Haifa Highlights

Today I visited Haifa again with an expatriate American couple from Orem, Utah. He is a visiting professor at the Technion, the leading technology school in Israel. After getting off at the wrong bus stop (my bad) and having to walk across the entire campus, we finally found each other. We visit Mount Carmel, which is important to Elijah's story. It reminded me of my Zion because we have a Mount Carmel as well about 30 minutes from Springdale, depending on the wait at the tunnel.

After Mount Carmel, we visit the Druze village. The Druze are a religious group in Israel, and they are rather secretive. After reading the Wikipedia entry on them, I am not much closer to understanding anything about them. They say they came from Moses' son Jethro.

After that it was back to Haifa. We visited the Bahai Gardens, a must for any Haifa visit. I cannot tell you the number of people who told me to visit there since I arrived. It did not disappoint. After the Gardens we headed to a cemetery in the German Colony of Haifa. It was cool. The falafel I had for lunch left a lot to be desired.

Tuesday I head to Jerusalem! I am very excited. I was going to stay at a hostel, but the reviews which were primarily awful, dissuaded me from staying there. Security did not seem to be a big concern there. There were also tales of management dodginess. So now I have a single room in a CONVENT in the Old City! I am very excited. How often does one get to stay in a convent in Jerusalem? Not often. My friend Kevin says that it does not have much of a nightlife. Well, it is a convent after all, and I was not expecting that in the least. Plus it is highly rated on Trip Advisor under the Jerusalem Specialty Lodging category. There is so much to do in Jerusalem I am not sure what to do and what not to do. However, I will be headed back to Jerusalem before I leave since I am not a fan of Tel Aviv.