Hello from Tel Aviv, Monday, March 8

Well, here we are. All safe and sound at the City Hotel in Tel Aviv. We had the overnight flight from Liberty International in Newark, NJ, about 11 hours of pretty dull flight. Each seat had its own monitor, with unlimited movies, tv shows, games, and a cool flight path follower -- we could see the details of the flight, such as flying at 39,000 feet, with outside temperature of -81 degrees F. Flying at 600 mph. Fun stuff, with a little chart of an airplane at various points of the map.

Easily cleared customs at Ben Gurion Airport outside of Tel Aviv. Our first contact with Gate1 Travel was a man named Israel -- no kidding. He passed us along to Eliezar Gilboa, self-described as not a particularly righteous man. If we found ourselves in any difficulty, for instance, he told us he could curse equally well in Hebrew and Arabic. Nice guy! We had a post-sundown tour from a high coastal point in Tel Aviv/Jaffa (Joppa)with lovely city lights. Back to the hotel and a supper of wonderful salads, "Israeli schnitzel" as Eliezar called it -- not good enough to be Vienna Schnitzel (or as we would call it, "weinerschnitzel.") Talked over our itinerary for tomorrow, and he left for home. Several of us: Ann, Verona, Bill, Joyce, Kathleen, Gordy, Jan and I went for a walk by the beach, just a block from the hotel.

The daily observance: though cities and cultures may be vastly different, airport terminals are completely alike.

It is 9:45 local time Monday night, and most everyone is off to bed. If you have comments or questions to share, post them below these posts! Glad to hear from you all, and thanks for the prayers.

Doug