would have to spend the night in Eilat completely eliminating any adventures in Cairo by the time we got there. The man told us to go sit down and I started praying. "Lord, we researched ahead and thought this was the right thing. It doesn't make an ounce of sense to me, but if you want us to spend our time and money in Eilat instead of the adventures we planned for Cairo, Your will be done." In a few minutes a tour group guide came to us and explained the situation. We could pay him to obtain a visa, add us to his tour group list, and pay off the passport control. It was a straight up bribe. Dr. Wright would be proud.

We were joined in our sherut to Cairo by a couple from Chile who were traveling the world and dancing in Tango competitions. Their limited English provided for interesting conversations and miscommunications. Some of my favorite moments were when we would speak broken English with the Egyptians and then again try to explain to the French speaking Chileans.

A perspective

"When I told Saddam that attacking Israel would be like the blind attacking the sighted, we were surrounded by all of the members of the general staff, and Gen. Amir Rashid Ubaidi, who was deputy air force commander for technology and engineering, leaned over to his colleague and whispered, 'Georges is going to be killed, now, right on the spot. His head will be separated from his body.' In any event, I told Saddam that the reason I had used that expression is because ISraeli aircraft have very advanced radar with the capability to see more than 125 miles in any direction. On the other hand, 75 percent of Iraqi aircraft were Russian-made, and the range of the radar on our fighters was only about fifteen miles. THis meant that the Israeli fighters could see our aircraft at least 110 miles before we would even know they were there. And thats not even the worst part. Their laser-guided missiles could lock on our fighters while they were still sixty-five miles away, and we'd have no idea that enemy fighters were anywhere around." - General Georges Sada

Mount Sinai and the Red Sea

This weekend was a definite highlight of my time here and possibly one of the best of my life.

We set off for Egypt early Friday morning, taking the 4 hour bus ride to the border. A little bartering bought us a 200 pound round trip sherut to St. Catherine's monastery at the bottom of Mt. Sinai. Throughout the trip we read different excerpts from Moses' encounter with God. Although the 3 hour hike was not extremely difficult I thought of Moses in his old age climbing up and down the mountain 5 or 6 times in the Biblical narrative.

By the time we reached the top, the wind was already chilling. The beautiful sunset only made the temperatures worse. The few who live at the top of the mountain kept offering us mats and blankets, but we lied that we were just fine. We bundled up and sat as close to each other as we could without obviously cuddling to fight off the cold. One by one the stars came out 'til there were more stars than I have ever seen before. The sky was solid with images of Abraham's descendants. One local offered us a little cave to sleep in which we gladly accepted. It was just the right size for the four of us to keep warm out of the wind.

I awoke early in the morning to the buzz of the hundred or so tourists who had made the trek up the mountain for the sunrise. We scrambled out to a little jutting rock ledge and covered up with our sleeping bags to see the beauty of the sun rising over the mountain range. 4 warm cups of hot chocolate and we began our descent.

After a brief visit to the monastery, we took the sherut back to the border and walked to meet some friends in Eilat. There at the national park beach we snorkeled in what are some of the best snorkeling waters. The fish and coral reef were incredible. It felt like swimming in an exotic aquarium, chasing the brightly colored and uniquely shaped underwater creatures.

By the time night came, the sand under my sleeping bag on the Red Sea didn't seem all that hard. The only downside was the busy road just a few yards away with streetlights and the bar that insisted on blaring Arabic techno. Oh well, I was literally sleeping on the beach of the Red Sea!

Matt and I lingered at the beach after everyone else headed back to school. We got out our study guides and acted like we were working hard, though in this place it didn't feel like work at all. That evening we boarded the bus and headed back. I would say that the surreal vacation was over, but then again we were only heading back to Jerusalem.