The Power of Three/Angels Take Manhattan

I'm very late with these, but to be fair it's hard to type through the tears.

All I'm going to say about Power of Three is that the pacing bothered me. The episode went by slowly, which was fine, but then the problem was solved in under 5 minutes. I also think it would have been better to put this episode before The Gunslinger. I feel like it's a bit of a cheat to end with Amy and Rory choosing to travel forever with the Doctor, only to have them leave in the next episode.

Moving on to Angels Take Manhattan. The opening was sufficiently creepy.  I liked the bit between the Doctor and Amy in central park and how Rory just sort of chilled there. Then he went to get coffee. And the cherub on the fountain moved. And I went "meep".

I wasn't that surprised when "Melody Malone" turned out to be Melody Pond/Williams aka River Song. I did like how they used the book as a framing device for the story. I took some issue with the idea that just because you read that something happened a certain way, that's the way it has to happen. That being said I liked the way they cut from "it's set in stone" to the grave.

In all seriousness though they read the Doctor saying that they would have to break River's wrist. THEY NEVER READ THAT THEY ACTUALLY BROKE IT!!!! They could totally have said, "well know we've gotten past the part we read about and can go back to having free choice. Also the cellar that they stuck Rory in with the cherubs was creepy as all heck.

Okay here's my issue with Rory. You've just been mysteriously transported to outside a random hotel. Let's go inside. Not only that, but let's go up in the elevator. Stupid piece of...

Anyway. I liked that they addressed the problems in the Doctor and River's relationship. How hard it must be to be together-ish. I also liked that they explained how River got out of jail. I wonder how long she was there before he deleted himself from existence.

Anyway, Amy, River and the Doctor catch up to Rory. And then they found his room. And they watched him die. Then the Angel's came to zap Rory back so that he could grow old in the hotel and eventually die. That smiling Angel was the creepiest thing I've ever seen. Anyway, Amy and Rory ran to the roof and had one of the most heartbreaking scenes ever.

First of all, how great was it that Rory kept his sense of humor through it all.
"I always wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty. I guess she got impatient."
"When don't I [come back to life]?"
It almost distracted from the horribleness of the situation where Rory insists that his wife pushes him off the roof of a building so that he can create a paradox by dying twice in one night (though again, his comment that "If anyone could do it, it'd me me" was great). Then Amy once again proved her unwillingness to live without Rory (see Amy's Choice) by insisting that she jump with him.

But then, twist it all worked out well! They woke up in the cemetery that the Doctor and Amy had been at earlier. Everyone is fine! Everything is great. And then Rory gets nosy. He notices the grave of a man that JUST HAPPENS to have the same name as him. Then he get zapped by a weeping angel. Then in another heartbreakingly beautiful scene, Amy chooses to risk her life by allowing the Angel to touch her, so that she can go back and be with Rory, even though it means she can't see the Doctor again.

Again, I have some issues here. They see a tombstone with his name on it. Also, the TARDIS can, apparently, never go back to New York City. I don't understand why they couldn't have traveled to say...Connecticut in the past then taken the train. "But the tombstone has to exist!" You say. So you hire a tombstone engraver to make one. You can have a tombstone without an actual dead person. They don't insist on seeing the body before they make the stone. Also, Amy and Rory stay in New York apparently since they are buried there. Why could they not just leave old-timey New York and send a message to the Doctor to pick them up in Boston?

Anyway, I was sad and crying throughtout. The last page of the book made everything even more sad. Also, it was sad how River wouldn't travel full time with the Doctor (seriously, weirdest marriage ever). At the end, since she mentioned that she was now a doctor, I really thought that she'd mention that she was recently contacted to lead an expedition to The Library and that the Doctor would suggest a going to the Singing Towers of Derillium before she left. That way they'd fully wrap up the River Song story along with the Pond plot, but apparently not.

Israel Trip Part 3

Part 1 Part 2

So this post will be a little more serious than other posts, for reasons that will become clear fairly quickly.

On Monday we began by visiting Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust museum. For me this experience was amazing. I'd studied the Holocaust before, and visited the D.C. museum, but Yad Vashem was something completely different. For one, the museum is very focused on telling the stories of the individuals involved. If you've ever heard the expression "One death is a tragedy, 1000 is a statistic," that seems to sum up the philosophy there. They don't want the horrors that occurs to be brushed aside. They make it about the people. One of the things that struck me most was their dedication to trying to identify all the Jews who died in the Holocaust. If a person died, and all who knew him are also dead, can we say he ever existed? Yad Vashem seeks to remind us that we need to remember all the people who existed here, and who died.

The other thing that made this visit feel more special to me is that for the first time since seventh grade Sunday school, I was hearing about the Holocaust, and learning about the people, completely surrounded by other Jews. When I visited the Holocaust museum in D.C. many of my classmates were sympathetic, but it just wasn't as personal for most of them. I had moments when it became very personal for me, and it felt nice to know that everyone I was with got that. Everyone was having there own moment at some point. I'm not trying to say that non-Jews can't fully comprehend the Holocaust, obviously they can, but for the most part, the person who starts sobbing in a Holocaust museum is going to be Jewish.

We were only allowed to take pictures on the museum grounds, not in the museum. I only took a few pictures, and I don't feel comfortable posting most of them. But there is one I will show. The view from the museum overlooks the city. I think it was a beautiful reminder that out of something terrible (the Holocaust) can come something good (the state of Israel).

After the museum we took an emotional breather and went to a local market place for lunch.

I love pomegranates.

This smelled amazing. All the spices mingled together.

Then we went back to having an emotional day. Our next stop was Mt. Hertzl, the national cemetery. At the cemetery, the communal feeling of getting it, wasn't as strong. The Israeli soldiers who were with us very clearly had a more powerful reaction to what we were seeing. At the same time, moments popped at me. When I saw the grave of a soldier who was my age or younger when he or she died the realities of being an Israeli became even more strong.

Once again, out of respect for where we were, I will include just the one picture.

It says "Hertzl" in Hebrew.

Monday night ended with a trip to Ben Yehuda Street. Many people in the group went to bars and clubs. I, with a friend I'd made on the trip, simply wandered, looking in at the little shops.

Part 4 is now up!

A Town Called Mercy

I really was going to write this earlier I swear. Spoilers.

Israel Trip Part 2

Part 1 here.
The next day of the trip was Sunday. We were introduced to the Israeli soldiers who would be traveling with us. This wasn't a "we have soldiers for protection" thing, it was a "we have soldiers because they're the people our age in Israel" thing. We did have a security guy though. After doing some getting to know you activities with the soldiers, we ventured out into Jerusalem.

Once again, foreign countries have prettier streets.

And street signs.

And pretty roof gardens/spaces.

Then in the Old City we were crashed by a Bar Mitzvah.

Then we left them to constantly wonder "Who are these people on the video of our son's Bar Mitzvah?" and went to an archaeological dig site.

We followed up on that with lunch, I had shwarma. The Avenger's food. It was really good.

I horrified someone else on the trip by referring to it as a kind of "Israeli taco".

Then it was followed by gelato. But not just any gelato, Ferrero Rocher flavored gelato. It was soooo good. Then we went back to the Western Wall.

The divider between the men's and women's section.

Prayer books for use.

World's Holiest Pigeon

We finished the day's activities by climbing down a mountain.

On the way down we crawled around through wet caves.

And that was Monday.
Part 3 now up!

Israel Trip Part 1

So I went away to Israel a few weeks ago (a peer trip, not a family vacation) and it was a great trip. So I thought I'd share some pictures and stories etc. for all of you. This should take a few posts. If you saw my Italy series, it should be like that (Link to Part 1 of that trip here).

Okay so the first step was simply to get to Israel.

I thought I would do a sort of travelling gnome thing with my owl, but that ended up not happening beyond the first day.

View from the sky.

 We didn't have a direct flight. Instead we had to stop in Switzerland on the way over. At this point it was around 2-3 AM in our heads so we were pretty tired. I may have baa-ed as we all walked in a group to go through Swiss security.

Also, I learned that Swiss security people are really nice. I'd brought a reusable water bottle on the trip with me and filled it in the US airport, after I went through security. When I went through Swiss security they pulled my bag off for extra searching...and pulled out my completely full water bottle. My options were to either drink it all (about 18 oz of water) or to go and find a bathroom to dump it in, and then go through security all over again. I drank it. One of my friends from the trip started making me laugh (admittedly not a difficult thing at 2 in the morning) but the airport security lady told her to stop and sort of cheered me on. She seemed really happy for me when I managed to finish the bottle. I was proud and also really had to use the bathroom.

Swiss Airport.

Hotel Room

So we got to the hotel in Jerusalem and changed for Shabbat. Then we went to the Western Wall, by bus. We did a small Shabbat service there (hence the lack of pictures for this part) and then began our walk to the hotel. Before we left we were told to wear shoes for a 2 1/2 mile walk. We were told the walk would be about an hour.

To put it simply, they lied. For one thing, they neglected to tell us about how hilly it is in Jerusalem. Or how steep the hills are. They are very steep if you were wondering. Also while I can't comment on the distance the walk ended up being, I can say this. It took two hours. We were told it would take one. We also were making this hike with no dinner (that was waiting for us at the hotel). Additionally, they gave us huge water bottles so that we could stay hydrated (I'm talking 1 1/2 liters). What they did not give us were bathroom breaks on the walk back. But we did make it back the hotel. We got dinner and access to a bathroom and we all went to sleep.

The next day was very chill. We couldn't really do much since it was Shabbat so we got to unwind, swim in the pool, read. All that lovely stuff.

View from the hotel window

We also did some getting to know you activities. Then after dinner we had a Havdalah service. Then we went out. There was a Music/Art festival. I like crafts fairs. A lot. Here's some pretty pictures.

Puppets

Jewelry

This guy dressed as an elephant

Music

Wire crafts and Knitted crafts

Toilet paper holders

That's it for today. There will be more about this trip over the next week or so. Part 2 is now here!

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Just because I've already seen a Town Called Mercy doesn't mean that this review is super late.
SPOILERS!

Asylum of the Daleks

Okay, this is late, but I'm getting it in before the next episode airs, and that's what's important.

Beware, Spoilers Ahead!