May 12, 2010 To the Dead Sea

Our plan was to leave Jerusalem today and drive down to the Dead Sea. I decided to walk to the car rental and on the way stop at several other rental agencies to see if I could get a better deal on a bigger car than I had reserved. No such luck, but I was able to get a small mini-van so that I could get David in too next week and all our luggage. I circled the area around the hotel several times before I could figure out how to get back to the hotel. There are so many one streets, it makes it so confusing.

I finally parked the car on the narrow dead-end alley by the hotel. I went into the hotel to ask where I was supposed to leave the car...and they told me to quickly get it out of the alley because the police give tickets faster than you can blink. Well, they were right, I had a ticket. I then had to back up and pull down a very narrow ramp into an underground garage. While I was trying to back and turn I heard a crunch and realized that I had somehow gotten my self stuck on a curb. It was not a good morning. Good thing I took out the optional 'covers all' insurance. Finally, after getting us all in the car we were able to head out of Jerusalem. It was absolutely amazing how fast the city disappeared as we drove through the West Bank and turned into mountains and desert. Usually, the West Bank is somewhere you don't want to be...but actually the main highway goes right through and is quite safe. With only one check-point to go through we were quickly in sight of the Dead Sea. We are staying at Kibbutz Ein Gedi which is a pastoral retreat. No false advertising here. From the pool we could see both the mountains and the Dead Sea. It was absolutely beautiful as you can see in the few pictures I took today.

Aunt Shirley enjoying her time away from the city.