As some have already seen from my photo postings, we are in Israel. Things went pretty well on Wednesday. We arrived at the airport about when we planned. Amazingly we made it through check-in and security very fast which gave us a long wait at the gate, but the kids had video games to play and everything went well. We boarded on time and only left 30 minutes late. We arrived only 10 minutes late, but unfortunately, the kids did not sleep so neither did Marsha or I.
Once we got to Israel things went very well. We have used a company called Israel Maven Tours to plan the trip and with that comes VIP service. We had an airport agent meet us at the gate, who drove us to the main part of the airport. So no long walk to get the luggage. He gave our passports to the Passport agent, and we were through in five minutes. Our luggage came up fairly quick and we had a car service waiting for us to take us to Jerusalem. Pretty great! The driver took us to the Tayelet. If you are not familiar the Tayelet is a promenade that gives you remarkable views of Jerusalem.
Overlooking the old city at the Tayelet
After that we went to the apartment and got our things in. A quick trip to the mall a few blocks away for lunch (and a new iPod cable), some grocery shopping, and then back to the apartment for some (well needed) down time. We finished up the day with a trip to the Jerusalem Time Elevator. This is a multi-sensory movie that tells the story of Jerusalem. You sit on platforms that move and make you feel like you are moving with the film. It is fun and the kids learned a little about Jerusalem. Finally we lucked out with dinner. Our plans are to make dinner in the apartment most nights, but we were not ready for that yet. We found this little restaurant call Alma on Yosef Rivlin Street. I think it was a great find. The food was delicious and we all ate very well! Happy Birthday Marsha a little early!
Tomorrow we meet our tour guide and start our tour of Israel. We are certainly looking forward!