Our Last Crusade in Israel!

Good news! We got to add another country to our list of places visited on this trip: Jordan. In the last few days of our month in Israel (most of which I will skip in our blog because it was a lot of relaxing and visiting with Amit's family around the country), we spontaneously added in a three day trip to Eilat (the southernmost city in Israel, close to the boarders with Jordan and Egypt). From Eilat, we took a day-tour across the boarder to Jordan to see the famous ancient city of Petra, the site of the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade final scene. The whole trip to Eilat was wonderful... good weather, nice pool and sunny days to lay out, and the visit to Petra did not disappoint either! This post will probably have more pictures than words because there were so many great shots from our trip. Petra is a stunning place to visit, and if any of you get a chance, it is probably worth a two day visit rather than just one. There are so many cool ruins to explore, and the Jordanians are actually pretty good (for better or worse) at letting you get very close to all the various parts of the city's excavation. One of the best stories from the day was actually the boarder crossing. Apparently, you can buy a tour to go to Petra while you are in Israel, but the Israeli tourist companies cannot (or do not) cross into Jordan. Early in the morning on the day of our tour, we were driven to the boarder between Israel and Jordan (a 10 minute drive) and the Israeli staff gave us some loose instructions ("When you get through the boarder control, just shout 'Abu Tariq!!!' and a little old man will take your passport from you and process it with the Jordanian officials") and left us there. After getting our passports stamped, we walked across a 1/4 mile paved road that stretch between Israel and Jordan, feeling a lot like we were hostages walking from our captors to the negotiators who just secured our release... it is really quite funny! I tried to take a few pictures (see right) so you could get an idea of the set up. To be a bit more descriptive, Petra was a very touristy, but very cool and beautiful place. The entire city is built in this desertous valley, and many of the important buildings are carved into the rock with gorgeous front facades. The most impressive one (and the primary focus of the Indiana Jones movie set) is the Treasury, meant to be the location of the most valuable goods of the community and the burial site of the most important people. Leading up to the Treasury from the main entrance to the city is an incredibly impressive natural pathway between two huge stone cliffs. Created by an earthquake, as well as wind and rain over thousands of years, this pathway makes the whole Petra Treasury experience all the more spectacular. Okay, so that's all for now. A few more pictures from Israel to the right, and hopefully another blog entry about Beijing (where we are right now!) coming soon. LOTS of love, Dena & Amit

The Israel-Jordan boarder crossing... like a hostage negotiation Amit crossing the boarder with other "hostages" Posing in front of one of the sites in Petra The "Siq"... the beautiful and mysterious entryway into Petra Dena in the Siq Our first glimpse of the Treasury The full beauty of the Treasury Another beautiful part of Petra (with a camel) Amit in front of some of the other beautiful building facades (these were actually tombs of important people) A night out in Tel Aviv (from left to right: Amit's cousin's girlfriend Ma'ayan, Dena's sister Talia, Dena, Amit's other cousin Abby) Dena, Amit, and Dena's sister Talia in the Old City of Jerusalem