Israel Trip - November 2015

Holly and I took a trip to Israel in order to visit the country. It was Holly's first visit, it was my third time there. My friend Liran invited us to his wedding and we attended that. We also saw friends from elementary, middle, high school as well as the SciTech program I did at the Technion and from my time at the Technion. It was a wonderful trip.

Regarding the photos, these photos have not been edited or even white balanced. This will contrast greatly with the photos from our Japan (2018) trip.

Also, I have selected to use this blog for photos rather than Facebook going forward. With all the privacy concerns and so on I have decided to move my photo posting to a different venue.

This post is a list of links to the photos themselves.

And now, in chronological order:

Claymont Train Station [SEPTA], DE

Philadelphia International Airport - Terminal A-West

Finally we took some pictures of Philadelphia International Airport: Terminal A-West, the international arrivals. We sailed through, especially with our Global Entry.

American Airlines Flight 797

Some pictures from inside the plane. I think it was a Boeing 777, but I am not sure now. Not too long after we took AA 797 it was canceled. It used to be a US Airways flight, which American Airlines took over. Then it was cancelled. To the best of my knowledge there is no longer a non-stop flight between Philadelphia, PA, USA and Tel Aviv, Israel.

Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport

We took more pictures of Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport on our way back.

Route 1 - Jerusalem to Tel Aviv

We took a some of pictures along our drive back from Jerusalem on Route 1. Holly requested photographs along the route.

Jerusalem - Old City

After the Kotel we continued our tour of the old city. On many of the streets there are ramps for carts going up and down the stairs.

Jerusalem - Kotel (Western Wall) Area

We spent some time at the Kotel and took some pictures. There is a lot of security here.

Jerusalem - Old City

We continued our tour through the old city. We also stopped at an old synagogue.

Jerusalem - Church of the Holy Sepulchre

During our walking tour of the old city we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I think the images came out better this time, using a monopod and some more surfaces and longer exposures allowed for some really nice images.
Two things, last time I was here the front was covered in scaffolding for repair work and when you take long exposure photos you get ghosts.

Jerusalem - Old City

We met up with a childhood friend of mine (dating back to elementary school) who had made Aliyah and moved to Israel. He gave us a walking tour of the old (walled) city in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem - Yad Vashem

We paid a visit to Jerusalem. On our first afternoon there we went to what I consider to be the most depressing museum I have ever visited. Everything about this museum is arranged to feel claustrophobic and oppressive. There is a ton of information to absorb and I strongly recommend using the audio guide. At the same time there is an odd serenity to the grounds.

Haifa - Madatech, Israel National Museum of Science

On another of our trips to Haifa we visited the Madatech, Israel National Museum of Science. This museum has a lot of really cool interactive exhibits that demonstrate the physical theories being displayed. I would highly recommend visiting with kids or as an adult. I am a really big fan of places that make physics understandable by practical application.

Arbel - Arbel Guest House Shavit Family

Holly wanted more pictures of our lodgings.

Arbel - The Ancient Synagogue

While in Arbel we took a walk to the ruins of an ancient synagogue.

Arbel - Arbel Guest House Shavit Family

We stayed at the Arbel Guest House Shavit Family. It was a nice house with pleasant rooms and a lot of nice gardens where they grew fruit and such that you could have with your meal. We ate breakfast there and it was excellent.

Yam Kineret - Ophir Overlook

We stopped at the Ophir Overlook during our drive around Yam Kineret. There was also some leftover artillery.

Yam Kineret - Driving Around

We drove around Yam Kineret in the Golan Heights.

Tivon - Beit She'arim

We joined our friends in Tivon for Friday night dinner and on Saturday we visited the Beit She'arim. It is an old necropolis.

Nadi - Wadi Peres

We then took a hike with our friends down Wadi Peres. We had a lot of fun and it was quite hot, but a dry heat. There was also a pool of water that some people were cooling themselves in. Bring lots of water if you do such a hike.

Negev - Wadi Nisnas

We then drove out of Wadi Nisnas, first on unpaved roads and then on paved roads to go hiking in Wadi Peres. Behold some views of the Negev from the road.

Negev - Small Makhtesh (Crater)

A short distance from our campsite in Wadi Nisnas was the Small Makhtesh (Crater). We took a walk around there as well. It made for a nice place to eat breakfast.

Negev - Wadi Zafit

Continuing our time in the Negev we went for a brief drive to Wadi Zafit and walked around.

Negev - Wadi Nisnas

We took a camping trip to the Negev and stayed in Wadi Nisnas with some friends of ours. This location was also where we took out photos of the Hyundai i20 that we rented.

Haifa - German Colony

We ended our walking tour in the German Colony. It was a fun walking tour with a lot of steps down since you walk down from the top of Mt. Carmel to the bottom. It would have been much harder in reverse.

Haifa - Baha'i Gardens

As part of our walking tour of Haifa we walked down from the top of the gardens down through and along the lower garden.
Again, this is one of my favorite gardens I have ever been to.

Haifa - Louis Promenades

Continuing our walking tour of Haifa...
We took the Carmelit up to the Louis Promenades. From there we saw an Israeli submarine.
 

Haifa - Carmelit - Kikar Pariz (Paris Square)

We took a walking tour of Haifa, this was our first stop.
This is Haifa's metro. It is an underground funicular railway. It is also hilarious. First, it is very much modeled after the Paris Métropolitain in terms of rolling stock and station design. Second, it only goes up and down Mt. Carmel. And best of all the people who built it basically did not use a level until they put in the station seats. It was fantastic!

Haifa - Baha'i Gardens

We made two trips to the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa. This was only in the upper gardens as the lower gardens were closed. Holly took some of these pictures and we used this as a learning opportunity to play with some under and over exposure of the image.
Every time I go to Israel (3rd trip for me at this point) I like to go to these gardens at least once.

Tel Megiddo National Park

We met friends and toured Tel Megiddo National Park. These ancient ruins are interesting and help with the perspective of size in the Middle East. These were long held lands between warring groups with distances measured between them in the single miles or kilometers range.

Caesarea Miritama

Images from Caesarea Miritama.

Caesarea - Aqueduct

Images from the old aqueduct in Caesarea, Israel.

Netanya - Shazar Zalman

Some photos of a street in Netanya, Israel.

Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport

Photos from international arrivals in Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport.

Philadelphia International Airport

Images taken at gate A19 in Philadelphia International Airport prior to our departure.

Claymont Train Station [SEPTA], DE

Images from the Claymont Septa train station on our way to Philadelphia international airport.