Dec 9

Woke up too early again, and went with my Mom to work with her colleague, and starting feeling a little sick to my stomach. It got pretty bad on the bus to Jerusalem, but felt better after we went out to eat. It was very good traditional Mid-Eastern food – I had a burger in a pita with hummus, and some cucumber salad. Today is an Arab celebration day, and outside our hotel there was a brief but loud Arab protest against the Jews – there’s a lot of tension between the two groups, especially in this city. After resting, we walked from our awesome hotel (the former Austrian Embassy) up the Via Dolorosa, which is where the stations of the cross were supposed to have happened. At the end is the Church of the Sepulchre, which marks the place where it is said that Jesus was crucified. The church had a very good choir that was constantly singing, and the church smelled strongly of incense. It felt very holy.

Dec 8

Couldn’t sleep on plane to Tel Aviv, and got to dump of a hotel at 5 a.m. Dump of hotel actually only had 1 sheet. Woke up and changed reservation for sister hotel in Jerusalem. Old Jaffa where we stayed had interesting Arab flea market with tons of junk like a box of TV remotes without TVs, old clothing, and some antiques. Had great fruit slushy. Went into Tel Aviv to the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora. It had a bunch of interesting videos on Jewish life and immigration, and had a cool computer that lets you trace back your family name (“Frank” is often from the formerly French part of Germany). My mom gave a talk in the evening, and then we stayed at her colleague’s house in the Tel Aviv suburbs.

Dec 7

Left early a.m. for Budapest. Saw 18^th and 19^th century church, palace, hot spring baths, and art. Highlight for me was marzipan museum – they made big and complex statues out of marzipan (like a Harry Potter scene, and a life-sized Snow White and 7 dwarves, and a world map). Ate a typical Hungarian meal with goulash soup, and paprika chicken, and this really good tasting cold fruit soup with whipped cream. Hung out at airport till plane left at 1130.

Dec 6

Dad left for Atlanta this morning – I really wanted him to stay, and will miss him a lot. Lazed around more, and spent the afternoon browsing and running errands (in German!). In the evening, the Fischers had a big fancy party with amazing food, and I stayed in the back.