After almost six weeks of work and travel throughout Israel, the team was ready for some down time and relaxation! For some of us, that meant an opportunity to travel to other destinations both in Israel (not included in the main agenda) and abroad (e.g. Europe), while for others the weekend was time to catch up on sleep and visits to the beach.
Three members of the team - Stephen, Sean, and Kristin - decided to visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the West Bank. Departing early on Friday morning, the group arrived in Jerusalem after about an hour and a half. In Jerusalem the three went to the local bus station for transfer into the West Bank. The trip south was relatively without incident - though there were two brief stops by the Israeli military - who checked Palestinian work permits. In Bethlehem, the group stayed overnight at a hostel located in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. Established in 1949, this camp is currently home to about 14,000 residents.
On Saturday the group visited the Church of the Nativity, the Mosque of Omar, as well as other local historical sites - before returning to Jerusalem late that evening. In Jerusalem they stayed at the Citadel Youth Hostel - which had an amazing view of Jerusalem's Old City. Sunset on the roof was quite spectacular! Late on Sunday - after some more exploring - the group caught the late bus back to Haifa. All in all, this trip was a pretty cool experience!
Photo by Stephen Kushner
For me, this weekend was an opportunity to see my wife, Kim. After changes to Kim's work schedule, we decided last-minute to meet up in Europe during my free weekend. I flew out from Tel Aviv early Friday morning, arriving in Zürich, Switzerland around 8am (Kim had arrived from the US the previous day). After renting a car, I drove to my wife's hotel. We had a quick breakfast and then hit the road for Lausanne. I opted to take us through the Swiss Alps - from Zürich to Luzern and then on to Gstaad via Interlaken. Once we came down from the mountains, we drove along Lac Léman, arriving in Lausanne around 5pm.
Photo by Daniel Branscome
On Saturday, Kim and I went to Broc and Gruyères - the chocolate and cheese capitals of Switzerland respectfully. After lunch in the town of Charmey, we toured the Cailler factory. Now a subsidiary of Nestlé, Cailler was the first Swiss chocolate company, founded near Vevey in 1819. Afterwords we toured Gruyères Castle and sampled some local cheeses. Dinner was back in Lausanne. On Sunday, we had a pretty casual morning, then an afternoon BBQ at a family friend's place in Lutry. Monday found us on the road to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc - where we had an hour long hike to a beautiful alpine glacial lake.
Photo by Daniel Branscome
On our final day we departed Lausanne after lunch for the drive back to Zürich. This time, we went though the Jura past Lake Neuchâtel. Since we had some time before our flights, we decided to bypass Zurich proper and drive north into Germany to the Rhine Falls. After some time touring the site - Europe's largest waterfall - we returned to Zürich and grabbed dinner. Late that evening, I caught my flight back to Israel. Upon landing in Tel Aviv, I caught the train to Haifa, arriving at our house in Ramat Eshkol around 5am. What a weekend!
