Intro to Italy

Four days ago I booked a last minute flight to Italy for 12 days. I have never been to Europe before and from Israel, it is relatively close and very cheap if you look for a last minute deal. By the time I landed in Italy, the only thing I had booked were a hostel for the first 2 nights of my trip in Florence and a 3 day tour at the end of my trip which was recommended by my sister. Thats it. I had started to look into whats worth seeing and doing in Italy, but it felt like I was doing an internet research project, so I said forget about it. So without a clue of whats worth seeing and doing I hopped on a plane with a guidebook, my 12 kilogram backpack and my one 8.5" x 11" moslty blank piece of paper which I called my itinerary (however it would probably be more accurate just to call it a mostly blank piece of paper). Off I go for an unplanned trip that is bound to be quite an adventure! The blog posts specifically from Italy can be found here. Alternatively here is the URL to the homepage of my travel blog: http://AlexVersusTheWorld.blogspot.com The Kaldors Korner blog is more centered around my 2 years here living in Israel and my army service.

Yom Hazikaron & Atzmaut

Sunday night was the start of Yom Hazikaron - Memorial Day. Today we remember the people and soldiers whohave died defending the land of Israel. I went to the ceremony at the kotel where Shimon Peres - the President and Benny Gantz - the Chief of Staff spoke. There ceremony started with the lowering of the flag to half mast - and this began our day of mourning. Benny Gantz ended up walking by me about 10 feet away. After the ceremony on my way back out of the kotel I bumped into some people I knew from Toronto as well as one of my tour guides that led one of my trips 2 years ago.

The flag lowered to half mast

Representatives from the army (green), navy (white) and airforce (gray) standing at attention during the ceremony

Twenty five hours later after remembering the sacrifices of others for this country we began celebrating what we have. The flags were raised to full mast and the start of Yom Ha'atzmaut - Independence Day , Israel's 63rd birthday. I met up with a bunch of friends and headed to Machane Yehuda - the open air market for an outdoor party. Just as it felt like the party was getting started, at midnight they abruptly turned off the music and said party is over and you all have to leave. With that dissapointment we headed to the next street party which lasted until about 3AM when again - party over, go home. This time, however, I did. After partying pretty hard, it was time to call it a night beacuse there was still more celebrating to do once I woke up.

Nothing says despite your best efforts to destroy Israel and the Jewish state we once again live on to see another birthday (and many more to come!) like a BBQ! If your not having a BBQ on Yom Ha'atzmaut then your pretty much not celebrating it at all. At around 1130 I got to Gan Sacher where the entire city of Jerusalem was having a BBQ. The (first) one I went to was organized by the Michael Levine Lone Soldiers Foundation. It was a lot of fun and there was lots of food. I was able to see friends I hadn't seen in a while and make lots of new ones. After a few hours there I headed over to a second BBQ with my sister and her friends. Shortly thereafter I bumped into other friends and headed to a 3rd BBQ run by the student center at Hebrew University. The weather was absolutely fantastic for a fun day out in the sun. After some time at the 3rd BBQ a few friends and I started a journey to find some wine and continue our mild shenanegans.

In the afternoon, Israel was showcasing its airforce by having jets and planes fly over Jerusalem and the rest of the country. I got a pretty good look at them as they flew overhead but couldn't help but think what the hell are they thinking???!?!! Only 3 days earlier there was a fuel crisis where they found a contaminated substance in the jet fule leading to grounding of most flgihts, balaganim at the airport and a fuel shortage! No I know that the air force for sure has their own fuel reserves but if the entire country is in a jet fuel crisis - even if it is just temporary or even if it is currently being resolved I personally don't think its the smartest idea to send a dozen or so fighter jets for a fuel burning joyride across the country. On the other hand, it was pretty awesome!

Once I got back to the appartment I had one full day to plan my trip to Italy, pack and go exchange money before my flight.

Neon light flag of Israel that lined the old city wall just outside Jaffa Gate

My week in Tzfat

I decided to do a one week program in Tzfat through Livnot u'lhibanot - which means to build and to be rebuilt. The program concentrates on volunteering, learning about Judaism and doing some hiking. The group consisted of me, a bunch of Americans and a Jew from Glasgow, Scotland. My volunteering time was spent laying floor tiles in a bomb shelter, and helping out in an Etheopian absorpotion center - helping the kids with computers and playing soccer with them. The first day I got there on the Sunday was Holocaust Memorial Day, which always falls one week before Yom Hazikaron - Memorial Day for the IDF and those hwo have been killed defending Israel, and 8 days before Yom Ha'atzmaut - Independence Day. We attended a service set up by the community, which was very nice. It's a good thing I understand Hebrew otherwise it would have been lights out immediately for me.

One of the evenings we went into an old water cistern which was completely pitch black and had an awesome echo. We set up a bonfire and had a very awesome jam session which included a guitar, drum and violin.

We did 2 organized hikes with the group - one through nachal Amud and the second was to Bar Yochai. Both were very nice and very green. On Friday before shabbat, we head free time and I decided to go on a hike in the forests just south of Tzfat. The hike was nice, none of us had done the hike before so it was a nice adventure. We saw a bunch of cows, goats a turtle and even a funny looking something-or-other with a long tail (he was too fast for me to snap a picture of it. Once we finished the hike I decdied to continue on my way down into the nachal that we had hiked a few days earlier. I hiked the nachal for a few kilometers before I had to get back to Tzfat in time for shabbat.

The entire stay in the old city of Tzfat was quite unique and even moreso to be there for shabbat. Before heading back to Jerusalem on Sunday morning I booked my flight for a 12 day vacation in Italy in which I was to leave on the Thursday and have to be at the airport by Wednesday night - in 3.5 days!