Beyond Jordan, Dec. 11

The Dead Sea

- Ate a quick breakfast at Sambooki pastry shoppe.
-Went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial. This was interesting to see because of the hundreds of objects donated to the memorial by victims' families (photos, personal memoirs, silverware collected by the Nazis, etc). Moving.
- Took a taxi to the hotel to get our things. Kyle and Noah stopped for more gelato while Chris and I ate sandwiches.
- Walked to the Damascus city gate, trying to find out how we get back to the border. Slight oversight in not planning ahead. Found a guy who pointed out a capable taxi service to us, and followed someone a few blocks to the office. Drove to the border.
- Getting out was a lot easier than getting in. On the bus, a guy collected our passports and we didn't see them until we paid for our bus tickets and bags. A little nerve-wracking.
- Chris went to haggle with a taxi driver for a ride to Petra. One driver kept following us around, which was slightly annoying. The idea is to stay in Petra tonight, and go back to Amman tomorrow night.
- After a skirmish with one driver, took the annoying guy to Wadi Musa (just outside of Petra) and went to the hotel (3 hr. drive). They apparently didn't get our reservation, so they didn't have a room for us. Thankfully, the owner/operator's cousin had a hotel on the next block, so the guy took us in his own car to it- Al-Rashid.
- Walked up the street to Shaheed round-about where we ate the best pizza made in the Middle East. At least, it's the best we've found so far. Also ate salad and hummus. Taught the cook what "dressing" is. Funny guy.
- Went back to the hotel. The water was FREEZING even though we let it run for awhile, so we didn't take showers. Went to bed for a 5:30 wake up.

Painted Lions: All over Jerusalem