Israel Trip Part 5

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

After the melting awful humidity of Tel Aviv we spent the next day in the desert. But first we had to get there.

Pit Stop

We stopped off at an Israeli shopping mall to get lunch. It was definitely strange to have to go through a metal detector before being allowed entry. Also, seeing an Israeli soldier in the restroom with a huge gun just slung over her back was a bit of a culture shock.

We arrived at our first destination and walked for a bit. We saw Ibex.

We also saw some great views of the desert.

Then we saw the grave of David Ben Gurion and his wife.

Then we went for a walk through the desert. It was going to be a 2 hour hike, but we had to shorten it to 30 minutes because it was 106 degrees. I finally appreciate the expression "It's a dry heat".

The park we were at.

An Ibex in the desert.

A tree in the desert.

A cave thingy in the desert.

An oasis in the desert.

A girl on the trip dropped her camera in the water. One of the guys jumped in after it and retrieved it for her.

We would have hiked up there had it been cooler.

Apparently it's rare to see a bird in the desert.

After the desert we went to Ben Gurion's home in the kibbutz where he lived.

Instead of a hotel we spent the night in a Bedouin Tent. But before bed we went for a camel ride. And spoke with a Bedouin who answered our questions about his culture. Then we went out into the desert for reflection.

Part 6 is up!

Israel Trip Part 4

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.
We'll just pretend that I didn't have a gap between Israel posts, mmmm 'kay?

So Tuesday we went to Tel Aviv.

I really liked the architecture. 

We stopped at Independence Hall and learned about how Israel declared its independence.

Then we explored the city a little.

That gazebo is still a functioning place of business.

Theater 

I'm a sucker for hanging laundry pictures.

Amazing Graffiti

PLAYGROUND!! I'm so mature.

Then it was lunchtime. Once again, we explored a local marketplace.

There was also an artist's fair, but I forgot to take pictures of it. I did get some nice earrings though!

I debated how much I should say about this next part of the day, but as it was one of the moments that stuck with me a lot, I thinks it's worth writing about.

Our next stop was Rabin Square. For those who don't know, this is where Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. There is a memorial there for him which we were looking at.

While we were there a man came up, crossed over the chain fence and began pouring something on himself. At first we thought he was protesting by cooling off in an important place. Then we realized that the container he was pouring from looked like this:

We were quickly herded away by our trip coordinators, the Israeli soldiers, and our security officer. Our tour guide stayed back and spoke to the man, delaying him from his intention, lighting himself on fire, until the police could arrive.

We were instructed to look away, and we did. Any explanation I give for his actions will be inadequate, so instead I'll just leave this link to a news article about it here.

The bus came and got us, and we left a little earlier than planned. The trip coordinators made it clear that they were there should anyone want to talk.

That's the end of the scary part of the day.

We next went to visit an Israeli graffiti artist at his studio.

He gave us a presentation on his work.

This was the best picture I would get of the guy.

Then he gave us paint, paint brushes, and set us loose on his studio walls.

My contribution.

Me with my contribution.

School Pride

After we finished being vandals, we left for Jaffa.

Jaffa was beautiful. Also, hot. I mean, everywhere was hot, but Tel Aviv and particularly Jaffa, were humid. Which made everything worse. The upshot here is that when we first got to Jaffa we were given time to go get ice cream. Ice cream makes everything better.

We met up at this really big clock tower.

We went for a walk and got some amazing views of the beach.

The beach

Panoramic View

There was a wedding on that roof.

We met with some students studying abroad and were strongly encouraged to study abroad in Israel. That is after they finally showed up. We were there on a really big Muslim holiday, so the streets were crowded and it took the students a while to get there.

That's it for Tel Aviv. Coming up- The desert! Part 5 Now Up

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.