Traveling to Jordan, Syria and Israel with Nathan J. Koch

Ok so way too much happened to write about everything on our recent jaunt around the Middle East but I feel like I should share something. As we traveled, I wrote a list of things I did not want to forget so instead of boring you with things you do not care to hear about, I decided to share the list with you and answer any questions/go into more detail about anything you find interesting. Below you will find the cities we stayed in along with the main points from each of those places. Some of the things are obvious and others have back-stories. For now, read, question, and enjoy. Philosophical ponderings based upon the trip to come in the near future...

Neweiba

• Clean Air
• Lounging around
• Finding lodging/Soft Beach
• Cold
• People - Robert, Theus/New Zealanders (Madea), Pavol, Steven, the German
• Going into town

Aqaba

• Ferry
• Polish guy/taxi driver
• Good Food
• Toilet Paper excursion
• Running into Connor and Kristen
• Getting the bus

Wadi Mousa/Petra

• Beautiful View
• Valentine Inn/hike up
• Indiana Jones
• Bedouin Woman
• High Place view
• The Argentineans
• Ari and Aaron

Amman

• Rain
• The house
• Abe, Peter, Mary Beth
• Palestinians
• Gloria Jeans

Syria

• Border taxi incident - crazy woman
• Palestinian man in taxi
• Damascus Old City
• Cheap Food
• Krac Des Chevaliers - The man in the darkness

Nazareth

• All women at the border
• Where Mary was told she was pregnant
• Wandering around

Tel Aviv

• ART!
• Like Madison but 5x the size
• The place where people protest for peace
• Antique Fair
• Art Fair
• Food-frozen yogurt, hummus
• Rachel
• Beautiful people
• Required military service

Jerusalem

• Being in a city that is thousands of years old
• Faiths living together
• The sights - Western Wall, Dome on the Rock, Mount of Olives, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Gethsemini, Mary’s tomb, etc
• Burakas (A Jewish pastry)
• Bethlehem - Church of the Nativity
• Comedy Show
• Birthright trips
• Our Hostel - Like a cave inside the wall, Amazing view from the roof.
• The British guy
• Ice Cream
• The Dead Sea - Feeling weightless, How much it burns on your face

We made a couple of videos on our journey...

Alright, just kidding, they are coming soon. The internet connection in my apartment is not speedy enough to load such things so you must wait until I find motivation to walk myself to an internet cafe.

Also check out our pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/mbradsh3

Cheers!