Jerusalem Day 4 (Monday May 18, 2009)

A very hot day in Jerusalem 41 degrees Celsius (108.8 degrees F). We had planned to go to Massada today, but with the heat we decided to see other sites in the Jerusalem area. We went by Taxi to see Mini-Israel. This is a miniature replica of historic buildings and sites from Israel.

After having seen much of the Old City in Jerusalem seeing it in miniature form was the most interesting. It was also interesting to see other sites we plan on visiting and places we do have time to see in real life form. By pushing a button near the Western “Wailing” Wall the miniature orthodox Jews started to pray and doven on one side of the wall and Muslims on the other side of the wall near the Mosques were bent over and praying.

We also liked the replica of the Massada and a narrated story of the Massada events when the Romans built a ramp to get into the fortress on top of the mountain and the Jews living there decided to kill themselves rather than be captured.

The only downside was the extreme heat. We discovered that there were umbrellas to rent as we were leaving. This would have added a little bit of comfort to the 100 degree heat.

We arrived at Mini-Israel before the 10:00 a.m. opening, so our driver, Sammy, took us to a military armor museum nearby. It turned out to be a fascinating tour. Our tour guide was a young man originally from Los Angeles. He and his family moved to Israel when he was 17. He felt it was important to serve the Israeli army, since he was Jewish.

We saw many tanks that had been used in the several Israeli wars since 1948. We saw an old tank that held only 4 people and had no air-conditioning. One of the soldiers stood with his head out of the tank in a plastic bubble to tell the men inside when to shoot and where to go. We also saw newer armored tanks that had air-conditioning and held 12 soldiers. The engines that were in back of the old tanks were now in front. The newer tanks had periscopes for viewing and communication gear and did not require someone to stand up looking outside of the tank. We had our picture taken on top of the newer tanks with our guide by our taxi driver and in front of one of the older tanks. Jackie may become a commander of an Israeli tank in her next life!!

The Armor Museum also had a wall of all the names of deceased soldiers. Brothers who were killed had their names place next to each other, as were fathers and sons who were killed in battles. There was also inside the museum a set of slides shown side by side of all the diseased soldiers. They were shown 6 at a time for 10 seconds and then another 6 and it would take 4 hours to show all those deceased in Israeli battles. I presume the Arabs would have many more deceased. The Israeli-Arab wars have killed many men and women on both sides.

Tomorrow we are off to Haifa, Israel