Day 2

Breakfast was amazing! It was more like brunch, but at 7:30 a.m., and I stuffed myself but good like a true American. Most hotels that include a breakfast in the U.S. seem to provide a continental-type breakfast. Cheap bastards.

We went to the Israeli Independence hall and heard a rousing presentation about the 2000 year old dream that was fulfilled when the state of Israel was created. After listening to the recording of the Proclamation by Ben-Gurion of the founding of the state of Israel followed by the emotional, cracking voice of the Rabbi saying the Shehechanyu, the whole room stood and sang Ha’Tikva, the Israeli National Anthem. I have never wanted to know the words to a song so much as I did then. Many people were brought to tears, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t close myself.

Other stops followed that were interesting but couldn’t live up to the presentation in the morning. We went to the Palmach museum, which was a look at how the first Israeli fighting forces did so much with so little. It was interesting, but it was also a little too much like an Epcot center presentation w/ video screens and cheap pseudo-anamatronics. After that was a tour of a bullet factory where soldiers posed as kibbutzniks in order to make bullets for use in the war of independence. They built a factory underground in 21 days (!) and went to extraordinary lengths to keep it secret from the British. A great story, but not really much to look at. There was much nodding off by the Aviv from afar…and my first glimpse of Arabs.

Avi and Jacquie arrived safe (but without their luggage), and we all had dinner at a dairy restaurant, Yot Vata, with some knockout cheeses from a Kibbutz.

I was told this was a relatively easy day. Good God, I’m going to be wiped out when I get home!