A New Start

Well, I guess it's about time that I showed you our new little abode. We've got a great house in a fun neighborhood and are loving it so far. The area that we are in has great pubs and restaurants within walking distance and we feel safe being out and about together (as long as we are together and not alone, 'cause that would just be silly). The house is a great size for us, and may even be a little bigger than we expected, but it's nice to have some room to move around and not be on top of each other. The cats love it and run up and down the hallway playing all day and night. We have gorgeous floor to ceiling windows in the front of the house (which really adds to the room we're using as a library) and with the ceilings being about 13 feet, it makes the house feel huge. There are 3 bedrooms, one of which we use as an office, and a really nice size living room with a built-in bar (that we only use for storage. Right. Storage). And finally there is a precious little backyard with a great deck. There is plenty of room for guests, so start planning your trips down to the Big Easy, folks. Beth and Stephen win the award for having the first planned trip. Any other takers? Anyone? Hello?!

Alas Poor Israel, I Blogged You Well

I know, I know, I know: I am the absolute worst blogger in the world. BUT, I'm writing now, I'm finishing off the stories of my travels and you can all enjoy and read and comment and we'll all be happier for it. So, where exactly did I leave off? Well, our group was heading into the last of our countries, namely Israel. (Disclaimer: I totally broke Bart's camera on the first day in Israel, so pictures may or may not be forthcoming.) The first stop on the tour of Israel was the Church of the Beatitudes where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. For all you "Lamb" readers, you will appreciate this on a completely different level. Of course the church wasn't there at the time of the sermon, but was built as a memorial. It was a gorgeous setting right on the Sea of Galilee (which is actually a large lake), with tons of flowers and greenery, which was an amazing site for all of us since we had only seen desert for the week and a half prior. Israel, in fact, is mostly desert but was irrigated for centuries to create work and exports for its inhabitants. After visiting the church we set out on yet another boat on the Sea of Galilee itself. What an amazing experience! We had a prayer out on the lake, danced with the crew and actually got to listen to our National Anthem. As a bonus, the crew of the boat plays the national anthem of whoever is on their ships. Nice touch to have a bit of home on the trip. We didn't get to stay out long, but again, it was an awesome experience. Our next stop on the trip was in Tabgha at the Church of Heptapegon, which is where Jesus fed the masses with the few loaves and fish. It was a very small church with very little to see, but neat to be there. As was tradition with our tour group at that point, we were quickly whisked back onto our bus and driven to yet another site: Capharnaum, or the city of Jesus. This ruined city was a maze of ancient buildings that told many different stories of the life and times of Jesus. There were meeting rooms and synagogues, churches and an actual city was laid out before us. Once we saw all these amazing sites, it was finally time for lunch. Yep, that's right, lunch. We quickly found out that we hadn't even learned the meaning of "rushed" before we got to Israel. Another word we quickly learned was kibbutz. A kibbutz is similar to a commune where a group of people work together to form a self-sustaining community. Apparently our guide was very fond of these and took us to every single one she could possibly find. Let's just suffice it to say that if all kibbutz's (I really don't know what the plural of kibbutz is) charge as much for lunch as the ones we visited do, then I have figured out how they are self-sustaining. No big secret there. The remainder of our first day in Israel was spent traveling to the Jordan River for baptisms. This was so very cool and there were people from all over the world having the same experience that we were. Two of the members of our group were baptized and it was awesome to share this with them. (Side note: In the interest of saving your brain cells, I'm going to hit the highlights from here on out. We did an inordinate amount of touring these last couple days and it all started to bleed together, so just trust me that you're getting the good stuff.) In the following days, we visited Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water to wine at a wedding (you guys can learn all about this from Bill) and Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. We also visited the Church of the Ascension, where the Angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her what God had in store for her (or as my Mom said, "Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time"). Caesarea was soon to follow and there we saw the ruins from the palace of Pontius Pilate (who was the judge during Jesus' trial). Next we were off to Jerusalem and Masada, where we took a suspended cable car up the mountain and got to see the city of Masada (if any of you have seen the movie with Peter O'Toole with the Romans trying to take over a city on a big mountain, this place is what the movie was about). After lunch in another kibbutz (I think this was the third or fourth by this point), we saw these awesome little wild goats that were literally standing in trees to get food. They were tiny but so very cute! I wanted to take one home, but they wouldn't let me off the bus. Our next big stop was the Dead Sea. Whoa... weird stuff. The water was way oily and dense and it felt like you would never get it off your skin. A lot of people got all the way in and floated in it, but I couldn't make myself go past knee deep. It just felt entirely too dirty. Gross!! There were folks all over the place bathing in the mud, had it caked all over their bodies and that was enough of a turn-off to keep me away. I admit it, I chickened out (although I did get some great pictures on Lori's camera of people who probably shouldn't have been in bathing suits). We visited the wailing wall, which is in the heart of Old Jerusalem and learned more than any gentile needs to know about the Jewish culture (just kidding). The streets or alleys that lead in and around Old Jerusalem are packed with tons of shops, similar to the bazaar in Istanbul. People just crushed in on top of each other, but we had a wonderful time shopping for treasures, bargaining and finding just the right souvenirs to take home. We spent an afternoon at Yad VaShem, which is the Holocaust Museum. I have to admit that I was fairly nervous about going, but the museum was very tastefully done, and although it wasn't a "pleasant" experience, it was incredible to see everything. We visited the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, and the garden Jesus was taken from before his trial. Experiencing all of this in such a short amount of time didn't give any of us a lot of time to process, so there was a lot of unwinding that needed to be done at the end of each day. We did venture into Palestine one morning to get to Bethlehem (yes, Bethlehem is part of Palestine, not Israel right now), and got to see the Church of the Nativity. Now, if I have to explain the significance of "Church of the NATIVITY," I'm going to be very disappointed, so if you don't know, don't tell me. K? K. Back in Israel, we spent the rest of the day in Mt. Zion and saw the room where The Last Supper took place, walked through the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (a possible burial site for Jesus), and had communion in the Garden Tomb (another possible burial site for Jesus). Please keep in mind that all of these things happened in 4 and a half days. It was all jam packed and I am leaving a lot of stuff out. There were lots of trials and tribulations along the way, not to mention cats galore (yes, I tried to keep all of them), many complaints about our guide, stomach issues, blown out hair dryers, and more than I could ever relate. All in all, this was an amazing trip and it seemed to both last a lifetime and disappear in the blink of an eye. I definitely want to continue traveling and have plans to bug the tar out of Bart until he takes me somewhere (Italy anyone?). I hope you enjoyed my stories as much as I enjoyed gathering them. Coming soon: updates on NOLA, pictures of the house and a tourists guide to the Big Easy. Keep up, kids. I'm back!

This Just In

Ok, I know I'm a total slacker and I have a ton more of my trip to blog, but I just needed to get this info out to you and I PROMISE that I'll blog the rest of the trip soon and I'll post pictures of the house. Anyway, some very exciting news for everyone: The second (but not lesser, and actually the older of the two) Garrity Twins has joined the ranks of the bloggers. Check out Beth's page here and see the other side of the twin mentality. Enjoy!

Petra and Jerash. What? You come up with a good title for it.

So, after quite an epic day to finish our tour of Egypt, our group woke to the gorgeous landscape of Jordan. First on our list was a morning at Petra. This ancient city was cut out of the mountains by a long-run-dry river. The water cut through the rock and left behind an amazing trek down into the city. We rode horses part of the way down the gorge and took the last part of the trip on foot. This gorge was the famous film site where Indiana Jones was chased by the giant ball in one of his adventurous movies. Petra, however, was originally used as an area for trade by voyagers from across the land. The most well known image of Petra was a building that was used as a treasury. Again, I was struck by the awesome beauty of the rocks and the ingenuity of the builders who carved immense structures out of rocks. This area is still being excavated and new treasures are being found every day. The thing that struck me the most about this area was how close we were allowed to get to everything. Literally, we were climbing on rocks and up staircases, looking into the past. Had we been anywhere in America, there would have been guards and roped off areas hustling tourists through. This really allowed us to get a better scope of the grandeur of Petra and enjoy it all the more. After an hour (which was not nearly enough time) of exploring (and a little bit of shopping), we were scurried out and returned to horseback for our trip back up the gorge. I will say, though, that Mom, Lori and I had a great time goofing off and taking fun pictures of the animals. Our next bus ride took us to Amman, with a stop for lunch at a little hole in the wall place for our first authentic meal of the trip. I relished my hummus wrap and loved finally getting a true taste of the area. We also stopped in Madoba to visit St. George's Greek Orthodox Church. This tiny chapel holds an amazing mosaic tile floor that depicts a map of the holy lands and was created centuries ago. At one point someone was a bit careless and built a column in the middle of the map, so part of it is lost, however, it is a gorgeous piece of history. Monday, November 17th found us in Jerash; a city of Roman ruins. I can't explain the immense nature of the columns, the city streets and the buildings that have been found, nor can I fill in much of the history. Unfortunately, this particular day was my first of several with stomach issues. No fun, highly uncomfortable, and very distracting. I'm sure our guide had plenty to say, but I was a bit busy looking around for the Roman version of a toilet. One of the things that really struck me in Jerash (besides my need for modern conveniences) was how much they are still finding. There were rows and rows of massive column heads just sitting about and waiting to once again top their rightful columns. Just seeing how many columns have been put up and how many there are still to go showed the enormity of what this city once was. I truly loved Jerash (and Petra as well) and would go back again instantly to see what developments have been made. Our day continued on Mount Nebo, which is the supposed burial site of Moses. I would say more, but there wasn't a lot there except for an inscribed stone and a wonderful view of Jordan. Yep, that was about it; we were up and down in about 10 minutes. The day ended when we crossed into Israel. Lori and I ran, exhausted, to our room and stayed there for the rest of the night in the hopes of feeling better for the upcoming day.

On Top of Mt. Sinai

First off, let me apologize for not blogging yesterday. The internet was funky here for some reason, so that is why I'm behind. I'll do my best to get these out more quickly.
Anyway...
After two and exhausting days in Cairo, we traveled by bus (again) to an area called St. Katherine's. We had a short nap after dinner and got up at 1 in the morning to head to Mt. Sinai. Everything was pitch black and exceedingly cold. We were warned beforehand that it was going to be that way, but I can still feel the chill of the night. After bargaining with guides for camels, we were each placed on one of the massive animals, to take us up the first 3 miles of our 4 mile hike. Mine, of course, had a total attitude problem, took off without the guide and spent the entirety of the hike trying to play "chicken" with the other camels and people on the trail. Figures. Jacki and I were close together going up, and we enjoyed the darkened (or almost blackened) scenery and the immense nature of what we were doing. Soon enough, though, it was time to go up on foot. Our group was reinstated and up we went. Straight up a craggy mass of stairs leading to the top of the mountain. I thought several times of Frodo and Sam going up the treacherous stairs leading into Mordor, but kept that to myself. Our group barely made it to the top with enough time to find a spot to sit. Dawn was just breaking on the horizon and everyone was very quiet and still watching this amazing sight. There were throngs of people from all over the world and it was so interesting to see how we all reacted the same way. A lot of people starting singing, as there really weren't words to describe what we were seeing. As the songs progressed, others joined in, singing familiar tunes in different languages. Quite an experience. Soon enough, though, the sun was up in its full glory and it was time for us to head back down the mountain. Two things I neglected to mention were that 1. We had a guide and a guard keeping watch over our entire excursion. Neither of them were to my liking and 2. The camel jockeys had very specific ways of communicating with their wards, mostly by clicking at them, much the same way "that guy" at the bar clicks when he holds his hands like pistols and winks with an exaggerated smirk. Yeah, you get the picture. Anyway, our guide tried to keep the group together coming back down the mountain, but not only was there a mass exodus leaving the mountain at the same time, but we all finally saw the "stairs" we had climbed up in the pitch black. They were 100 times more scary going down, mostly unstable and not really stairs at all, but just rocks that have been worn into a path. All this to say, it was tough keeping the group together. Well, the guide and I had butted heads from the first (you know because I'm a white female infadel, and he's a pigheaded male camel herder), and I mostly tried to keep my distance from him. He eventually found me trying to sneak ahead of the group and wanted to hold me up until others had caught up (I wasn't about to explain to him that my bladder had reached full capacity after the 4.5 hour ordeal and that I was worried about the 4 mile hike ahead of me before there was an available bathroom). He responded to my "disobedience" by clicking at me like I was a camel and trying to herd me back into the group. Yeah, that was when my very thin rope tied to sanity completely snapped and I fumed the rest of the way down the mountain. Luckily, I wasn't alone in my grumblings. Lori and Mom were both suffering from similar bladder issues, so we took our own pace going down the mountain. We were all amazed at how the camels made it up in the dark as we slipped and tripped our way down the 4 mile trail. And of course, being the graceful entity that I am, I totally bit it and fell straight on my behind about halfway down. Yeah, that felt good after being up all night, muscles aching from exertion I'm not accustomed to, and being herded like a pack animal. I was in the best mood ever. The bruise became my first official souvenir from the trip and I was the only person to have one just like it (not that I was the only one who fell, but I was the only one who made mince meat out of my rear end). Side note: Pictures of the bruise cost extra. We were late (according to our guide) getting back from the adventure, so we had about 5 minutes to pack our things and get back on the bus. So much for breakfast. We were headed for the Red Sea and Jordan. Once we got to the water's edge, we had about an hour wait until it was time to go through customs and board the gorgeous ferry that would take us across the water. We were all entranced by the Red Sea, as it was the deepest blue we had ever seen. So concentrated and pure at the same time. We glided over the water while the sun set behind the mountains. Amazing to start the day on top of the mountains and finish it watching the sun drop behind them. As the sun set, the wind and water became much cooler, but we weren't too bad off as the boat captain played fun music and we really enjoyed our trip across the water. We docked in a little city called Acaba (Aladdin, anyone?), that was absolutely beautiful; set against the water with the clean white of the buildings (emphasis on clean) and the amazing (and horribly expensive) yachts docked everywhere. Most of us were sorely tempted to stay just where we were and not move a foot out of this amazing town. Alas, we were destined for another bus ride into the area outside Petra. As Acaba was my first experience in Jordan, I think I'll have to go back to get the full effect of it. I was too tired and grouchy to really appreciate just how spoiled someone could be in that little town. Next up: Petra and Jerash.

Walk Like An Egyptian

After a late flight and arrival at our hotel, and a very early morning, our group was sent of to the Citadel in Cairo. Through my sleep deprived haze, I wasn't able to discern too much about what went on at the citadel, other than it housed the mosque and tomb of Mohammed Ali (yes, the boxer. Right). The fun thing about the citadel was that it was swarmed with kids on field trips and these children were ecstatic that we were there. They waved and yelled, just grinning from ear to ear if we even looked at them, and tried desperately to practice their English as we were hustled through the crowds. They were just so excited and it really was catching. Our guide commented that we looked exotic to them and they just wanted to get closer to us. Apparently she was right, because once we got up to the top of the citadel, a family ran over to me and begged to have their picture taken with me. I misunderstood and thought they wanted me to take a picture of them, not with them, but they quickly took the camera from me and shoved it at someone else, all placing themselves around me with huge smiles on their faces. Who knows, maybe it was "Hug a White Girl" day or something. Strange. The mosque and tomb, again, were just spectacular, and I think I was able to get better pictures of this one. After the citadel, we headed into the heart of Cairo to the Egyptian Museum. The big focus there, naturally, are all the artifacts that were found in the tomb of King Tut. Amazingly enough (so I learned), King Tut was not a highly revered king, ruled for a very short amount of time and had very little impact on the history of the country. The reason his artifacts are so central, though, is because most of the other tombs that have been found, were raided centuries ago and very little is known about the other rulers. So, for a "nothing king" as our guide put it, the people constructed literally hundreds and thousands of necessities that he would need for the after life: chariots, thrones, pots, an early version of air conditioning (very interesting, but hard to explain), three sarcophagi, built into three massive tombs, and even went as far as to bury servants and women with him. Man, can you imagine what they would do for someone they actually liked? I can't even explain the immense amount of items they had with him. Absolute craziness. The rest of our first day in Cairo was spent shopping and enjoying the town. We went to a store that specialized in papyrus and as I was browsing, one of the salesmen actually asked me if I had cats at home. Surprised, I replied that I did (he was obviously trying to butter me up for a sale). "I could tell," he said with a smirk, "you have beautiful cat eyes." Right. That makes me want to buy something. Hey, at least it was a line I'd never heard before. I also had a waiter at dinner profess his undying love for me (repeatedly) and then declare that he was going to kill himself because I was married. He was certainly teasing, but goodness, give it a rest folks! Our second day in Cairo consisted of the pyramids and sphinx. I can't begin to explain the grandure of the pyramids. I never realized just how huge they are. Did you know that if you lined up all the stones from just the Great Pyramid in a row that they would reach 3/4 of the way around the equator? Yeah, I had no clue either. Also, there is no mortar or bonding agent of any kind holding the pyramids together, only their vast weight. Incredible. The sphinx, although much smaller, was cut out of one solid stone and measures 20 meters high. (Side note: The sphinx was used as target practice by Napoleon's men and that's why it doesn't have a nose) Again, just amazing what these people were able to accomplish without any modern tools (a good argument for aliens, I think). The only gripe I would have about anything in Cairo would be the peddlers. They try to sell you anything and everything and want entirely too much money for their wares. They also have no concept of personal space (or deodorant for that matter) and will literally bombard you as you are walking around. Goodness, they will even charge you if you ask them to take a picture of you with your own camera. By the end of the day, I was pretty fed up with the "attention" and actually scared one would-be vendor with a very loud and abrasive "NO!" I guess he got the point. The end of our day was spent at an essence store where they make and sell oils for all ailments and maladies. We got a very long lecture about the curing abilities of oils and how we should buy them all (shocking), and also got a quick lesson on how their hand-blown glass bottles were made. Everything was absolutely gorgeous, but after a day of having things shoved in your face, I wasn't really in the mood. I think I just needed an actual night of sleep. Tomorrow and epic day of Mt. Sinai and the Red Sea.

Turkey Before Thanksgiving

Well, first and foremost, I'm giving up on the "Ari says" bit. I think we all know why. No need to dwell on it, so we'll just get down to business.
Now, you all should know that I recently spent two weeks overseas on an amazing tour of the Holy Lands. I'm going to attempt to give details and recollections, but as it seems that I've left my brain somewhere in Israel, you'll have to bear with me. Our group flew out of New York's JFK airport on Tuesday, November 11th, in the evening and made our first stop in Istanbul, Turkey sometime on Wednesday. We started with 15 people in the group, including Mimi and Papaw (my fantastic grandparents), my Mom and Bill, and Bill's daughter and son-in-law (Jacki and Nick), as well as my Aunt Lori (who happens to be the source of all things bad that I do). There were a few other very nice people with us, including Lori's and my wonderful roommate Pat, who you'll hear more about later. Back to Turkey. We arrived bleary eyed and were hustled off the plane, through customs and the airport, only to be pushed onto our first of many buses. We briefly saw a glimpse of the Walls of Constantinople, and as we were flying past this huge monument of history I realized that our 12 hour stint in Istanbul was going to be entirely too short. We passed the sea of Marmara (which happens to encompass the Princess Islands, just so you know) and arrived at the Palace of Sultans. As you can imagine by the name, this place was amazing. The grounds look like an elaborate college campus and I swore up and down that I wanted to get my next degree there. One of the things that really struck me at the Palace was the different architecture that you could see everywherere. It was obvious that this particular spot had been added to throughout the ages and was just steeped in history (not that I know any of it to tell you). We ate a brief lunch that I barely remember and then it was back to the bus to head to the Blue Mosque (or the Mosque of Ahmet as it is actually called). Words cannot describe the absolute beauty of this place. Not only is it immense in size, but the decoration and ornamentation were just astounding. Alas, my pictures of the inside of the mosque are less than stellar and I'll have to get pics from someone else in the group before I can post that one. After the mosque, we had a brief stint in the Grand Bizarre and Lori and I had our first taste of the craziness that is the tourist traps overseas. There were shops everywhere, selling anything you can think of and each of the shop tenders had a lovely compliment for you, just to entice you into their store. Craziness. I can't even explain the immensity of the bizarre, except that to relate that when I thought Mom was lost inside and alone, I firmly and literally dove back in to save her. Yeah, I'm a big hero. After the bizarre, our guide took us to a rug store. I know, it sounds boring, but it was very informative, and a bit tempting. The rugs were absolutely gorgeous and hard to resist. I almost picked one and then realized that it was a bit early in the trip to buy my "big thing" so I held off, but with much difficulty. After what was a very full 12 hours, we were shipped back to the airport to await our flight to Cairo. Amazingly enough, it was just a fluke that we got to visit Istanbul at all, and only because our layover was so long. We all grabbed some dinner, wandered around the airport and then settled in for our short flight into Egypt. I have to say that I certainly want to go back to Turkey, especially Istanbul, and get a better feel for everything that we missed. 12 hours was not nearly long enough to explore this gorgeous country. Tomorrow, Cairo. Stay tuned.