My Cousin Bernie

My Cousin Bernie has a very wild facebook imagination and is always traveling to Europe via her facebook postings.  Often Jerusalem is among the photos.  I said to her just recently that she really ought to go to Israel while she can.  Actually...….. we all ought to go to our dream destiny while we still can.  My husband Jens has many places/destinations on his bucket list of travels but now just a few steps from the bed to the bath has become a daily difficult journey for him.  You never know when your health will fail you and one day, you can count on it, it will.  So go now while you still can.

When I mentioned to Bernie that I think she ought to go there and I told her that I have been there twice, she asked me, "Do you have a blog about it?"  I told her no.  But that was until now.  This one is for you Bernie.

This blog is made with photos that were snapped back in the days of Instamatic film cameras with Sylvania flash cubes that crinkled after a 1000° instant flash.  It was also the days of land lines.  But back then they were just called phones because that was all there was.   

In late 1997 there was a competition open to all members of IPA, the International Police Association of which Jens was a member.  The winner of the competition could win an paid all expense trip to Israel where a celebration was being held in honor of Israel's 35 years with IPA and 50 years of being a new nation. 

There were a lot of policemen who entered the competition with their creative minds.  The idea was to create a poster showing your country's involvement in IPA.  Creating with a computer was somewhat new at that time.  For sure not as easy then as it is today.  So a lot of men put in a lot of hard and creative hours behind a computer screen.

In Denmark there is a very old tradition telling stories through paper cutting.  I don't think Jens even thought about doing anything on a computer.  It just came naturally to him to "cut and paste" - the old fashion way.

What he ended up with was a giant size, very colorful poster and about 95% of it was all hand cut.  And this is what stood out among the many entries.  I have a feeling too, that it may also have something to do with square number 3 as this little event is a major event in the history of the Jews as well as the Danes.

Here now, is a copy of a print which explains each square.  When you read "the bad weather", for picture 3, think 1943.

And here is a copy of the front page of the Israeli IPA magazine

 showing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place winners.

It's just over 20 years ago now that we were there last so it is kind of hard to remember all of the details. And what details I can remember, I will bore you with only a few of them.  Here are a few paper photo that I scanned into the computer last night.  I have about 3 times as many that I haven't scanned. 

From Copenhagen, Tel Aviv airport is only 2 time zones away but 4½ hours away by flight.  I can't remember, but I guess we must have left late because when we got there, the streets were almost empty.  We traveled with the Deputy Commissioner of the Copenhagen Police Force and her husband.

We were picked up from the airport and transported to a hotel in a very old, dirty, stinky taxi van and brought to the wrong hotel.  The hotel was not expecting us and after some angry banter back and forth between the taxi driver and hotel concierge they figured out where we were supposed to be.

Eventually we made it to the right hotel with a nice view over the city.  The first morning of our trip, we went down the elevator to have breakfast and then later we stepped outside - to have a smoke I guess.  That is pretty much the routine wherever we go since Jens is a smoker. While we were outside, an Arab taxi driver walked up to us and asked if we were part of the IPA travel group.  We told him we were.  He said, "I know of your itinerary tomorrow on your city bus tour.  If you would like, I can take you on a day long private tour and show you all the spots that will not be on your bus tour."  We that was a great idea to see all the extra sites today that we wont see tomorrow on the official tour.

It was a little pricy but hey - how often do you go to Israel?  (this was actually my second time).  It wasn't long after the ride began that we realied we were be taken for a ride - literally and figuratively.

The taxi driver took us to all the sights there are and all the sights there are were the exact sites we would be seeing on the bus tour tomorrow but we didn't know that at the time.   There were only 2 taxi stops that were not on the bus tour plan.

One had to something to do with Mary, mother of god - quite nice, whatever it was.  And the other stop was a:  "Oh I have a friend who owns that shop over there.  Very nice place.  Let's stop in and maybe you can find yourself a really nice gift to bring home to your wives."   I finally broke down and bought a trinket or it was going to be a full day at the shop.  The entire skam was to get us into a taxi and driver us that shop and not let us out until we bought something.  We laugh now but it was a bit scary back then when it was happening because no one in our group knew where we were and we didn't even know ourselves where we were.

The following day on the bus was a bit of a bummer when we drove to all of the same sites as where the taxi driver took us.  Since then, we have had a number of offers from taxi drivers in other countries for private tours and we immediately and firmly say NO.  We always have a good laugh when we get out of a cab with an offer. 

It's a mish-mas of photos here.  Too many years have gone by to remember the correct order.  And due to the basment flood in our old home, we had to pull all of the wet photos out of the wet photo albums.  So now we just have bundles of photos.  In case it ever happens to you;  wet photos are not ruined.  They just take a very long time to dry.  They are developed in a water solution so don't throw out your pix just because they got soaked in a flood.  Hey! the weather climate is changing so you just never know when you may need this handy tip.  You're welcome.

But I can now see that all the pix of us in the striped shirts are from the taxi tour.

So one of the first taxi stops is here at the wailing wall.  By law, you must cover your head when approaching the wall.  Tourist are supplied with a one time cap called yarmulke.  Except in reality,  these are French-fry trays - really!  They are the exact same thing you get when you order fries from fast-food joint.

The taxi driver demanded, "Give me your camera and go stand over there!"  Then he continued with his demands, "OK, now kiss the wall!"  

Wait, "What?"

"Kiss the wall !"

Now there was fear and confusion.

"KISS IT !   KISS IT !!!!"

Damn - we had better kiss this wall if we know what is good for us.  We kissed it for our lives.  Who knew what kind of weapon the taxi driver was carrying in the trunk of his car - because they do.
We kissed the wall and lived to tell about it.

uh..... cheese?

The photo of us in the blue and white shirts are from the bus tour with all the other 25 or so IPA members.  Somewhat of an anti-climax for us as we have just seen all of this yesterday.

This was kind of interesting.   Supposedly Jesus' last steps with his cross was down along this street - Via Dolorosa.  Exhaustedly, he stumbled and fell up against this wall and now everybody has to touch the same spot that Jesus touched.  I found it to be a bit comical but it means a lot to people who are on a pilgrimage.

Someplace the taxi driver did not take us to was the Masada and to the Dead Sea.  On the way there, we stopped at the Sea Level line and got out of the bus to snap a few pix.  I don't remember if it was here or one of the other dosens of bus stops but I do remember we pulled off of the road and already before the bus came to a full stop, you could see the Arabs lining up to attack the tourists with trinkets to pawn off.  As we were getting off of the bus, I was telling Jens: "Ok Jens, don't buy anything, don't say anything and don't look at anyone - they are just going to try and take your money."  I looked back to see if Jens understood me.  What the ?!!!  Where is Jens?  I was still on the bus waiting in line to get off and Jens was not behind me.  There were 2 doors on the bus and I guess Jens got tired of me playing Mr. Know It All.   Finally I got off of the bus and looked around to see if I could find him.  Jep! Just as I had suspected; the merchants had already attacked Jens and rapped his head with an Arab scarf and dangling plastic beads and olive tree figures in front of his face hoping to sucker this guy out of a few shekels.

This was actually my second time to Masada (first time was in 1980) and I was amazed by it the first time so I remembered it very well the 2nd time.  If you want to learn more about Masada, just google it or click this google link for a brief overview and then you can go on from there if you want to know more.

Eventually we made it to the Dead Sea.  It was really funny to float so easily on all that salty water.  The guide told us to be sure to spread the mud all over our body as it had very good healing and healthy qualities to it and it would rejuvenate us.  "Rejewvenate?  "But nobody in our group did it.  Actually very few from our group even went into the water.  Well I for sure did not drive hours through the desert only to look at the water.  In 1980 we didn't even get near the water so this time for sure I was going to dive in.  NO NO NO!! - you have to walk in very easily and no splashing or you will burn your eyes right out of your skull.  So much for healing qualities - eh?

Well I did it and I made a lot of people laugh when I came out of water totally covered in mud.  I love these pictures but my mother went totally berserk when she saw them and was so pissed that I would dare send them to my Grandmother.  Totally innocent pix but at the risk of offending anyone, I am only sending the cropped version.  You will have to ask me for the full size if you want to see it all and have a good laugh.    

I'm pretty sure this is the place - hit the google link. It's a 365 photo so be sure to scroll around.

After washing up, we got back on the bus and headed out to the near-by Ahava factory that actually bottles the stuff and sells it world wide.  I have one photo of it but here is a 1 minute Youtube video.

Eventually it was time to receive that damn award.  I was showing the photos to Jens just now and he asked, "Why do those awards have to be so damn ugly?"  I laughed.  I thought it was pretty fancy.  At the moment it is in a glass box on display in one of the vacation homes, west of Copenhagen, for IPA members.

 This was the award dinner.  Lots of police people and lots of confusion.

Here is Jens receiving his award.  sorry for the darkness.

 The award that was handed to Jens.

We are not sure if this was Jens just before the awards or if we are on our way to a dinner party in Jaffa.  I think it was Jaffa because it is very steep and hilly.  I loved that town but we were there basically only for dinner.  What I did manage to see made me like this part of the country most.  Jaffa - the Orange County of Israel.

I'm going to guess it was the following day of the bus tour, otherwise it would be just too much to do in one day. We went to the Holocaust Museum.  It was really moving and sad.  And what a huge surprise to see a Danish row boat at the museum and a plaque with reference to the King at the Holocaust Museum.  Remember square 3 on the poster Jens made?  It represents this.

This was one of the actual boats that rescued the Danish Jews.  The Danish police worked closely with the Nasi police and a Dane was tipped off that it was going to be tomorrow that the Nasi would round up all the Jews and send them to the camps.  It was then and there that night that the Jews were rowed to safety across the sea and over to Sweden.  Almost all of the Danish Jews were saved.

One must always remember, German, Jew, Muslim, Arab, Mexican, Russian, Chinese, one color or another, one sex or another, one nation or another, not one person is more valuable or less worthy than another.  We must all share this planet - together.  More so now than ever before.

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Special price for you my friend.  As a side bonus and at no extra cost to you - I'm sharing a few pix extra from the first time I went on a religious pilgrimage to the Middle East with my sister in April, 1980 with Calvary Chapel of West Covina.  This trip was to try to help me get closer to god to become straight - ha ha.  But what it did was show me that there is a huge world out there waiting to be discovered. 

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