E

gypt and Israel

 

March 30, 2002



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Quiz Answer: Egypt and Israel


Sharm-El-Sheik Restaurant

Gerry Chandler, Restaurant in Naama Bay near Sharm-El-Sheik, January 16, 2002


Gerry at a table

Gerry Chandler, Na'ama's Garden Apt, Jerusalem, March 3, 2002


Modern Art - Girl and Boy Statutes

Children's Wing, Israel Museum, March 11, 2002


Two people - black and white photo
Gerry and Dvora Komisar December, 1962









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You can hardly be expected to guess the first picture, but none the less, you might have guessed at least the city of the second and third — especially if you already knew that we spent February and March, 2002 in Jerusalem. Still even if you did guess the city of picture number three, what is the exactlocation? Real experts will be able to tell you the name of the work, the sculptor, and, of course, its location. We can only tell you we liked it a lot and that it is in the grounds of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Technically, it might not even be in the famous Billy Rose Sculture Garden, since it is on the roof of the Children's Wing. Incidentally, if you were to look right through the open stomach of the fellow on the right and if our apartment building was considerably taller, you'd see it.


How did we get to Israel? (Why we'll save for a moment.) Our first photo reveals part of the secret: we went to Sharm El Sheik, in Egypt and took a bus to Israel. Here, Gerry is sitting in the outdoor Hilton restaurant at Na'ama Bay, the upscale suburb of Sharm. Amazing to us, this Hilton restaurant offered the best view, the best food, and the best prices of the competitors that we tried. While at Sharm we mostly relaxed or unlaxed. For one brief moment, Gerry chilled out. He jumped into our hotel's pool and lasted all of 30 seconds in the winter-chilled waters. Another day we spent at Ras Mohamed snorkeling and donned wet suits to keep off the water's chill.

For about a year Gerry has been saying that he wanted to celebrate his 60th birthday someplace special. He finally settled on Jerusalem but we did very little concrete work to get ourselves there. No reservations six months in advance for us. Only after our November-December trip to the USA and a New Year's spent in Darlington did we get serious. Several excursions to the web didn't come up with anything we liked. Then Jan found a package deal, flight and hotel, on Lastminute.com. We grabbed it, even though it was to Egypt. We'd just take a bus from Sharm to Taba, Eilat, and Jerusalem. It didn't work out that way. When we left Sharm, we first went by ferry to the main part of Egypt and then we took a bus from Cairo to Jerusalem.


Also before leaving England we had used the Web to find ourselves a place to stay in Jerusalem. Most of our search was conducted through the online Jerusalem Post classified ads. There we found several places that appealed to us. One was rented by Yuval and Na'ama Abend. Via email we got a description, liked the looks, liked the price, and took it. The night that we arrived from Cairo, January 31, Yuval met us where we got off the bus and he took us to the apartment. Gerry is pictured in our garden getting ready to eat a Salad Nicoise he had prepared for us. On the table (a clue!) is a Jerusalem Guide book.

As we started to go out we found that the city was very empty. Statistics say that tourism is down by 50-70%; we judge it to be off by 90-95%. Of course the reason is that since the Palestinian intifada the city has been considered very unsafe. In fact, before we came we and our friends questioned our wisdom in coming here. Even the locals ask " Are we brave ? Why did you come?"

And did you guess this one? It's Gerry with his second cousin, Dvora Komisar. Dvora went to the USA from Israel in about 1961 to teach Hebrew. While there she attended the 30th Wedding anniversary party thrown for Gerry's parents. Here in Israel we have paid her and her family several visits.




March 31, 2002