1st stop in Israel

At the Manchester T2 departure gate for Tel Aviv I was on a natural high ready to launch into another travel adventure....Israel!

I was immediately fascinated by the Jews, being amongst them at close quarters for the first time. All the men wore the same clothes - white shirt, dark trousers and jacket, large black overcoat and the famous very smart, wide brimmed large trilby type hat. These hats, like coveted wedding hats, were very carefully stored in the overhead lockers revealing the ubiqutous skull cap (kipper?) underneath held in place by a couple of hair slides exactly the same as the ones Laura uses! (I never knew how they stayed in place before). Some of the men had the curly ringlet sideburns and long beards - not particularly attractive! Rather strangely, it seemed as though the whole plane knew each other as noisy greetings and conversations took place everywhere as they took forever to settle in their seats.

Meanwhile I, as the flight progressed, once again was blissfully happy gazing out of my window mesmerised by the beauty of the constantly changing sky and cloud formations as we headed South over the Alps, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece and the Med. For the 1st time, I was so entranced by the view I took several photos of my favourite cloud scenes over the sea!

I'm in love with with the Planet Earth! I intend to love, honour and cherish Mother Earth 'til death do us part! I'm definately not homosexual, I'm not a metrosexual... I am heterasexual but maybe a more fitting (new?) label for earth lovers like me could be an Ecosexual?!!

I'm not religious either....however for the next 2 weeks I'm going to allow myself to believe that God created the planet because as we approached the Holy Land with 20 mins to landing, the setting sun lit up from behing a monumental cloud formation of a most biblical nature which showed the way to Israel....for me the spiritual stage had been set!

My only challenge for the rest of the day was to find my way to the Hostel at minimal cost - an unexpected barrier however was that of language, namely Hebrew!! English is spoken of course but i was unprepared for a language i knew absolutely nothing about! And impossible to read or pronounce as the characters are as far removed from English as Chinese and Russian!

After dumping my bag in my (excellent) room, I headed, starving, for the dining room. At first glance it seemed full of school children aged 12 ish. I piled up my plate, sat down and tucked in. A teacher (?) with very little English beckoned me to pay for my meal at Reception. When i looked up, I realised i was the only adult in the room! Maybe i gatecrashed a school trip - I'll never know but the food was great!

Day2&3 - I strolled along the bank of the Yarkon River until i reached the sea and then headed South at the start of the superb seafront walkway which stretched for miles and immediately reminded me of Tenerife. The sky was blue, the sun was warm yet the sea was fractious with waves crashing over the boardwalk. I could see the ancient Port of Jaffa in the distance just like Los Christianos at the end of the Tenerife 'walk'. There were also surfers doing their thing, a marina, icecream stops and towering hotel blocks just off the beach.  It felt great to lick the salt from my lips from the fine sea spray in the air.

Before continuing on to Jaffa, I diverted into town to explore the huge Carmel outdoor locals food and produce market. I'm always fascinated to see the stalls packed with interesting and intruiging local produce... and this didn't disappoint. I bought some fruit, fresh bread, cheese, figs and some sticky pastries for my picnic lunch.

Last night I made my first Jewish friend, Brad Couch, my very friendly roommate. He's an American in Israel looking for a wife, then planning to move here to live, When asked by his Rabbi back in Chicago why go to Israel to find a wife, he replied "If you wanna make sure you don't pick a rotten apple, you gotta pick it straight from the tree" !! He says being a Jew in the US, you have to have one eye looking over you shoulder. Here in the Motherland your are free to live your Jewish life (just watch out for bombs...) His  maternal descendents are British Jews, his paternal side is Russian Roman Catholic yet he is making independent plans to come here to live in the Homeland. I learned a bit about Judaism last night and was free to ask him my questions re tolerance, Palastine and military aggression!! He's in Jerusalem today for a meeting with a Rabbi.

Today I enjoyed one of THE most enjoyable spectacles this planet can provide us with. I was strolling along the seafront with the warm sun on my face when i noticed a promising 'whispy' cloud scene gathering. It soon became such a picture, I stepped down on to the beach and laid on a work out bench in a deserted beach gym. I laid back with my bag under my head, relaxed and was treated to one of the most incredible skies I've ever witnessed. The sky was showing off to me personally as the few other folk dotted around were either reading, snoozing or jogging - no one else seemed to be sharing this amazing ly beautiful scene. I laid there taking photos and watched the scene gently floating by and listened to my favourite Cafe del Mar chillout Ipod tracks. A true champagne moment... the purest pleasure - this is living to me!!  THEN... as if to remind me i was in the Holy Land, quite inexplicably amongst the whisps, a cloud shaped figure gathered in shape as showed itself as an angel ????? Amazing - look at the photo and make your own mind up!! In my religious ferver, I'm going to believe it was clearly the Angel Gabriel showing me the way to the Annunciation site- however he was pointing South instead of North (to Nazareth) !!!  Come on Gabriel, if you're going to appear in a vision to me, at least get your directions right!!!