The Heidelberg Sites (Part II)

 

The mayor of Heidelberg likes to claim that it has a university. The dean of the university likes to claim that his institution has a town. Either version does not detract from the charm of this town, home to Germany's first university (1386). Wikipedia has a great history of Heidelberg University and details some of the less fortunate events that occured during the Nazi period.

The Heidelberg Sites (Part I)

 

Heidelberg sits on the banks of the Neckar River (a tributary of the Rhine). Rising immediately behind the city are fairly tall mountains. Perched on top of one of them is the Heidelberg Castle whick overlooks the whole town. The turret on the left was destroyed by the French in the late 1600s during one of the countless wars between the two countries. I had to climb 315 steps to get to the top...not that many considering how high up the castle was.

Presentation in Heidelberg

 

I was asked by the Heidelberg University to give a lecture on the current financial crisis. It was very cool. I got to speak alongside a vice president from Deutsche Bank. There were about 70 people there.

What the Hell is Hawaiian Pidgin?

 

There are numerous translations of the Book of Mark all around the baptismal site at the Sea of Galilee. One of them is in Hawaiian Pidgin. We've never heard of that. You should really check out the words, they are hillarious. Maybe president-elect Obama can help us translate.

Baptismal Site

 

I know that these entries are completely out of chronological order, but bear with us. On our way to bird watching, we stopped at the point where the Jordan River meets the Sea of Galilee to watch pilgrims as they baptized with their respective congregations. According to the New Testament, this is the location where Jesus was baptized. The group above came from Britain.

Hebron

 

Danielle asked if I would take her to see the West Bank during this trip. I stupidly acquiesced and brought her to visit Hebron, the second holiest city in Judaism and home to around 100,000 Palestinians.

I visited Hebron five years ago during the height of the Intifada to visit the the Ma'arat Machpela, the tomb of the Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah. Hebron lies only 20 miles south of Jerusalem. Back then it was literally unthinkable to see a Palestinian flag waving. When we went last week, the city was filled with them. The geography of the city is very difficult to explain, but needless to say, the 300 Jews that live within a few hundred metres of the monument are separated from their neighbors only by a number of army checkpoints.

I don't want to engage in politics, but being in Hebron helps explain some of the complexities that surround the Israeli-Arab conflict. The tomb itself is shared by Muslims and Jews since both religions consider it a holy site. I snapped the above picture as we waited for the bullet proof bus to take us back to Jerusalem.

The Mayor Elect

 

On a separate trip to the Souq, we got our picture taken with the incoming mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat. He was parading through with some people from his campaign and we took full advantage of the photo-op.

Good Soup

 

Okay, I need to apologize for not giving a full report on Israel sooner. Our internet is currently out and we are accessing the "world wide web" using our cell phone. What a pain.

Our first day in Israel was a Friday, the perfect day to hit the Mahane Yehudah Souq in Jerusalem. There is no better place in the country to see Sephardi, Ashkenazi, secular, kippah srugah, snag, chassid, or Arab pushing and shoving one another than here. We came with our friend Chaim (the red head...know by the collective Jewish State as Gingee) and Devora (made first appearance on our blog standing next to a slab of meat with a smiley face). Devora, who we never knew was a cullinary fanatic prior to this trip, took us to a special place in the open air market to eat an Iraqi specialty called Kubeh soup. Basically, it's a boiled dumpling filled with ground beef served in a broth. She led us to a hole in the wall restaurant that had transportable propane tanks for a kitchen. Our general rule is that dirtier establishments serve better food. Our theory continues to hold. The flavor of the dumpling in the strongly seasoned soup was incredible. The best part was that the place was run by 5 burly Iraqi Jews who carried the complimentary salads and bread to your table using only one hand.

Migrations

 

On our second weekend, we headed north to the Hula Valley which is nestled between the Galilee and Golan Heights. From this area, one can see directly into Lebanon. Because it is a swamp, it is a perfect spot for birds on making their way from Russia to Ethiopia. At one of the pools, we saw huge numbers of pelicans, cranes, and ducks. There were even a few lone flamingos and kingfishers. Above you can see the overwhelming quantities of birds gathered. A local nature guide told us that 44,000 birds were there on that day, well above the norm. I can't remember the figure, but several million pass through every season. We will post more pictures soon.

Back from Israel

We returned from Israel last night. The trip was great and we will post new entries and upload photos soon. The only problem is that our modem is broken and I am typing this from an internet cafe. Updates to follow ---- End Transmission ----