BIG POST- been a busy weekend

After a whirlwind of work Wed and Thursday night until 11, Friday began the weekend.

We were invited to attend a very cool preview of some educational start-up companies.  Here I am from the viewpoint of the dog, in this virtual reality experience.

 

Then the weekend!

• I drove!  It felt so good!  I rented a car, got lost horribly in Tel Aviv ( they have no left-hand turns, I swear), finally made it to friends in Haifa ( city north, not quite to Lebanon, but in that direction).
• Haifa is Israel's third-largest city, consisting of 103,000 households,^[3] or a population of 266,300. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union constitute 25% of Haifa's population.^[67] According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, Israeli Arabs constitute 10% of Haifa's population, the majority living in Wadi Nisnas, Abbas and Halissa neighborhoods.^[67] 
   Haifa is commonly portrayed as a model of co-existence between Arabs and Jews, although tensions and hostility do still exist.  Thank you Wikipedia. 
  
  
  • We spent two nights with our friends in Wadi Nisnas in their super beautiful home.  They started with this-
  It was vacant for many years and inhabited by pigeons,
  
  
  
  

and renovated it into this-

 It was just gorgeous.  We ate LOTS of great local food- Maine food might be a little boring after this!


HAIFA-

• a port city, basically built on a hill, with the Baha'i world headquarters and gardens at the top.

 The Bahá'í Faith  is a monotheistic religion which emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind.^[2] Three core principles establish a basis for Bahá'í teachings and doctrine: the unity of God, that there is only one God who is the source of all creation; the unity of religion, that all major religions have the same spiritual source and come from the same God; and the unity of humanity, that all humans have been created equal and that diversity of race and culture are seen as worthy of appreciation and acceptance.^[3] According to the Bahá'í Faith's teachings, the human purpose is to learn to know and to love God through such methods as prayer, reflection and being of service to humanity. Thanks Wikipedia.
I interject this info for those who want a little more info.

Two views one looking down, one looking up at night, at the beautiful Baha'i gardens.

 

Then onto the Sea of Galilee- Tiberias

The Sea of Galilee is situated in northeast Israel, between the Golan Heights and the Galilee region, in the Jordan Rift Valley, the valley caused by the separation of the African and Arabian Plates. Consequently the area is subject to earthquakes, and in the past, volcanic activity. This is evident by the abundant basalt and other igneous rocks that define the geology of the Galilee. It is said that here much of the ministry of Jesus occurred.Many of his miracles are also said to have occurred here including his walking on water, calming the storm, the disciples and the boatload of fish, and his feeding five thousand people. 

NOTE: Let's just say it my info blurbs are all from Wiki.  For those who are anti-wiki, we can talk about this when I get back...

On the way to the Dead Sea- The Jordan River valley

 THE DEAD SEA- LOWEST PLACE ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH.

-The Dead Sea is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, and Palestine and Israel to the west. Its surface and shores are 1,407 ft below sea level, Earth's lowest elevation on land.
-The Dead Sea is 304 m (997 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34.2% salinity, it is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water.
-It is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean.^[7] This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which animals cannot flourish, hence its name.
-The Dead Sea is 50 kilometres (31 mi) long and 15 kilometres (9 mi) wide at its widest point.
^- It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River.
-The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. In the Bible, it is a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets.
-The Dead Sea water has a density of 1,240 kg/m³, which makes swimming similar to floating

 This is what bodies do in water almost 10x saltier than the ocean.

You can't sink!!

And then there's the mud- the sea and mud are said to have medicinal properties. 





But look at how it dries... eww.

 

The air is often hazy here.  This time of year the winds blow from Africa and there is dust in the air. Sahara dust maybe.