I ended up where I least expected it
Aug. 11th, 2006 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellefliesAirplane Ponderings: In the new Superman movie, Superman has clunky red boots. How does he disguise them as Clark Kent and where does he stash them until such time as he needs them. I'd imagine Clark Kent walking around in red boots would be a dead give away, but still... How does he manage?
And also, how does he fold his cape so that it doesn't shows any bulging beneath his suit?
The things that go through your head when you're sitting there desperate for sleep but incapable of it...
I'm not sure what exactly happened, we either didn't have hotels when we left New York, or they canceled them mid-flight and re-booked us elsewhere. There was much cursing and gnashing of teeth when we got on the ground and found out. The place we ended up was an hour away and out in the territories I think. At first I was hacked off that the company we were doing the sub-service for messed up my tourist opportunities, since I had planned to go out and see the sights in Tel Aviv. But then I found out that our hotel was a stones throw away from Jerusalem, and THAT turned out to be one of the best decisions I've The made: to forgo sleep in favor of seeing The Holy City.
The entrance to The Old City. Jerusalem is a sprawling behemoth of a city, the new part of it that is, but the old is small and compact and I was practically giddy going in (but that might have also been because by the time we got to Jerusalem I'd been awake for 24 hours)
Out of the 12 of us in the crew, only me and one other person elected to go into the city, everyone else stayed at the hotel and slept. We had no maps and really no goals, besides getting strategically lost and seeing what there was to be seen.
Stairs to... somewhere
The Western Wall. The only remaining wall of the old temple left and a holy site for jews. There was a prayer service going on when we were there and I really wish I had an audio of it. I got the impression it's not nearly this packed full of people, but because of the upcoming holiday, there were more then usual.
The Western Wall with the Dome of the Rock behind. The Dome of the Rock was the original site of the old Hebrew Temple, but is now a holy site for Muslims (and Jews, but The Mosque and surrounding area is Muslims only)
Not very automobile friendly. My kind of place.
One of the local shopkeepers was nice enough to tell us how to get up onto the roof, because the view is first class. Then he tried to sell us a thousand dollar rug. Somehow, no matter where you go, 'American' seems to translate into 'automatically wealthy'
With three major religions crammed into one place, there are bound to be barriers.
Now that we have this straightened out...
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher: one of Christendom's most holy sites. It houses the spot where Jesus was crucified. It's dark and somber and full of introspection. Peter and I didn't have a clue what it was until halfway through the flight home, all we knew was that it was famous and that we were dead tired. Also, I don't think I will ever get used to random monks popping out of dark rooms.
Being a protestant Christian, I am sometimes completely confused by other branches of Christianity. I have no idea what these are, but thought they were pretty. (at this point in the trip, all I could think was 'oh pretty: click!')
We had a hell of a time finding this place, getting lost multiple times. And when we did find it, it was tucked away. I had no idea it was this cavernous, it's absolutely massive inside, but doesn't look like much outside.
All lit up for a night on the town. This place has personality like woah.
This may be my favorite image. I love it, three major religions collide and you can't help but get stuff like this.
The main drag. I know it's blurry, but out of all my market images, this is the most interesting.
This is my 'I was here damnit!' photo. So here I am, it's by the Jaffa Gate and it's the Fort of David, or something. Something having to do with David. By this point I was completely fried. Someday I'm going to go back to Israel and see the country without suffering from sleep deprivation.
And just because Jerusalem if full of cats, this cat would like everyone to go die in a fire and leave him the hell alone - which we didn't do.
And then it ended, I went back to the hotel, got 4 hours of sleep and then went back to the plane. It wasn't until passengers started showing up without luggage and only carrying plastic bags that we had an inkling of something being a bit off, and not just Israel's normal security paranoia. All baggage was checked, no exceptions, anyone who had purchased duty free had to return it. I saw ground reps get after one passenger because she brought a book on the plane that she had purchased in the airport and that was expressly forbidden. She was required to leave the book on the plane before deplaning at JFK. It's completely and utterly ridiculous. They were saying on the flight that this carry on luggage thing (and no liquids at all) is a new law that was just passed, but I'm hoping it's more a temporary thing. The e-mail I found in my inbox about the whole fiasco gave me the impression they are only doing this because the security levels have been increased to red and orange. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things go back to normal quickly.
And to top it off, we were stuck on the ground for 3 extra hours for mechanical issues before starting our 12 hour flight.
It's been a long day... And I should go pack for Portugal and The Azores tomorrow. *whine*I don't want to check all my luggage *whine*
And also, how does he fold his cape so that it doesn't shows any bulging beneath his suit?
The things that go through your head when you're sitting there desperate for sleep but incapable of it...
I'm not sure what exactly happened, we either didn't have hotels when we left New York, or they canceled them mid-flight and re-booked us elsewhere. There was much cursing and gnashing of teeth when we got on the ground and found out. The place we ended up was an hour away and out in the territories I think. At first I was hacked off that the company we were doing the sub-service for messed up my tourist opportunities, since I had planned to go out and see the sights in Tel Aviv. But then I found out that our hotel was a stones throw away from Jerusalem, and THAT turned out to be one of the best decisions I've The made: to forgo sleep in favor of seeing The Holy City.
The entrance to The Old City. Jerusalem is a sprawling behemoth of a city, the new part of it that is, but the old is small and compact and I was practically giddy going in (but that might have also been because by the time we got to Jerusalem I'd been awake for 24 hours)
Out of the 12 of us in the crew, only me and one other person elected to go into the city, everyone else stayed at the hotel and slept. We had no maps and really no goals, besides getting strategically lost and seeing what there was to be seen.
Stairs to... somewhere
The Western Wall. The only remaining wall of the old temple left and a holy site for jews. There was a prayer service going on when we were there and I really wish I had an audio of it. I got the impression it's not nearly this packed full of people, but because of the upcoming holiday, there were more then usual.
The Western Wall with the Dome of the Rock behind. The Dome of the Rock was the original site of the old Hebrew Temple, but is now a holy site for Muslims (and Jews, but The Mosque and surrounding area is Muslims only)
Not very automobile friendly. My kind of place.
One of the local shopkeepers was nice enough to tell us how to get up onto the roof, because the view is first class. Then he tried to sell us a thousand dollar rug. Somehow, no matter where you go, 'American' seems to translate into 'automatically wealthy'
With three major religions crammed into one place, there are bound to be barriers.
Now that we have this straightened out...
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher: one of Christendom's most holy sites. It houses the spot where Jesus was crucified. It's dark and somber and full of introspection. Peter and I didn't have a clue what it was until halfway through the flight home, all we knew was that it was famous and that we were dead tired. Also, I don't think I will ever get used to random monks popping out of dark rooms.
Being a protestant Christian, I am sometimes completely confused by other branches of Christianity. I have no idea what these are, but thought they were pretty. (at this point in the trip, all I could think was 'oh pretty: click!')
We had a hell of a time finding this place, getting lost multiple times. And when we did find it, it was tucked away. I had no idea it was this cavernous, it's absolutely massive inside, but doesn't look like much outside.
All lit up for a night on the town. This place has personality like woah.
This may be my favorite image. I love it, three major religions collide and you can't help but get stuff like this.
The main drag. I know it's blurry, but out of all my market images, this is the most interesting.
This is my 'I was here damnit!' photo. So here I am, it's by the Jaffa Gate and it's the Fort of David, or something. Something having to do with David. By this point I was completely fried. Someday I'm going to go back to Israel and see the country without suffering from sleep deprivation.
And just because Jerusalem if full of cats, this cat would like everyone to go die in a fire and leave him the hell alone - which we didn't do.
And then it ended, I went back to the hotel, got 4 hours of sleep and then went back to the plane. It wasn't until passengers started showing up without luggage and only carrying plastic bags that we had an inkling of something being a bit off, and not just Israel's normal security paranoia. All baggage was checked, no exceptions, anyone who had purchased duty free had to return it. I saw ground reps get after one passenger because she brought a book on the plane that she had purchased in the airport and that was expressly forbidden. She was required to leave the book on the plane before deplaning at JFK. It's completely and utterly ridiculous. They were saying on the flight that this carry on luggage thing (and no liquids at all) is a new law that was just passed, but I'm hoping it's more a temporary thing. The e-mail I found in my inbox about the whole fiasco gave me the impression they are only doing this because the security levels have been increased to red and orange. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things go back to normal quickly.
And to top it off, we were stuck on the ground for 3 extra hours for mechanical issues before starting our 12 hour flight.
It's been a long day... And I should go pack for Portugal and The Azores tomorrow. *whine*I don't want to check all my luggage *whine*
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-12 07:08 am (UTC)I know one air marshall who is going to be rather distraught that he's going to have to quit hitting on flight intendants in favor of getting in touch with the emo. Actually, it might just help him with that. Thinking is bad. It's not approved of.
It does, and I'd much rather have a Jumper then a 767. But alas...
I'm going to go collapse now... eyelids just won't stay open.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-12 07:12 am (UTC)Jumper is good. It's small, and tiny, and only like 10 people can fit in it. Plus! You can do the attendenting thing in two seconds flat. "If something goes wrong, you're screwed. Sorry! Oh! And never open the rear hatch! Ever!"
And go collapse. I sure am. *yawns and tumbles into own*