Israel Alias: Miss Canada

Is it possible to bloom in adversity?

Always likely for me.

Israel, as the El Al airlines says, starts on the airplane.

Actually, it starts with security. You can't quite imagine this kind of stepped-up security until you experience it.

Definitely outnumbered by the wide variety of Israeli Hebrew speaking people.

Tarted up women, families, men with either full-fledged old-time hats and curled side locks, white shirts and long black coats vs the Jewish "light" with a barely there cap, but still with the tired white shirt.

So sometimes they would put a little box on their forehead and wrap leather around their arm, wear a shawl and say some stuff from a book. These all have proper names, of course.

The food is good except for the eggs.

Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv is impressive but ol' Ben has really wild clown hair.

Love the palm trees, the weather, the grandness and blue skies.

A bus taxi took me to 3,000 up a mountain outside of Jerusalem to a moshav called Yad Hashmonah, which has about 100 people living there. Many visit the biblical gardens, and also have their weddings at the outdoor synagogue made of dark volcanic rock. Then they have their reception celebrations. Seems like one every day, because it's June.

The buffet food was fantastic.

Waiting at the bus stop the next day I got a ride into Jerusalem and walked around the city, then through the old city, then through the food market. The architecture is cool.

Security is interesting: check points and guns. But the people are happy and I'd like to go again. Do it differently. Glad I experienced it the way I did, but hostel living is not my style.

I'd recommend the moshav for an all day visit, but a comfy air-conditioned hotel at night for a good night's rest.

Also, better to be rich and travel high class on the airlines.

Now I know a little of the youth hostel scene, which is great to know about. And the view of moshav life was sweet.

You've never seen anything more beautiful than the collection of big cities and little settlements on the hills at night time. The lights are all of a warm amber colour.

And in the day I walked through an up-and-coming neighbourhood next door with so much of the pale yellow Jerusalem stone that made up both the million-$ homes and walls. Just beautiful.

Love to go there again. This is a country that is intense, and is energized and full of life despite the hate that surrounds it. Pure triumph.