It's the "sorry, but I didn't create paragraphs" blog! 4.27.13

Yesterday I got in a rental car with a couple of friends and drove around visiting random places.  We didn’t really have a plan.  It was a great break from the research and writing routine, which keeps me confined to the library.  Although, I have to admit, the library has a great view!  Throughout the day we broke about every rule according to the rental agreement, driving on dirt roads and passing through West Bank on several occasions.  We started out by driving into the Judean Wilderness via the Ascent of Adumim and climbing up to the Wadi Qelt overlook.  The view was still quite breathtaking the second time around.  We continued by driving through Jericho.  The weather was perfect and, at times, it was clear enough to see well across the Jordan River.  It was nice to see Cypros again.  It reminded me of climbing up to the Herodian ruins and looking out over the city.  I think we were all feeling a little surprised at how fast time has passed by, and how soon it’s all coming to an end.  Next we wandered around aimlessly, finding our way into a Jewish settlement village in the middle of nowhere.  There was a sign marked a scenic overlook in the area so we naturally drawn to the settlement.  The guard was pretty nice and let us in, no problem.  It was so interesting to get a sneak peek into the lives of people living in this Jewish settlement, and on Shabbat too!  It was kind of picturesque in a strange Lost kind of way.  We also tried to go to Michmash and Ramalla, but we decided not to after getting a feel for the place and thinking that it might not be the wisest decision to go roaming around in certain places.  We did, however, get to go into Bethel.  We almost drove right onto an Israeli army base and were directed by a guard to turn around.  The ancient site of Bethel was pretty strange.  It was also right next to this very…ummm…how should I say it…well it was a sort of run down trailer park full of Jewish Zionistic graffiti.  It was a place of interesting sites to say the least.  Afterwards we set out in search of lunch, but it was Shabbat and pretty much everything was closed.  Unfortunately we found the only open restaurant in Jerusalem in our proximity…and it was a McDonalds.  The burgers there are ridiculous.  They are all named after American cities and they are about twice the size of burgers at McDonalds in the U.S., if not more!  Then we set out for Tel Aviv.  It was a really nice drive.  When we got there we found that things were quite different.  It was not unlike a large city in the U.S.  There was an obvious beach culture there, which was very different when compared with the very conservative culture in Jerusalem.  Also, everything was open even though it was Shabbat.  We ate dinner at Mexican restaurant that served pork and meat and cheese (so it was obviously not Kosher).  The food was delicious!  After, we watched the sunset at the beach.  I saw a rat scurry along one of the steps that descends to the sandy shoreline.  It was gross, but otherwise the overall tone was quite beautiful.  It was a great way to end the day.  On the drive back we got turned around a couple of times, but it fit with the overall theme of the day: spontaneous wandering.  When we were driving back into Jerusalem we saw some huge bon fires which were taking place because of a Jewish holiday called Lag B’Omer.  One of the fires was reaching for the sky besides a tall building.  It reached up to the third floor!  There were fires all over the city.  It was something to see.