I Think I’m Now a Diabetic!
(Jerusalem – Amman)
In Front of the Dome
This morning we got up at 6:30, showered and headed up to the roof of the hospice to shoot a quick video. We then had breakfast and left the hospice to take one last tour around Old Jerusalem. First we went to the idolatrist church of the Holy Sep again to shoot a quick video then the same thing at the Western Wall. We then proceeded to clear security and walked around the Dome on the Rock. Big courtyards surrounded the dome with its iconic gold roof and blue tiles. We got a couple of nice photos looking back up the Mt. of Olives.
Religious Legalism in Jerusalem
We came back to the Hospice to grab our stuff & pay our bill. To our surprise it was 84 Euro for the double occupancy as opposed to the 42Euro that we thought we were paying. The Austrians hosed us! We walked through the Damascus gate one last time and caught our cab to the Allenby/King Hussein border crossing. Overall with the exception of the Garden Tomb, I hated Jerusalem. The idolatry, religious legalism just highlighted a desperate need for Jesus in that city. I can understand why Christ wept over Jerusalem.
We had to wait at an Israeli checkpoint before moving on to the immigration. I think we waited for 15 minutes or something like that. We then made it to the Israeli side, paid our exit tax and hopped on a bus for the 1kn ride to the Jordanian side. At a checkpoint on the Jordanian side, they took our passports- this is what stresses me out more than anything while traveling. Anyway, we got them back, cleared immigration, found an ATM and hired a car to Amman.
Our driver was crazy. I have not been so terrified in my life…zip zagging, passing when a truck is coming at you head on- I was thankful for the traffic in Amman which took about an hour to get through. The driver didn’t know where the hotel actually was, but we did and decided to walk the 500m to the Caravan Hotel. The hotel has the basics but we have been warned about bedbugs. So we’ll see how that goes. Grabbed a shwarma for lunch and are waiting to meet R & K for coffee.
Store Front in Amman
R&K are a sweet couple. They took us for a jaunt in downtown Amman where we bought our ‘Jordanian’ souvenirs. This is because the touristy places like Petra sell things at 300% inflation. I bought my Jordanian head pieces and Jen bough 4 purses (not for just her ). R & K took us to a Jordanian pastry shop where we had this super-sweet (literally) dish called a kofta. We also had this thickened mill drink that included cinnamon and coconut. Though both were very high on the sugar intake, they were both good. I also got some DVDs – Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, the Blindside & the History Channel’s Engineering Civilizations- all for about $10. We said our good-byes and enjoyed our time together. We came back to the hotel and chilled until our first tour group meeting that was at 6pm.
We had our meeting and it looks like a good group-Aussies, a Kiwi, an American and one other Canadian. Only 4 guys on the trip including the tour guide. Our guide is Faisal who is Jordanian but looks like a leprechaun. We got to meet some of the group over supper at the hotel. We had a good time sharing travel stories.
