Florence Day 2

I woke up early and headed to the train station in order to plan the next few days of travels and check out the train schedules. After creating a plan I went to the local market and saw all sorts of fresh ingredients and butcher shops. I walked to the synagogue again and got to go inside this time for a tour. No phatography was allowed but it was really big and amazingly decorated inside. They had a museum with a lot of really old artifacts. My next stop was the Leonardo da Vinci museum. Inside they had replicas of all sorts of his machine designs. There were things like an odometer, table saw, mortar launcher, machine gun, etc. but by far the coolest thing there was his design for a tank! It was a conical shell with 3 cannons and 4 independent wheels that had to be cranked manually.

Pretty cool stuff, but I'd say my merkava 3 is a lot nicer, wouldn't you?

On my way back to the hostel I stumbled upon an art exhibit in a random building which was a whole bunch of masking tape twisted inbetween the pillars in the building's foyer. It was super weird but I guess thats why they call it art.

Masking tape art

I headed back to the hostel to relax by the pool and sauna before heading back to the synagogue for shabbat services and a dinner at the local Chabad house. At the pool I randomly met another Jew from outside Toronoto and convinced her to join me at Chabad - small world! The services at the synagogue were very low energy and the massive synagogue felt eerily empty. It was interesting however to see how the services are conducted in a place like Florence, Italy. At Chabad there were about 50 people and we sat next to two couples - one Israeli and the other American.

The synagogue in Florence

Shabbat , Operation Cast Lead Expands

The day was spent in Arad, I walked around the city in the morning and played soccer in the afternoon. I found one lookout point where I was able to see the Dead Sea, and beyond that the mountains in Jordan. After Shabbat we headed to Jerusalem where we were supposed to go to Ben Yehuda St. to eat shop and go to the bars, but we were told we could not go because of security threats. Late in the afternoon Israeli ground troops entered Gaza. For the past few weeks Israel had only been using its air force in fighting the terrorists in Gaza but today expanded the operation. Hundreds of rockets have been fired from the Gaza strip since the beginning of November. Since Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005 over 2000 rockets, and since 2001 over 8000 rockets – almost 3 a day for 8 years! Israel has finally said ENOUGH!
We headed to a mall for dinner and some shopping instead of Ben Yehuda St. which was disappointing because I was looking forward to going to Zolly's (a bar).

The Dead Sea, and beyond - the mountains of Jordan.

As usual, before we got off the bus to check in to the hostel our tour guide Yishai told us our plans for the next day. He reiterated as he told us on the first day that given the war he might be called up for reserve duty. He said that he had spoken to his commander and did not think that he would be called up at this time. Ten minutes after checking in we get called down to the lobby for a quick important meeting. Yishai told us that immediately after he got off the bus he got a call from his commander saying he had to get on a bus at 6AM (in 8 hours) to get to his army base. This was the end of the trip for him, and it was sad to see him leave in such an abrupt manner, but this is life in Israel. He did not know where he would be placed, and if he would be going into Gaza.

Shabbat

We woke up and went for lunch. A number of families hosted lunches for us, so we were split up into groups, and were taken for lunch at their homes. Lunch was great - it was very relaxed and friendly. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and shmoozing. It was nice to get a break from the busy week. As Shabbat came to a close, there was another concert featuring the hippie Rabbi celebrating the start of the new week. After the concert we packed our stuff up and moved out of the horrible Armenian youth hostel, and back into our hotel. After settling back into the hotel, we went out to party as it was our last night on the trip.

Shabbat in the Old City

Today was quite relaxed. We heard from Khaled Abu Tomeh - a Palestinian journalist who report on Gaza and the West Bank. He talked to us about media bias against Israel in the newspapers and television, and how foreign reporters in Gaza and the West Bank require tour guides while reporting because of their safety and the language barrier. Because of this, they are often dictated where to go, and what news to report on, thus only reporting on the news that the Palestinians want them to, which makes Israel out to be the bad guy.

After the seminar, we were taken back to the Old City where we switched accommodation. We moved from our hotel to an Armenian Youth Hostel, which is located inside the Old City - Only 5 minutes from the Western Wall! This was the ONLY positive aspect of the hostel. Firstly, the place was nearly impossible to find - I don't know how we ever managed to find it. We finally get there, and try to get in - only to find that the door is locked, and nobody is answering it. With 15 of us standing outside and nowhere to go, one person starts making phone calls to try and find the phone number for the hostel. After about 5 minutes of standing there frustrated, we hear a voice from above. We look up, and there is an old lady looking out the second floor window - directly above the door. The next thing we notice is she drops a key tied to a piece of string down towards us so that we can unlock the front door. At this point we realized that our accommodations just got downgraded. This turned out to be an understatement of epic proportions. She also throws us keys to the hostel - one per each room, leaving 80% of us no way to get back inside the hostel - great. We get inside, and instantly notice that the place looks not so much like a hostel, but more like a bat cave! There were 4 or 5 of us to each room - which wasn't too big of a problem.


The next part of the bat cave tour was the washrooms. The first problem we noticed that there were only 2 washrooms for all 15 of us. - I guess that was marginally better than 1 washroom for 10 people we had in the first hostel, but nonetheless not a good situation. This next aspect of the washroom could either be convenient, or horrible, depending on your preferences. You can shit, shower and shave all at the same time, because the washroom was at best 25 square feet - not too much room to move around, yet alone even stand. Oh, did I mention no hot water. Wait - it gets worse. The sign on the back side of the washroom door reads "Please don't flush the toilet paper". Thank goodness we are only here for 24 hours!

Before Shabbat started, I had some time to walk around, and enjoy the old city. Three of us started walking, not really knowing where we were going, but it wasn't to difficult to find your way around. There are a number of recognizable places that help you keep your bearings. We walked around and started taking pictures. We had turned a corner and walked past a Birthright tour group. The groups guard stopped us and told us not to continue walking in that direction, as we would be entering the Muslim quarter of the old city. We quickly came to a consensus that we should probably take his advice, and we stopped for a photo-op, then continued our way back.

We got back to the bat cave, and got ready for Shabbat. We had a pre-shabbat concert led by a a crazy hippie Rabbi. The concert was supposed to be outside, but unfortunately it was raining. After the concert, it was time for Shabbat prayer services, where we went to pray at the Western Wall. I was soaking wet and freezing cold, but it was a great experience. We had a big meal followed by a relaxing evening spent snacking and drinking.

Shabbat

After a very long night at the bar, we got to sleep in. we needed to be up for 11 oclock, but I woke up at 930. at 11, we hada professor from Hebrew U come to speak to us on the current political situation in Israel. After the lecture we had the rest of the day to relax and enjoy the Shabbat. In the evening we went to Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem to do some shopping. We also went to a nightclub where we were able to party will all the birthright tours from across Canada.