A Jew, A Muslim, and A Christian walk into a bar!

So I left Prague and headed to Barcelona for two days, wow, what a crazy country! The Spanish are full tilt man they do not rest at all, well for about 3-4 hrs in the middle of the day, Siesta!! But beyond that they are up at all hours, I was staying in a little apartment. On Las Ramblas in Barcelona and they did not sleep at all, the quiet came at about 8AM, serious! Very cool city, though I really liked it alot, had a lot of culture and cool modernism going on within it, went to the Picasso museum and was amazed by all the styles that he went through! The next stop was Madrid, but only for a day so really did not get the best feel for it, however, I did get to see Guernica by Picasso, and many other of his works! The Sophia Reina museum is very cool! I walked around Madrid and saw the interesting architechture and modern buildings, plus they had a "football" match, wow I thought Americans were a bit nuts for sports man I forgot how intense the rest of the world is for this very international sport. They were running through the Metro station hootin and hollerin their Madrid soccer team chants and just havin a blast, pretty cool to watch!! Well, I had to break down and get something besides the local fare for dinner and went to ol' faithful, yup, Chinese food!! Was pretty good, course twas not Gary Chu's, but what is! Then went to the airport just barely makin the flight, literally by ten minutes, nothin like makin it a bit interestin right!! So I was on my way to the oldest region of the world, least when it comes to civilization!! Arrived in Tel Aviv and went to the ol' cousins house! First impression, looks like America to me, but you have to remember that Tel Aviv is only about 60 years old! So I hung out for a couple days on the beach on the Med, Israel style, very chill, warm water and relaxed setting! Then it was time for some serious history! So yesterday and today I went to Jerusalem! Whew, talk about serious intesity, no messin around there! I always said that the three big religions were school yard buddies and each one took its turn at being the bully! After going to Jerusalem I realized its a bit different. The emotions I felt there, not because I'm Jewish, but the emotions I felt for the people who have been supressed and controled over the many years is everywhere, in the air, in the walls, I mean everywhere!! I have never felt anything like it before. When I went to the Wailing Wall and touched my hands and forehead on it, after a couple of minutes I began to feel this strong sense of release, not me pursay but all the thousands of others who have gone and done a pilgramage or whatever to get there have created this strong energy flowing through the air and bricks. It just felt very sureal and almost ghostly. After having my time there I went and walked around the rest of the old city, there are 4 quarters to the old city, a Jewish, a Christian, an Armenian, and a muslim quarter. They all have distinct characteristics but they all are so close it is very interesting to see the changes within a few hundred steps of the different lifestyles they all posess. I wanted to see a monument of the old city so I went and took a tour of the Citadel (King Davids tower). It was really enlightening and frightening at the same time. I asked a question to the tour guide of what Jerusalem stands for and he said that it stood for the city of peace, which is a hell of an irony since the city has been sacked 39 times over its existence. I was really able to get a better understanding of the history of the city from this tour and also a better understading of sense of hatred that all these peoples have for each other because of the constant changing of ruling over the city. Basically all three have had there fair share of intense brutal ruling over the people of the city. These days though it seems that it is relatively peaceful. I say relatively because there are still soldiers with machine guns walking around and you have to go through check points in each quarter!! There is a lot of check pointing goin on in this country, most folk just go with the flow but for me it was alarming to see so much security, don't get me wrong I am not ignorant to the fact that there is a constant threat of terrorism here but to see it first hand and feel it first hand was a whole other ball game, and the players in the game are not swingin bats but using guns instead!! Anyway, it still with all the intensity has been a great trip, and I have yet to go to the Dead Sea!!! Can't wait for that one, they say the average sea has about 6% percent salt in the water but the Dead Sea has about 30% so basically you literally float on top of the water! Hopefully I can get a pic or two of me floating! Ok time to run and eat some hummus, by the way the hummus here is not like the stuff back home, it feels like mortar for bricks and when it is in your stomach you feel like a brick is in there!!!! But it is absolutely delicious!!! Best kababs ever too!! Ok everyone miss ya'll and I'll be home very soon about 2 and1/2 weeks to go!! It has been a long 5 months!!! Till the next time! The pics are of Jerusalem, the old city and monuments within!