Jerusalem, Israel

I crossed the border into Israel yesterday. I wish I could say that it was easy, but it wasn't. I thought for sure my US passport would be the golden ticket, but Farahana Shiraz Dunn was not allowed in without an hour's worth of questioning. The custom's girl (she could not have been over 25) asked me about my name, my last name, my maiden name, where I'm from, where my family is from, what religion am I, why did I decide on this trip, how did I decide on the countries, why did I quit my job, do I have enough money, when am I leaving. I think she confused herself with all the questions. In the end, I got through, although they did raise their eyebrows again when I asked them not to stamp my passport. But I guess this is all part of the fun :)

It is Israeli Independence day! And I found out how much Israeli's like to celebrate. When I finally arrived in Jerusalem around 8pm, people were filling the streets. I headed out with another traveler I met from San Francisco and we came upon a huge street party. A concert style stage was set up for, what I assume, were popular Israeli bands, at least 50 spotlights accompanied the laser show and fireworks, I mean it was going OFF! Families were out, old and young were dancing in the streets. I saw only one young man get carted off by the police, otherwise, it was a pretty civil event given the throngs of people - this would never happen at home!

Because of the holiday, the museums were free today, so we head out. Half way there a police car pulls over and asks Steve for his passport. Next thing you know, the police have asked the poor guy to empty his pockets, dump his bag out and the entire time I'm just sitting here, totally ignored. There is no reason other than 'security'. It's a little nerve racking because these are kids, no joke, under the age of 25, wielding machine guns, questioning you.

But security aside, Israel is a beautiful country. Jerusalem is so unique with Muslims, Christians and Jews all coming together to visit the myriad of holy sites. Even if you're not religious, to walk through a town that's written about in holy books and see the Dead Sea Scrolls from the 1st Century (!) is a pretty humbling experience.