Quick test ride ...

After the Old City walking tour, a picnic lunch in the gardens of Augusta Victoria hospital on Mount Scopus and a walk back to the hotel, we reassembled our bikes. Once they we were done and ready to test them out, took them out for a spin around the Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital and back to the hotel. 4 miles in Jerusalem traffic raised our pulses more than the hills!

I am really looking forward to our police escort through Jerusalem in the morning!

Time in the Old City

After an early breakfast about 35 of our group went on a walking tour of the Old City in Jerusalem. Our guide, was an incredible fount of knowledge of both religious and secular history and with equal depth and respect for Christian, Muslim and Jewish traditions.

We started at the Mount of Olives where we could look out across the ancient Jewish cemetery to the walls of the Temple Mount upon which rests the Old City.

We learned that the Jerusalem's Old City is the oldest, continuously inhabited, completely enclosed walled city on the earth.

I have uploaded a number of our photos from the Old City to Team Atlanta's Picasa site.

I had an incredibly moving experience at the Kotel (the Western Wall) today. As I rounded the corner after entering the gate to the old city, I saw the Wall and completely lost my breath. I sat in the middle of the courtyard in front of the wall thinking about my wife and children, writing down my wishes and prayers for our family and weeping.

I got up and walked around to the entrance to the area in front of the wall, found the place at the walled that felt right, placed my hands and forehead on the cold Herodian stones. As I placed my prayer into the wall and turned around, I heard a camera shutter. One of the Rabbis spending their time at the Wall was taking pictures of the Wall and the folk there. I didn't know photos were allowed that close ...

The Rabbi asked me about the yellow bracelet I was wearing. I shared with him the story of a dear friend who is a cancer survivor who was asked to participate in a Lance Armstrong Foundation event in DC. During the event, my friend was presented with one of the first 100 of the livestrong bracelets and he lent it to me for the trip. Darren, it has been brought to the Wall and a prayer has been said for your continued health.

More stories to tell. They'll have to wait ... for now.

David Taylor-Klaus
Team Atlanta

JNF "Northern Exposure Tour"

On Monday (10 November 2008) several of us went on a tour of northern Israel with a JNF tour guide. We drove from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv along the Sea of Gallilee and up to near the Golan Heights.

We spent part of the morning at an Israeli Air Force base where we sat with a dozen very bright and very well armed Israeli soldiers. This group was made up of men and woman responsible for training the newest inductees to repair and maintain the planes and helicopters used in both training exercises and combat. These soldiers also meet and review high school students interested in the Air Force for their obligatory three year assignment.

Not ONE of these soldiers were over 22!

After lunch with the soldiers, we were off to Agamon Hula - a JNF / KKL (Keren Kayemet L'Israel) nature preserve surrounding Laka Agamon in northern Israel below the Goln Heights.

The sky was beautiful, the breeze welcome and the animals plentiful. This picture is from the middle of the preserve, looking across some of the re-claimed wetland towards the Golan with the moon just appearing over the mountains.

We experienced water birds. wild boars, Netanyas (huge rat-like creatures), birds of prey and even a few tourists.

After Agamon Hula, we headed back to Jerusalem for dinner ....

Jerusalem Regency

The Jerusalem Regency sits atop Mt Scopus
in Jerusalem with a terrific view of the city.

Darna and Leg ...

The good news: The food at Darna is fantastic.

The bads news: we had to walk several blocks to get there!

--------------------

We checked into the hotel (Jerusalem Regency), freshened up and took a couple of cabs to Ben Yehuda Street for some outstanding authentic Moroccan food.

Consensus: the best we'd had.

As one diner - leaving as we arrived - remarked, "It's better than the Moroccan we have back in Oklahoma City!"

Back to the hotel to prep for the day ...

Not quite a minyan ...

911/8/08. 9:30pm EDT. Atlanta Airport. Terminal E. Crown room.

Awaiting boarding. Drinks to prep for the flight ...

David Taylor-Klaus, Mario Karpuj, Judy & Chuck Perlow (Pittsburgh), Jim Lando, Isaac Antebi ...

One week to "Wheels Up"

OK, I'm just one week from 'wheels up" ... on Wednesday, 12 November 2008 I'll be cycling out of Jerusalem with only 341 miles to go to get to Eilat. My outdoor training is over and my bike is all boxed up and ready to go (sad). All that's left is some indoor training, packing and picking up the Ambien for the flight!.

And, yes, the distance is different. David Rendsburg & Nancy Lipsey (our folk at Hazon) just sent both the revised distances and a map of the route:

   Day       Shomrim  Tzofim  Chalutzim
   Wednesday   37       61       71
   Thursday    40       71       97
   Friday      36       46       60
   Sunday      44       59       59
   Monday      25       46       55     
   Total      182      282      341

The map is actually from a GPS trace submitted by a rider from last year ... check it out on Google Maps.

David Taylor-Klaus
Team Atlanta