Thought for the Day (Oct 21)

Subject: Thought for the Day (Oct 21)
From: Peter T.
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 09:24 AM

Current Travel Ad from ISRAEL MINISTRY OF TOURISM/MASTERCARD running in major magazines: (I am not making this up!!):

"FIVE PERFECT DAYS IN JERUSALEM

Start your morning with a stroll down the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane. Then enter the Old City of Jerusalem at the Dung Gate. Tour the Western Wall.

Take a taxi to the Holyland model of Jerusalem, which depicts the city as it was in the time of Jesus. Continue to Yad Vashem, the museum and memorial of the Holocaust. Have lunch near the bustling and colorful Mahane Yehuda market, then visit the Israel Musuem's Shrine of the Book, home of the Dead Sea SCrolls and a collection of fine art and Judaica.

After breakfast, amble along serene Ethiopia Street and go back in time inside ultra orthodox Mea Shearim. In the afternoon, visit such sites as the Garden Tomb, the Chagall windows at Hadassah Hospital's synagogue and the Knesset.

Follow the Way of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa and stop off for a glass of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice and a light lunch of Middle Eastern cuisine. Then take a tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At night go pubhopping in the Russian compound.

Admire the mosques atop Temple Mount and then take a taxi to Emek Refaim Street where you can shop in chic boutiques and sip coffee in unique cafes. Then complete a magical Five Days with a delightful dinner, perhaps in a restaurant overlooking the floodlight Old City."

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 21)
From: MMario
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 09:40 AM

yup - turn a place full of signifigance for three major religions into a tourist trap. that's the modern world for you.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 21)
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 10:08 AM

You've got to be shitting me here right? Why do I get this vision of some smiling, yuppie couple coming out of the Holocaust museum, "ambling" down the sidewalk sayng,

"Wasn't that nice Muffy...let's have brunch in that quaint little sidewalk cafe with all the bullet scarred tables."

Spaw

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 21)
From: Mían
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 01:26 PM

Actually, one can follow the routes suggested above and still have profound, not shallow, adventures - it would depend on the desire of the individual, I would think.

Although the version above definitely does not prepare one for the major spiritual impacts that might be found while visiting Jerusalem and Palestine.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 21)
From:
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 02:00 PM

But the problem with the ad, Mian, is that the Holocaust Museum is situated right between Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World: Jerusalem as conceived by Walt Disney. Maybe they have photo settings where you can stick your head through a hole and have your picture taken totin' that ol' rugged cross up Calvary...

--seed

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 21)
From: Peter T.
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 03:36 PM

No, CP, not made up!! Check out this week's New Yorker and others (there's more -- "The Land Where Time Began, Israel, the Official Country of the New Millenium!!) especially like the part about following the Way of the Cross (stopping for a glass of pomegranate juice, a dab of Veronica's handkerchief, a quick dice game for garments in the back room, and then back out on the road!!
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 21)
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 08:50 PM

Okay..you're right, I'm a believer.....ran across it in a waiting room today...but come to think of it, I still don't believe it.

Spaw