Ideas from Mark Stout

Baha'i Gardens  of Haifa from above Sunday, David & my last day in Israel, we took a different tack. Instead of a bus tour with other people, we engaged a private tour guide for our visit to Caesarea and Acre. David has had a long passion for the Crusades, and we had a short day to visit these two Crusader cities.  A private guide would let us focus on just the things David wanted to see. Amir caught on right away to David's passion, and challenged him to discover the depth of his passion and knowledge. He also pointed out the high tech area that has sprung up north of Tel Aviv, where we saw offices for Google, Intel, Microsoft as well as many Israel high tech firms.

Model of the Old City of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period On Saturday, we had the challenge of making our way back to Jerusalem to visit the Israel Museum. I say challenge because in Tel Aviv, the buses shut down for Sabbath at sun down on Friday to sun down on Saturday. In Haifa, where my wife is studying, the buses do not shut down for Sabbath, so when we planned the trip Friday night we were surprised and initially concerned we would not make the trip. We discovered Sheruts, shared taxi vans that run from Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station to many locations in Israel, even on Sabbath. We grabbed a cab, and once there found the first bus in line going to Jerusalem.  Once the van was filled with ten passengers, it set off. From Central Jerusalem we cabbed to the museum. The photo at the start of this post is a 1:50 model of the Old City of Jerusalem as it was when the Second Temple existed.  The structure nearest is the Second Temple. At that site now is the...

Overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem  Having lived my life thinking I'd probably never visit the holy city, I found myself there for the third time, having passed through it the day before on the way to Masada and again on the way back.  Before the week was out, we visited four times.  It was only an hour away from Tel Aviv.  Israel is a small country geographically, something you begin to grasp as you move around it. Before we dive in, a small production note. The photographs you see here were all taken with our respective phones.  We also carried a Ricoh Theta S 360 degree camera. We forgot it on Day Two, but remembered to take it for Day Three. You will be seeing many photographs from the Theta S beginning with this one below. You can move your mouse pointer over an image to look around 360 degrees and also fully over your head and down at your feet.  You can also zoom in with your mouse wheel. I cannot guarantee how this type of image...

The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and the gold covered Dome of the Rock This blog is taking a break with this post from the Family Tech columns, and the too infrequent insights into technology, for a travelogue. My wife is studying/researching in Israel on a Fulbright grant. Our son and I returned today from six days visiting there.  This post will be one of two or maybe three with a narrative of our whirlwind trip to Israel. We visited Masada, Jerusalem, The Dead Sea, the Israel Museum and the Crusader cities of Acre and Caesarea during our stay.   Note: Click a photo to see it larger.