Yes, Somewhere in Israel

Here is Ann in a picture I like. Just look at that purely beautiful face.

Brian Johnson took the picture somewhere in Israel. That's safe to say. Brian has sent all of his pictures to all members of the tour. What a guy.

About Ann. I know she missed her boys and Jeremy, but I also know she loved this trip. And I believe she made the most of it, taking notes, keeping up on her pictures, writing her journal when we would get back to the hotel.

In Israel, we ate breakfast at the hotel. Always a buffet featuring typical middle eastern food--chopped vegetables, fish, many breads and rolls, and always several kinds of olives--and food to appeal to folks from the west. That means cold cereals (but never Cheerios, to Ann's dismay), yogurts, juices. Omelets and pancakes and French Toast (sort of), too.

And you couldn't buy a glass of milk. Or get one free either.

For lunch we were on our own. We brought snacks and nuts, but most days in Israel Ann carried a piece of fruit, a roll and butter, and a boiled egg from the breakfast buffet to supplement her lunch. That is until the day she peeled her egg and found--oh, it was an egg, but how old it was we could not say. It was brown. I mean, it should have been white, but it was brown. Don't remember if she brought another egg after that.

Evenings we'd come back to the hotel for dinner, another buffet with foods that looked like breakfast but which were now accompanied by chicken and other meat dishes as well. We didn't always know what it was, but we never went hungry.

Desserts always looked wonderful but seldom were.  No matter how fancy it looked, dessert tasted like not much. Twice, I think, we got ice cream. People spoke of it as if we were prisoners, deprived of anything nice for a long, long time. "Look!" you would hear from more than one person, "We get ice cream."

On the road, people bought Cokes and diet Cokes and Magnum ice cream bars. I liked the popsicles. The best one was a mango creamsicle.