Day 1a--Jerusalem,--Prince William last week, us this week!

Looks like someone has a side-gig

A routine flight from the US.  A quick stopover in Istanbul, Turkey.  Then a two-hour flight to Tel Aviv and a 40-minute bus ride to Jerusalem.  Finally in the hotel around midnight.

A few intro facts.  First, we didn't know that 18% of Israelis are Muslim!   2% are Christian and 80% Jewish.  Further, the majority of Israeli Jews are secular or 'modern' Jews with the highest percentage of 'religious' Jews in Jerusalem, around 50%.  As time allows, I will discuss the difference between Jews.  And, a new term, "Jew-Bu"  THAT, we'll save for later.

Jonathan, our guide

Now, on to our first day in Israel.  An amazing, exhausting day.  10 hours of walking and information.  Jonathan, our guide, is, apparently, a five-star guide.  Reason?  Two weeks ago, he was Prince William's personal guide!!  If you look at this article, the last photo of the Prince in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher shows the head of a tall bald guy.  I think that is Jonathan's head!  We haven't asked to see a selfie yet......

Life is the same all over the world, fresh bread is delivered in the morning
and innumerable shops to buy innumerable things.

Now, Jerusalem, briefly it is divided into four quarters.   The Armenian Quarter, The Jewish Quarter, The Muslim Quarter and the Christian Quarter.  We walked through them all today.  All of these sections have been dictated by time, invasions and faith going back, literally, thousands of years.  In the next post we'll hit the high spots.

Our travel team, Kathy, Tom, Nick, Deb, Greg, Lacey, Gloria and Charlie