Fun weekend and pictures!

I had a nice weekend. Thursday I went out with our neighborhood Texan. Anthony Youdin moved in recently to our neighborhood. We went out to a bar in Jerusalem and were surprised that a bunch of Israelis were around and not a room full of post High School yeshiva/seminary kids getting drunk… Suzanne was home studying of course.

Friday morning after my stomach cleared up (bad food + alcohol = bad), I took a bus to Afula then a shared taxi to Nazareth Illit. My Aunt and Uncle live there. Friday was nice and simple. My cousin was home from the Army, so we went to a local bar called “Jacob’s.” It was really cool and could have been in the middle of LA, NY or Tel Aviv. I went home from there and he went out with friends until 5 or 6 am… I am old (almost 29). Saturday I went with my Uncle and Aunt to the Ramat Ha Golan, Golan Heights. The Golan Heights is like a mix of Napa Valley, the Hill Country of Texas and parts of Colorado. Wineries, skiing on the Hermon, hiking, Druze villages orchards and much more are availabe in this area. The area was created by some volcanic activity millions of years ago, so it is a beautiful landscape with rich soil.

In one day we drove by or walked around so much. I saw a famous field where the Crusaders lost a major battle that changed the control of the area in 1187. Unfortunately most of the wineries are closed on Saturday to stay kosher (very frustrating), but I saw lots of them. After seeing a cool film at a visitors center I did enjoy some beer at a newly opened brewery, The Golan Brewery (read about beer originating in this area).

I don’t remember where on our drive, but I we saw terraces used for agriculture. They looked just like I saw in Peru, except Peru’s were a lot more amazing. A mountain side that looks insane to climb up was being used for farming in Peru… enough of that. This picture below shows that and part of a small lake that is actually a crater lake.

The next picture (on the left) is Mount Bental. Formerly an army outpost, but now it is a tourist attraction. You can see the trenches in this picture and the restaurant behind them. The sign posts above are from this location. Approximately 37 miles to Damascus and 450 miles to Baghdad give or take.

From here we went to Kibbutz El Rom and saw a film about one of the greatest tank battles since world war II. It took place in 1973, at the beginning of the Yom Kippur war. The short version is a story of a how a few men stood long enough for re-enforcements to arrive against a large Syrian force. I couldn't find a great link, but here is one to check out. The pictures below are of the "Valley of Tears" and a destroyed Syrian tank. Soldiers come here to learn battle history. The tank has a hole in the front from a shell…

I saw some more great and interesting things, but this is enough for today. Hopefully my Uncle, who I must thank will read this and can post some more detail…

The last two pictures… left is a picture of the Hermon where Israel has a ski resort and the right was just for fun – definitely not Brinker’s Macaroni Grill!