Year-End Trip 2018-19: Day 10 - Tel Aviv

Day 10 - Small, small country

Today was our last day in Israel. It was also our only day in Tel Aviv. We spent half the day, when combining travel time and tourism, in Jerusalem. Those three statements contain a lot to unpack. Firstly, this is not truly a knock on Tel Aviv. Yes, there is not much organically interesting about Tel Aviv from a tourism perspective. There are a few museums and landmarks. You can take the slow route and go 2-3 days. We took the fast route and took 2-3 hours.

There was a simple list of sights we wanted to hit in Tel Aviv-Yafo, and after we arranged a tidy Google Map multi-stop plan, we realized quickly we could do it in about 90 minutes, stretching to 120 with pictures and rapid visits and the like.

There were a couple other factors for this hasty regard for Tel Aviv. First, there was a desire to go back to Jerusalem in the afternoon, and visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre one more time. I won't reveal who had the largest push for that plan. The final factor was the tricky weather, which was supposed to greet us with morning to night rain, and instead did so with beaming sunshine begating threatening clouds begating on and off showers for hours.

Our first stop in our 'See Tel Aviv in 120 minutes driving experience' was the furthest stop from our hotel, the Yitzhak Rabin Center, a modern museum outfitted to honor the life of Yitzhak Rabin (Israeli prime minister who was assassinated after helping to establish the closest thing to peace with Palestine), and Israel's struggle and rise as a nation as a whole. This is the type of place ideally we could have spent an hour or so. We didn't.

The center was nice. There was roughly 300 Israeli military cadets there on visit. The view from the top, overlookimg Yehoshua Park and the northern, greenier, end of Tel Aviv, was beautiful. Despite all this, we had things to do, and the ominous clouds were growing omnious-er.

Our next few stops were driving down the coast towards Yafo, Tel Aviv's old city part of town (in the past, it was a separate city by itself). The Tel Aviv coastline and beaches were mostly empty - not surprising given the weather and time of year, but it didn't take too much imagination to picture how sprawling these beaches must be during the high season.

When we reached Yafo, the dream became more of a reality, with sunlight peaking out, a lively promenade to entice passers by, and a gaggle of surfers in the waters. This beach front was right on the edge of Tel Aviv and Yafo, with Yafo['s old city aura looming on one end, and the modern Tel Aviv, looking quite a bit like San Diego in all the best ways, on the other. We had to struggle a bit for parking (can't imagine the madness driving there would be in the busy season), but soon enough were content to spend a bit of time taking pictures in the little sunlight that was afforded.

We drove around the old city, pulling over to the side of the road a couple times to take a few photos, and make mental notes of where to come back to upon the next, more seasonally appropriate visit to Tel Aviv. In reality, I do picture myself coming back some day. I'll probably have more thoughts on Israel writ large at a later date, but it has been end to end impressive, and given the profligacy of flight options to Tel Aviv from New York, it is fairly easy to come back to.

We got back to our AirBNB about 15 minutes after planned return time, quickly scarfed down a lunch of leftovers from the previous two days (still good), and left for Jerusalem as the heaviest rain started its assault on Tel Aviv.

It is amazing how small Israel is really. The drive between the countries main two cities took about 50 minutes - granted the drive back would be a bit tougher due to more traffic - which is amazing. I make a longer commute each of the days I go into my company's NY office. Of course, unlike the NJ Turnpike and its natural gas refineries, we get to pass limitless open fields, rolling hills, and the type of scenery and greenery I, with my uninformed mind, had no idea existed in Israel.

We reached Jerusalem, familiar ground for all of us after spending four great days traversing its hills. It was as if we never left, as if we were coming home. In some ways, given our religion (especially for my mom) we were.

We ahd some time to experience a few new thigns before heading to the Church of the Holy Speulchre for one last procession. First, was the Mamila mall, who's garage we parked in. The mall is open air, cut into the side of the rock outisde the old city, with gleaming limestone built stores. This is another example of how nice Jerusalem is. I expected Tel Aviv to be squarely first world. I did not expect the same coming in with Jerusalem, and have been more than pleasantly (ecstacticly?) surprised at this point.

The other first was buying something from teh bustling Muslim Quarter that surrounds (ironically) the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We had walked past these stalls many times before, but had bought nary a thing.. Actually, I think my parents may have bought something, but for me, I entered my last day in Israel realizing I would be, as of now, leaving Israel with nothing to take home. Corrective action was required.

The Muslim Quarter is like any other souk, with tons of vendors who will all tell you how much they are breaking their heart by giving you a good deal shaving off five shekels. Bargaining is a tough game. Sometimes, you don;t know a good deal. My mom wanted a olive-wood cross in the shape of the cross that adorns so many churches in the Holy Land. The first vendor gave us a 'list price' of 60 shekels, and we were confident we could get it to at least 45. We left because it was so close to the Jaffa Gate that it was overpriced. As we quickly found out, it was underpriced, and we came back with our tails between our legs to buy it on the way out - for 45 shekels.

I ended up getting some nice coasters (of course, my hoarding tendencies continue) and a nice dish where you can serve olives with bread or a spread, with a nice decoraative loaves and fishes scene played out on the dish - you know, something religions! These weren't the best of quality knickknacks., but will at least have some utilization in the future house that I currently don't have.

After shopping until we had our fill, we headed over to an absolutely packed Church of the Holy Sepulchre. If anything, coming back made us thankful to the man upstairs that we came the first time on the day we did. We had to wait about 30 minutes to see the tomb. We overheard a tour guide telling his group the wait was going to be two hours.

The 4pm procession, the main experience we came back to, well, experience, was about 5x as full this time, partially because of a 20-strong group of young seminarians, who embarrassed us all by being able to recite the Latin components with general ease.

The procession was so full, the Church itself so full, that it was almost annoying, while also being delightful. The amount that this place means to so many people, roughly 30-40% of the world's population, is staggering, and in theory should dictate hour long lines to witness the place where the key figure in the religion was crucified, died and was buried (dammit, quoted scripture again!) should not be a surprise. But they were.

It was a powerful moment, especially thits time with a good amount of the procession being able to chip in with the responses in Latin, as we created a roving hoard that went around the church rather than the tame following we had prior. It is a great loophole as well to get unfettered access to the chapels commemorating Jesus's crucifixion and death, avoiding the long lines (probably 45-60 minutes today) for those sites.

After the procession, we ran through a hurried confession, and a quick walk back to our salvo that was the Mamila mall for a coffee before heading back to Tel Aviv. I still find it a bit ridiculous that we were so easily able to go back and forth between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I also think the proximity of all parts of Israel from each other spot is a major selling point. It's like packing an empire's worth of civilization into the tri-state area.

We got back to Tel Aviv and went to Ha'Achim for dinner, a trendy eatery known best for its weekend brunch, but still good (and packed) for weekday dinner. Our initial reservation was for Mashya, an upscale eatery, who's timing we drastically missed after traffic turned the 50 minute trip to Tel Aviv into 90 minutes (traffic, sadly, is a shared issue between the Plainsboro-NYC drive with the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem one). The food was good, each dish made with a few components that all tasted and played well. It wasn't true 'gorumet cuisine' or hatever, but given the reams of people with happy, smiling faces enjoying the food, it doesn't really matter.

After dinner, I went to The Dancing Camel, Tel Aviv's best known craft beer bar. It's tucked in some random corner of Tel Aviv that was walking distance from our dinner, but was worlds away. It was pure Portland style, built in a warehouse.. I quickly learned the owner and brewmaster is from Queens, and most of the staff (and the guests) were US born. They were playing Week 17 NFL on a big screen - the owner being a Giants fan watching an absolutely meaningless close compelling Giants vs. Cowboys game.

The Dancing Camel was good, and I do hope Israel can improve its beer culture. The only thing keeping Israel from being a truly top fflight destination is this. The few craft beer spots they have are better than some other countries (cough** India **cough), but given how present the US's presence is here, I have to imagine this will improve.

We move our journey over to Jordan tomorrow, a well reputed country that should have a lot of high points, but I am a little sad to leave Israel behind. I don't know why my expectations were muted, but Israel has smashed them - much like Chile did last year. Maybe it is the year-end trip of it all. 

Year-End Trip 2018-19: Day 9 - Haifa and the Western Coast

Day 9 - Losing My Religion

The first half of the trip was almost exclusively built around religion, both our Catholicism, and their Judiasm, Islam and all other sects of Christianity. There were numerous sites that memorialized specific events, uncovered great mysteries and all the like. That part of the trip, for better or worse is over now.

The trip now shifts course slightly, towards a mix of natural beauty and urban metropolita. The first day of the new half combined both parts of this nicely. We did have a couple last sites to see in Galilee, in the land of Jesus, before transporting to the other side of Israel (being Israel, just an hour away), and the urban sprawl that can compare to most cities.

The first stop was a few miles outside Tiberias to the little recently uncovered archaeological gem that is Magdala (or Migdal). It is situated nicely right on the coast of the Sea of Galilee. The drive to Magdala hugged the coast, and while the picture perfect beauty was spoiled by the threatening clouds overhead, it really does show the Sea of Galilee to be a really beautiful spot.

Magdala is an intersting site. It is still very much in progress, both with ongoing construction to build a 21st Century guesthouse and visitor's center, and ongoing excavation to uncover more secrets of the early days. This is the town where Mary Magdelene was born, and a oplace where Jesus is thought to have lectured and preached (like basically any place around the rim of hte Sea of Galilee).

Because of this biblical connection, the Christians started building a church, when during the excavation process they uncovered relics and pieces of the ancient city. Quickly, instead of just building a church, it became that plus uncovering a nearly in-tact ancient city, including an ancient synagogue - another place where Jesus more than likely preached at.

The church itself was beautiful, with multiple side chapels and a giant glass facade at the back of the main nave, with a view of the Sea of Galilee and an altar built like a ship in front of it. The nautical theme would have seemed a bit on the nose if not for how well made it all was.

The next site, the final one in Galilee, was a relative disappointment, but still interesting. Located within one of the many Kibbutzes (small communes) around the Sea was an Ancient Galileean Boat - literally, what it was. They uncovered it in the Sea of Galilee, which means that it could have potentially been used by Jesus, or at least by some people during that time. Anyway, it was really well in tact, and they went through a long painful process to get it restored and ready. It was well presented, but at the end of the day, it was a lot of fanfare and structure (a large museum like structure - clearly the Kibbutz is not wanting for money) for what ended up being a boat.

With that, we sailed off in our rented Toyota Corolla away from the Sea of Galilee, to Haifa, and the real 'sea' that borders Israel. The drive to Haifa was easy, giving us another view at the lush farmland and sweeping hills of Israel. Given its proximity to serious desert, I have been continually pleasantly surprised by how green the country has been.

Our return to urbania was in Haifa, Israel's third largest city, but one that has at least visual similarities to its largest. Haifa was fairly dead when we arrived, not at all surprising given it was still during the sabbath. We went to the Haifa cable car that would take us from sea level up the overlooking hill, where we could visit the first Carmelite Order monestary (just because we left the Jesus Trail doesn't mean we are done with religion, for better or worse), which we got to just in time. Afterwards, we found that right under the cable car station at the top, are three restaurants, all basically built into the cliff face with incredible views of Haifa below.

The food at the restaurant actually turned out to be excellent, despite our initial skepticism given that genearlly these restaurants with gimmickly good views often have overpriced and underwhelming food. The restaurant (Kalamaris) was not cheap, but far away from underwhelming. We ordered a hummus with minced lamb, lamb chops, and a grilled squid & shrimp dish. Each was good. Ea h was a comically large portion, and together they came with comical quantities of extras on the house (breads, salad, side veggies, ice cream, coffee & tea). When you factor in the lack of tax, and the free food included, it actualyl is probably cheap in terms of price per quantity.

After the unexpectedly large lunch, we went back down the cable cars only tto drive back up the cliff, to get to where we had a great view of the Ba'hai gardens and Ba'hai temple. Sadly, the gardens themselves were closed due to the preceding (and soon to be recurring) rain in the area, but the view we got from the top was stunning. It would have been a long walk down to the temple (which as it was, non-Ba'hai people (as we are) cannot enter, and a longer walk back up, but in absence of the trek weas the photo opportunities, and the pleasant feeling knowing we got back into our car and headed down the coast right before rain started drenching the area.

Our next site was Caesera, named quite obviously after Caeser, by old Judean King Herod, in honor of the Roman emperor. It is also a fairly complete Roman city, with some exposed excavation, such as an amphiteater, and many a roman column, all laid out quite nicely. That part was already closed for new visitors, so we were left to mainly just taking photos, but it was well worth the walk, especially since the skies nicely quieted down again.

The place also had a nice section that was probably built more recently than Herod's time, a series of odl style looking restaurants and cafes all bordering the Medditerannean Port. We stopped in one for a coffee - felt a bit bad since we were given a prime seat and most were having a meal, but he coffee was good, the view was better, and avoiding the increasingly heavy rain was best.

Off course, we could only avoid for so long, finally needing to brave the conditions on foot and in car on thw ay to Tel Aviv, finally. We reached the golden city (no idea why I'm calling it this) around 5:30pm, going straight to the Sarona market, a literal upmarket scene with so man ylittle shops selling every type of food, for local treats, to local ingredients, to french, asian and indian food. It wa a better version of a Chelsea market, in the same exposed warehouse like structure. It was a great place to get lost, and it well highlighted modern Tel Aviv.

Aftewards, we got to AirBNB, a truly modern building that also highlighted how deep into the first world this palce is. Soon we left for dinner, a quick 15-min walk down Rotschild Avenue to Milgo Milbar. There are tons of incredible restaurants in Tel Aviv. Milgo is one of them. Not the best, for certain, but a top place well worth the prices.

Milgo had a nice indoor/outdoor set-up, with the outdoor being covered with added heat lamps to make it a nice scene. The menu is varied, a nice mix after a couple days of some variation of grilled fish (St. Peter's Fish, mostly) and lamb kebabs. A lot of it was not true Israeli food, but its strong preparation, great taste, and use of local ingredients (Jerusalem Artichoke!) were all truly representative of Tel Aviv's strong and growing stronger culinary scene.

We ordered a mix of 'Medium; plates (i.e. bigger than an appetizer, smaller than an entree) and one entree. The entree was ;butcher's cut' beef with Jerusalem Artichoke and a pumpkin sauce. All parts of it were great. The three 'mediums' were a scallop & mushroom dish with an asian sauce, a pork belly dish that surprised us by being also a lettuce wrap, and then a bowl of mussels with absolutely great broth.

Again, none of these dishes are uniquely Israeli, at least when compared to what we've eaten the last few days and now considered being 'Israeli' cuisine. This is not a bad thing. The food was excellent. I have high hopes for tomorrow's dinner as well. This is what modern cuisine should be. A city like Tel Aviv should have a place like Milgo with moderately expensive pricing and fantastic food.

After dinner, I ventured out to the area near our AirBNB (at this point, sadly don't really know what neighborhood this is). There were a few clubs that were not even yet getting started that I walked past to go to October, a laid back bar, with a good DJ playing basic house in the background. It was a good scene, but also felt a bit familiar, having been to countless similar places in teh US.

One of my potential issues with Tel Aviv is how familiar it feels to home. This was a problem more distinctly in Sydney (that said, I do have Sydney like #6 on my cities ranking), where I had a nagging feeling of "I cam 10,000 miles to basically go to Chicago?". Of course, Tel Aviv has a few aspects that help its cause compared to Syndey - namely language, but there is still a feeling of I could be in America. In this case, though, that is a great thing.

Year-End Trip 2018-19: Day 7-8 - Galilee

Day 7-8: Of Nazareth & Of Galilee

This trip is by definition one centered around religion. My Mom was the person who pushed th4e most to come to Israel, the one who did most of the planning of what we should see day to day. I outsourced that fully to her and my Dad, chipping in mainly to select suitable AirBNB’s in Israel (their first AirBNB experience – not sure if they have two converts yet. The days I knew the least about were these two days, focusing on Galilee, the state/region to the North of Israel, where the land is lush, the air thin, and the sites plentiful, all relating to Jesus’s life. First we saw where he died, then where he was born, and we’ll end this portion of the trip where he spent the time in between.

We woke up to a new sight on Thursday, that of rain. It had ever so slightly drizzled during a few 30-60 min periods the first few days. This day, it would be wall to wall rain, going from light drizzles to Nor’easter-esque sheets. This is not to say it totally ruined the experience, but if anything made us more thankful that the cruel rain stayed far away during our time in Jerusalem.

The first stop after about two hours of driving through various states of durress was Nazareth, notable then for beingh the place where Jesus grew up as a child (hence the 'Jesus from Nazareth' title). The main sites here though actually are more towards Jesus's Mother and Father, particularly Mother, The main church to visit is Basilica of the Anunciation, memorializing the place where the archangel Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she would conceive the son of God. The church is beautiful, with many paintings & sculptures of Virgin Mary inside and outside, all donated and built in tribute to certain countries. The US even donated a statue that had a pretty prime position inside the Basilica.

The church was split into upper and lower Basilicas, the lower of which had a crypt grotto which is supposedly where it actually happened. I'm starting to get the hang of these places. All have some large church built either above or around some old rock or stone thought to be the site of some miracle or central piece of my religion. Sure, I can think this is a bit ridiculous, requiring suspension of belief a too few many degrees, but then again, I just went to a place that was 2000 years older in spots and blindly accepted when my tour guide told me that Hatshepshut did X on place Y without much thought.

The other sites in Nazaerth, all in the center of a hilly, sprawling little town, were commemorating Joseph's carpenter shop (of course, with church built in top), and a museum built by some international Society of Mary Worshipers, which actually had a really nice hidden treat. They offer a 60-minute, four-part multimedia show that goes over the history of the Jesus story interwovven with the places and pictures of Israel that match. The story is told in four separate mini auditoriums, all built to look like caves, with great detail given this random location. From a quality of visual aspect, it reminded me of the SAB World of Beer tour in Johannesburg; subject matter obviously quite different..

Nazareth ending up being the extent of our toursit activity the first day. We had a brief dalliance with Canaan (Kannan, in the current parlance), the site of Jesus's first miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding - if there was ever a better miracle, I don't know it. We ended up reaching the church, up one too many small tiny alleys still operating as two lane roads for my liking, ten minutes too late. It was ont he way to our final destination, so we didn't waste much time, but it was still frustrating to have survived one brush with the devil on the narrow roads of Canaan for no real value.

Tiberias was our final spot, the largest 'city' on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, a body of water present all throughout the bible in various forms, as I would become increasingly familiar with on Friday. Tiberias is a lovely little town, a lot more busy in summer when ts temperate weather and water can attract a different clientele. Even at this time of the year, though, it had its beautiful spots, like the giant hill staring us in the face from our AirBNB, full of lit houses looking like a lit-up wall. They also have great seafood, which we got to experience first hand.

The first night, we went to Avi's Restaurant, one of the four restaurants within the towns walls that I had shortlisted (restaurants was my other task in trip preparation). Avi's was a true mom and pop joint, one where I'm sure we were visited at our table by the eponymous Avi at least twice (he ever really introduced himself by name). We had one lamb kebab drowned in a green tahini sauce (a good thing - it was fantastic), and two nicely dusted and grilled fish, one a 'St. Peter's Fish' (a tilapia, basically), and a Bream. Both were really good, and super fresh, as one would expect eating these fish on the shore of the lake they should have once called home.

Our plan for Friday was action packed, as symbolically it should be with the sabbath starting at sundown. Of ourse, we wouldn't stop at sundown, but we weren't sure how much of Tiberias would, and how much, given that, could we fit in to the daylight part of the day.

All of our planned sights were within 30 minutes of Tiberias, but in all different directions. By the end, we would see some of the same people at each one, and some of the same people that we saw teh day before. It seems like even with it being literally mom & pop planned, we are essentially matching the itinerary of the tours, which is full credit to them for planning.

The first stop was the Mount of the Beatitudes (I honestly don't know the name of the location it was housed in Israel), where Jesus gave the 'Sermon on the Mount' (this being the 'Mount'), which included a few aspects but most famously the eight beatitudes (e.g. 'Blessed are the poor in sprit, they will inherit the earth'). The beautitudes are commemorated in various forms throughout the property, be it in plaques on the ground, or signage that was simialr to the Pater Nostra. 

The church itself was simplistic, but its high perch on the ttop of the Mountain, with the Sea of Galilee, this biblical body of water most holy, below it, was quite a serene view. 

Each of these stops were always outfitted with a gift shop (some seemiingly leased out, as this one sold menorahs along with the usual Jesus-based fare), and a coffeeshop, selling capucchino's, espressos, and little else. I became a regular at scarfing down these capucchinos all too often, and this was no different, especially with teh hilly driving coming up. Focus was required.

The next stop was Caperneum, home to St. Peter's, well, home, the place also where Jesus gave more well known sermons, and Jesus and his disciples milled about. Galilee, specifically Tiberias and Caperneum, were biblical centers of the New Testament, as was repeated to me many times, best so when two different places purported to be the site where Jesus walked on water.

Caperneum's church is hexagonal shape, a bit elevated built above the ruins of what is thought to be the home of St. Peter. Again, no real way to know this is true, Even less so was the 'synangogue' to the left of the church, where I have to wonder how they knew it was a synangogue (it looks like any half-recovered ruin I've seen). We were able to catch mass, or more accurately intrude on a nice church tour group from Nebraska and North Dakota who was hearing a private mass in teh church. Apparently, these private masses are all the rage on these tours, as we've encountered at least five of them so far. I do have to wonder if they are more meaningful and fun for the local priests than even the parishioners. 

From the Caperneum church, we were able to meander our way down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, working our way through some fairly dangerous looking rocks. Dangerous enough most of the far more ably bodied Euroopean visitors didn't attempt this. The goal was to dip our feet in the sea, the same water Jesus walked on. Rest assured, we didn't walk on it. I don't know if this was the true opposite, but while I was managing the whole escapade, my shoe slipped off the rock and got drenched.

Our next stop was lunch at St. Peter's Restaurant, apparently the only restaurant in town given the number of tour buses that were in its lot. If not the only restaurant, than the only one smart enough to convince all the sites to refer people to it. They must be minting money. They had a salad buffet and a choice of fish (St. peter's Fish, of course), or lamb kebab. We split both options and went on our way. The fish is still fresh, but the klimited selection did start to make an impact.

After lunch, we headed to Tabga, the last spot in the immediate circumference of the Sea of Galilee on our list of spots to hit. Tagba has a few notable moments, least of which being the second consecutive site to claim it is where Jesus walked on water. If anything, the two sites should at least collude to say he walked from one to the other. 

The more meaningful moments here are the spot where Jesus multiplied five loaves of bread and two fishes to feed thousands, and where he told Peter that Peter is his rock and he would build the church (basically the origin story of the modern Catholic Church). Both are impressively memorialized in understated fashion.

Taking a step back, all of these sites, including to some degree the ones in Jerusalem, are understated. The churches do not have the oppressive grandeur that their European counterpart basilicas do. Those churches (take St. Peter's the Vatican one) are so impressive it obscures how opressive they were in their construction, a sign of the profligacy of the Roman Catholic Church in the early and middle ages.

These are more simplistic, more refined, focusing just on their overall meaning, small little shrines to events and elements of the church's original, not needing to house the sprawl that speaks to its largesse. Of course, that's the optimistic view. The pessimistic view is that they can't be any bigger given when the church had money to spend withotu regard, Israel was locked in a trading hands of ownership, and now, there just isn't the money or lack of morals to build so big and sprawling.

The one exception to that may have been our next stop, atop Mount Tabor, where the 'Transfiguration' occurred. I won't go too into what teh Transfiguration was, but needless to say, it is an important moment in our history, as you would think given it occurred on top of a mountain overlooking rolling hills and land on every side. Given how many of these events have taken place on top of hills, I have to think Jesus and Co. were all in serious shape giving how many times they ascended and descended tortuous terrain.

The church of hte Transfiguration was perfectly beautiful, with two altars, the higher of which had a beautiful frescoed painting of the Transifiguration that was stunning. The whole church-top was great. It was terrifying to drive up about ten hairpin turns to get there, but at least when I reached the top, I had a great place to thank the Lord I made it safely, and ask in advance for a safe traversal down the slope.

The final tourist stop was us going back to Kannan to see the Church of the Wedding. They too had their crypt with old stones that we are supposed to believe was the jar that held the water that Jesus turned into wine (I'll be honest, this required the most suspension of belief of all of them), but also had some nice spots like the fact that the church has made a cottage industry of having tourists renew their vows there ('wedding church' indeed). Multiple tour groups that were there when we were had their married members partake in this. Corny? Sure. Economically smart? Absolutely. Adorable? Admittedly, yes.

We returned to Tiberias around 6pm, tired from a full day on the road. I was less tired than my parents, but probably more tired than Jesus, who I now believe spent most of his holy spirit on being able to climb up and down mountains with no adverse effect. I feel like we were more tired driving up them than he was walking.

For dinner, we went to Hermitage restaurant, an Islamic-Mediterranean joint, as needed to be given all the Jewish-owned places were closed on account to this being the sabbath. It is haunting how quiet it gets when the sabbath is upon us. The roads empty, the parking spaces full, the businesses shut down. It was a nice reminder after two days tracing Jesus's footsteps that other religions exist, and are serious about their following as well.

Year End Trip 2018-19: Day 6 - Jerusalem

Day 6: Mountains and More

We awoke on our last day in Jerusalem with a good amount of sites still left to see. That's what happens when you have things like Christmas and Sleeping In as part of your itinerary the last couple days. The schedule was actioned pack for the day, first with stops to Mountains Olives and Zion, and then a last couple rondezvousii in the old city.

Jerusalem is a large city, larger than the old city and the few train stops on the way to the old city. We learned this the semi-hard way taking the tram to Damascus Gate, and walking to the second arab bus station to catch a bus that would go the long way around the old city, up to and up on top of the Mount of Olives, the site of among other things, Jesus's Ascension, Jesus teaching the Lord's Prayer, Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemene prior to him being arrested and crucified, and a few other things.

We started at the top, at the Church of the Ascension, which was probably the one big disappointment from a site perspective in Jerusalem. The spot commemorates a special moment in teh religion, but is not treated as such. The 'church' is a small octagonal courtyard with a tiny chapel inside, with a walled off piece of exposed rock, said to be where it happened. The church is run by the Greek Orthodox (like so many other sites, for a reason that has still not really been explained. The site gets a lot of visitors because of the moment it celebrates, but really should be so much more, especially given its position at the apex of the Mount of Olives.

Luckily, the rest of the spots were better maintained, more meainingful, and more special. The next was right down the street from the Church of the Ascension, the Pater Nostra ('Our Father' in Latin, a phrase I would get a lot more closely aware of) church, memorializing where Jesus was said to teach the Lord's Prayer for the first time. This is not a huge moment, at least in comparison to the Ascension, but was so far better showcased.

First, the Pater Nostra had an open courtyard with the Lord's Prayer written out over 100+ languages, including various ancient languages and those spoken by small tribal islands. The overall experience is quite stunning.

The next part was a long traipsing walk down the mount, with countless opportunities to snap pictures of Central Jerusalem, with temple mounts and domes on rocks and all the rest. The mount also contains a giant graveyard built on teh mountain face, with graves now reportedly costing $0,00 - $100,000. The Jewish people started using this area as a gravesite when they were kicked out of Central Jerusalem one of the many times that happened over the years, as per yesterday's lessong taught me.

The main two stops were at the bottom of the mountain, which gave us a nice break to just focus on picture taking and walking down the winding alleyways taht could have easily been out of any country in Europe. I started thinking, giving the history I now better undersatnd, maybe the Europeans based it off of this instead of the other way around.

We finally reached the bottom about 20 minutes later, and reached the ifrst of the two main sites the main mountain had to offer, the Basilica of All Nations, built over the Garden of Gethsemene, the place where Jesus often came to pray, including the night before he was betrayed and killed, etc.

The Garden has been rebuilt to look like it used to, but the true gem was inside the church, in front of the cedntral altar, a large piece of exposed rock, presented the way it should be (unlike it was at the top), thought to be the actual rock where Jesus prayed that night. Yes, it requires a bit of suspension of belief that we can know it is that exact rock, but god damn if it wasn't powerful.

Multiple tour groups were a few setps behind the entire time on the Mount of Olives, taking the exact same path down. When we entered the Basilica, there were about 15-20 other people. By the time we left, that had grown to about 150, there was little elbow room around the perimeter of the rock, and no way to take a picture without a score of other tourists/pilgrims either mingling about, praying or taking their own photo.

The final stop was across the street from this, which was a Russian Orthodox memorial that was the tomb of Mother Mary (again, a big 'Thought to be' on this one). The tomb was in a really nice, very Russian Orthodox chapel built well below ground level down a series of a couple flights of stairs. By 'very Russian' I mean with oodles of lanterns fronm the ceilings, each as haunting as the others, and a large walk-in sarcophogous in the middle with the tomb. Given that Jesus didn't 'die' in the traditional sense (the 2nd time, I mean), this might be the most sacred grave in Christendom, and the Russians did it well, even if it is a bit understated.

This tour of incredibly important sites was finally over, a rapid dash through our religions history at some of its biggest moments, all on one solemn hill. I have to say, given how much walking the same roads as pharoahs and Egyptians couple months back, this was the same, except more personally more meaningful.

From the Mount of Olives to the Mount of Zion took a while before we could find a cab to take us there. We had to barter a bit, with the cabbies relying to the favorite pity tactic of crying about the abd traffic. In about ten minutes we were at the King David Tomb complex, which housed that, the room where the Last Supper was purported to take place (no bigger 'thought to have' than this one), and where Mother Mary died. In the end, there was no nicer place than the church where Mother Mary died. After going to many memorials all across Jerusalem to Christian figures, I have to say, biases aside, the Catholic maintained ones were often the best of the lot.

We then went adjacent to the Machane Yehuda market, to have lunch at Azura, a well known Mom and Pop shop that sells family style Turkish meats and stews, prepared in large giant cauldrons seen when you enter. It looks good, smells better, and tasted as good as expected. We ordered three different meats, all very delicious. First was a beef & pine nuts over eggplant (another great eggplant dish), and then two beef stews, first their version on goulash and second a beef head stew. I don't think I've had beef head before, and after having it a first time, I only want beef head. It was so soft, so perfectly cooked, so soft. Just excellent.

After lunch, we headed into the old city for the last time during the day. First to see the King David museum inside the Tower of David/Citadel complex. The Citadel is a castle looking structure that has a multi-generational, each successive ruler of Jerusalem adding their layer  on top of the preceding building. combined with a few turrets that served as picture spots, the musuem told the story of these rulers from beginning to end, with nice exhibits and artifacts for each one.

Our final Jerusalem tourism stop was back at the Holy Sepulchre church to get a more Catholic experience. Starting at 4pm, the Catholic Franciscan Monks that are stationed at the church run a procession around the church that is more or less a live stations of the cross, but extending to post-death events in Jesus's life, and also some additional niceties like a prayer in the otherwise unreachable crypt where there is an alter to St. Helena. People can join the procession, which is led exclusively by the Franciscan brothers, which also geets you unfettered views of the main chapel where the stations of Jesus's crucifixion and death are. It was a haunting, solemn, mystical forty five minutes following them around the church.

The rest of the day was a series of lasts around Jerusalem, quickly becoming a city that will find itself nicely in the bottom half of the top half of my favorite cities list (i.e., somewhere between #11-20).

Year-End Trip 2018-19: Day 5 - Bethlehem

Day 5 – The Little Town of Bethlehem, Pt. 2

Our experience yesterday in Bethlehem was interesting, to the point that it gave us a sense of the innate differences between Jerusalem (Israel) and Bethlehem (Palestine), but also enjoyed how well they presented Christmas from an overall atmosphere standpoint, down to seemingly importing a US-based choir to sing secular carols like ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’. We chose, for timing reasons, to not do any of the main sites in Bethlehem (and the larger immediate surrounding area), instead waiting to do those today. It gave us a larger sample size of Bethlehem, and more so, an appreciation of how complicated this part of the world is.

For once, I wasn’t the only person in my family fine with getting up at 10am on vacation. We probably took it a bit too leisurely, when combining coffees and shawarmas, were only ready to leave to Bethlehem from the Arab Bus station around noon. I mention the Arab bus station, as only Arab buses can go into East Bethlehem, then across the dividing line into Palestine. These buses aren’t all that much worse (in fact, we had a nice coach bus on the way there), and there were tons of tourists making the journey with us.

The hills of this slice of Israel/Palestine are truly beautiful, rolling with olive trees and vines well manicured on all sides. On the cliff sides are various houses and apartment buildings, though we would later learn that most of these are in occupied settelements (Israel occupying Palestinean land), so even with these picturesque sites there was a tinge of drama and sadness.

We reached Bethlehem and found a cabby (more like picked the most sane one out of the five or six that found us – and by found I mean absconded on us and all other bus passengers like feral wolves) that would take us to Hebron – where the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, Sara, Rachel & Jacob are housed – and back to Bethlehem’s manger square for an appropriately bargained-for price. There were still some moments of hesitation on whether or well negotiated price was truly locked in, but true or not we headed on our way.

The drive to Hebron took about 45 minutes, which included passing through two cities deeper into Palestine in HabHoull and Hebron, both less built up than Bethlehem, but still on the whole cleaner than India or even Egypt. While there is still a stark difference between this and Israel (at least from what little of Israel we’ve seen so far), I have to say Palestine (again based on what little of it we’ve seen) is still better than quite a few 3^rd world countries I’ve visited – security concerns aside.

Hebron’s main site is a perfect little slice of the conflict writ small, an incredibly important place for two religions (and through Judaisim, by extension Christianity), that has now come to a peaceful, if still a bit spiteful and not sensible, conclusion. The Mosque/Temple of Hebron is built on both sides of the demarcation line – probably the line was made to go through the temple. The Muslim half houses the tombs of Isaac and Rebecca, while the Jewish half has the tombs of Abraham, Sara, Jacob and Leah. The Muslim half didn’t allow non-Muslims in as it was prayer time when we went. The Jewish half did, but made us all wear headscarves, made us leave our driver (an Arab) outside, and checked our passports with moderate scrutiny while the main guard gave us the Larry David eye when we told him we were Catholic.

In te end, we were let in, and it was probably my first experience in a Jewish temple outside of Bat/Bar Mitzvah’s years ago. It was a weird experience. Not the religiousosity going on. That was fine. It was us (and a few other tourists) hanging around, taking photos, next to Jewish people deep in prayer. I do obviously understand this is their house of worship, but at the end of the day, their patriarchs are our patriarchs as well.

We took the requisite pictures in front of what we have to believe were the tombs of the people we were told they were of. There were no signs in English, so there were two levels of belief here, first that the people we asked were telling us rightly who was in each tomb, and then that those people were the ones in those tombs. In the end, it was a pretty amazing moment. Forget about religion for a moment. These people are pretty well sure to have existed. Sure, they were not some of the first people on earth, but at the end of the day, billions believe these are the patriarchs of their religion, their guiding light. That is still special.

The drive back to Bethlehem was uneventful, and before we knew it, we were bac in Manger square, a good 20 hours after previously being there, now able to see the place without an incredible maw – or so we thought.

We easily entered the Church of the Nativity – much like the Holy Sepulchre, also run by the Greek Orthodox church. This is the larger church to which the Cathedral of St. Catherine is attached to (where our midnight mass was the night before). It was not as astounding as the largesse of the churches in Europe, but had some amazing details. It housed frescoes and mosaics thought to be from the first church commissioned by St. Helena (Emperor Constantine’s mother, the one who uncovered most of the famous places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem). It also houses, of course, the grotto where Jesus is thought to have been born.

The line for this exceeded any line we had faced to date. We waited for about 30 min, and then reached a point where we could ask the security how long it would take. He openly told us waiting was a fools errand, that at 5pm, they close the church, and anyone still in line is told to GTFO. Because it was Christmas Day, it was busier than usual, and we had no shot – it was about 3:30 at this point.

We took their advice, and went across the hall to the now mostly empty Cathedral of St. Catherine, unrecognizable to what we saw yesterday. There was also a few grottos, first of Joseph (Jesus’s father) and St. Jerome, the person thought to be the first to translate the bible into Latin. It also holds the passage in the cave to the Manger grotto, which of course is barred at the end. Sadly, we did not discover a workaround to the three hour wait.

After a while, we finally took leave of the place, and began our long journey back to Jerusalem, first with mingling around Manger Square and taking a few pictures in a crowded, but still far less crowded than yesterday, square, then with a cursed mission to find a way back to the bus-stop, in the end well overpaying for a cab to wade through traffic that rendered it no faster than our legs.

The bus to Jerusalem gave us our first opportunity to experience a border patrol stop at the border. To this point, we had crossed from Israel to Palestine three times (not including Hebron) and not been asked a single question. Finally, border patrol agents entered the bus… and left before getting to us. Given how polarized and energized this particular border is, and the history, and current drama and tension, still lead to the conclusion of issues, I was sadly underwhelmed by how easly we went back and forth.

Back in Jerusalem, we settled in for Christmas Dinner at The Eucalyptus, one of Bethlehem’s more famous restaurants.  Wanted to have a nice Christmas Dinner in the old city, but couldn’t get my first choice Mechanyuda, a fine dining, chef’s tasting menu like joint, but couldn’t get anything +/- one week of our time in Jerusalem. I ‘settled’ for The Eucalpytus, probably Jerusalem’s 2^nd most famed restaurants.

The Eucalyptus is seated in a little strip called the ‘Arts Colony’ in the shadows of Jaffa Gate, a really nice setting that surrounds a really great restaurant. They offer tasting menus as well, but in our case we could have slightly few dishes, but focus on the ones we wanted, going a la carte, taking advantage of a truly varied and great menu. The three of us split three starters and three mains – not fully, we will be enjoying the meal for day(s) to come – all of which were good. In reality, there was a backup roster of picks that probably would have served nearly as good.

Our starters were duck confit pastille (a refined spring roll of duck with other stuff), chicken-stuffed dates with a mix of tahini and other sauces, and fish falafel with an almond and chickpea sauch. All three were very good. Probably the best was the fish falafel, with the fish just a perfect complement to the chickpea and fava bean.

The mains were a beef & eggplant stew, a ‘St. Peter’s’ grilled fish, and a Braised Lamb Muklabah (essentially an Israeli version of Biryani). Again, all three were great. The fish was grilled perfectly, just lightly dusted with the spices. The beef and eggplant was a really interesting sweet combination – the sweetness coming from quince, a local fruit. The muklabah had such amazingly flavorful rice, it made up for the fact that the meat was 50% brilliant, melt-in-your-mouth soft, and 50% bone.

Eucalyptus was a great restaurant, serving as a great Christmas Dinner, but in reality could serve for a great anytime dinner. There were a good number of dishes we probably could have ordered instead of the ones we did and had the exact same reaction. Israel has taken off lately as a food hub, and even if we missed out on Jerusalem’s top restaurant, getting their silver or bronze medal winner wasn’t too bad at all.

Year-End 2018-19 Trip: Day 4 - Jerusalem & Bethlehem

Day 4: O Little Town of Bethlehem

This is not the first time I’ve spent Christmas Eve & Christmas Day away from home, in a tropical, temperate climate instead of pillows of white clouds. There’s been India multiple times, Buenos Aires, Rome (actually quite cold) and Mexico. Still, though, it always never hits me that it is Christmas when I’m away from home. It feels different, even if the celebration is very much in the air. Maybe not in Jerusalem – though to credit them, they aren’t above putting up lights and stuff – but definitely in Bethlehem, where my parents and I would be spending the hours that turn Eve into Day, at Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity.

There would be a lot leading up to that moment, of course; various elements that went from 

ridiculous to amazing to all in between. The day started late, half because yesterday started early, the other half because today will end late into tomorrow. I even slept in an extra hour further than my parents, awaking around 10:30, making it to the Old City Jaffa Gate entrance around 11:05, right in time to meet my parents and a group of 30 or so others on a walking tour of the Old City, or “The City” in our tour guides parlance.

The walking tour wouldn’t include the Temple Mount, but did include many great views of it including a PhD level history lesson – or at least the SparkNotes of a PhD level history lesson – of Jeruselam, if not this whole part of the world.

Our tour guide was a young 40 years old local named Josh, who regaled us with tale after tale, history point after history point, and many jokes and quick turns of phrase that flew over most of our group. This is not an offense to him, given that most of the group probably did not have English as their first language.

The guide was great, the tour itself was nearly as good, a true walking tour across all four quarters of the Old City – the Armenien Quarter (which included a story on how the Armeniens landed in Jerusalem before nearly anyone else – Jews excepted), the Jewish Quarter, the Christian Quarter and the Muslim Quarter. The views were spectacular, especially a few spots that went onto rooftops with beautiful sightlines of the Temple Mount and Mt. Olive’s in the background.

The tour is advertised as two hours, with our guide telling us in advance that he will go over, which he did. He kept saying during the tour how far behind schedule we were, but you could see he enjoyed dishing out history of the area he has such a strong connection to that he couldn’t care less

Given we didn’t have a hard deadline, the extended history lesson was nice anyway. What I learned was basically this area changed hands more than any ever, from Assyrian to Jewish to Roman to Turkish to Jewish, to the same trio a few times, finally resting with the Ottomans until the 20^th Century and then all the recent moves.

After the tour, which ended outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we wandered back into the Muslim Quarter, to have a late lunch (the two-hour tour took 2:45 in the end), to the Family Restaurant (actually called that). It is probably the most well known restaurant inside the old city, and lived up to its good reputation. They had large quantities, well made simple dishes (grilled fishs, chicken liver, lamb chops) seasoned well, served well. They also had a nice roti-like bread to go along with the standard pita, that was, for us, more effective and tasty.

After lunch, we headed back to the Holy Sepulchre for a bit, before heading back to home for a quick rest before the trip for midnight mass, which is where the days adventure truly began.

We knew a few things heading in. The doors to the church would open at 9pm. There is a free shuttle from Jerusalem to Bethlehem (and the reverse) run by the city. We went to place where the shuttle comes at 7:30pm. And then the madness started. First, the shuttle never showed up for the 45 minutes we stayed there. We arrived to a crowd of 10; it grew to probably around 80 by the end. There were a lot of restless souls, all wanting to experience Christmas in Bethlehem, but much like Mary and Joseph, there was no room at the inn.

In the end, we and a british couple and their daughter decided to give up and take taxis – which cost us a pretty penny, but the driver confirmed he would pick us up as well. It got us there at least. The road to Bethlehem would take us to the first time into Palestine, which was 30% exciting, 30% nerve-wracking, and 40% underwhelming when we weren’t so much as asked to show a passport when we crossed over.

From the cab it begat another line, this time one outside the Cathedral of St. Catherine, the Catholic church that connects to the Church of the Nativity (where it is thought Jesus was born), where we lined up with probably about 200 eagerly awaiting ticket holders. The wait was made a bit better by a resplendent Manger Square, befitted with a nicely lit Christmas Tree, and carolers seemingly brought in from the US or some other native English speaking land, singing a nice mix of both religious and secular carols. Sure, hearing ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’ was a bit odd in 50 degree weather, bit then again that was cold for this part of the world.

The line became more annoying when we were stopped from entering the other line up ahead, and saw various random people (probably dignitaries or diplomats, or just really rich people) stroll by right into the church. Our tickets said doors open at 9pm, but at 9:45, we were finally making our way into the church. Then the crowds just got worse.

The church is small, probably seats no more than 500 in pews. There were a good 3,000 people. We were standing neck to neck in the aisles. A group of us just got restless after a while (remember, mass seemingly started at midnight), and sat down. This was all good, until the ushers opened up one additional row of pews, which created a rush, which made us have to get up, and somehow end up more tightly packed.

In the end, I spent a good five hours on my feet, with maybe 20 minutes seated. But it was worth it. Not for the mass itself, which was said mostly in Latin, and included a strange 11^th (or more accurately 11:59^th) hour appearance by Palestinean President Mahmoud Abbas, who then left right in the middle of the homily (in English), where he stayed for the part where the Cardinal thanked him for his appearance and support of Catholics.

Outside of the mass though, the energy, the feeling of being there, was great. I’ve been lucky enough to hear Midnight Christmas Mass at St. Peter’s in the Vatican – a bit too young to remember it, and it was with a Pope who would die less than a year later. This was more fly-by-night in its set-up and structure, but still amazing. I’m not the most ardent Catholic. I go to church, but was probably in the bottom quartile of religiousosity of the people there that day, but damn if I didn’t feel something awesome.

After mass ended around 1:15 – kudos for them actually keeping pretty close to time – we found our driver who promised to be there, but then the last bit of madness started. The main path out of Bethelehem back to Jerusalem was closed, and our driver was at a total loss for the alternate way out.

He went down random roads up and down random mini-hills that lead off of Bethlehem’s main big hill. Many times he assured us that he had to just find one particular road, a road that continually escaped him, leading to him driving down and then reversing back up roads multiple times. He finally found the right way, and due to the closures, forced us to take the two legs of the triangle rather than the direct hypotenuse, just adding to the time. Again, no real security check, all we did was confirm the driver’s statement that we were American, and we were finally back in Jerusalem, after a long day of tourism, religion and many, many lines, ready to hit the hay, much like Jesus did that night in the stable.

Year End Trip 2018-19: Day 3 - Jerusalem

Day 3: The Pilgrimage Begins, but for who?

The only part of this that was surprising is that the Roman Catholics have such a small presence here. I knew Jerusalem, more than any one city, can be claimed by so many different religions and creeds. The Jewish, Islamic and Christian faiths all have deep, deep connections to this little plot of land. But I was still surprised that ‘Christian’ so well encompassed all sects of Christianity, rather than focusing on Catholicism. Selfish thought, I know, but one I will readily admit.

Our day started in earnest at 5:15am local Tel Aviv time, walking through Tel Aviv’s large, grand, Ben Gurion airport, having a few first pastries, and taking their new express train to Jerusalem that last exactly 21 minutes (about half the time it would take to drive, assuming little to no traffic). The first impression of Israel was a very positive one, clear, well built roads and other infrastructure. Rolling rocky cliffs wsith bands of houses dotting the scenery. Before we knew it, we were thrown into the heart or Urban Jerusalem, navigating the impressive train station towards the slightly less impressive bus station to check our bags into lockers prior to our AirBNB opening up.

We decided to make good use of the morning, despite however sleep deprived we all were. For me, just the fact I now had regular eyesight after two days was enough to give me a jolt of energy – that and the double espresso at Tel Aviv airport, and cappuccino from Tel Aviv airport train station.

Our first stop was Temple Mount, tucked into the old city, probably the most sacred place in the city for two of the three faiths that have realistic claims to Jerusalem as the dominant religion from a sacred-ness standpoint. Personally for me, as a Catholic, there is nothing tying Temple Mount, including the Dome on the Rock mosque inside the square, and the Western Wall on the side, to me other than how it ties into the Jewish faith, but we were still starting off our time in Jerusalem at a high point.

Temple Mount has strict opening times and stricter rules – women must cover their heads, no non-Muslim is allowed into one of the two mosques inside. Any group photo must not include any touching (e.g. placing your arms around others) – a rule we were told off on by one of the guards who demanded we delete the photo. Even past all these minor annoyances, the views and site were staggering.

The first of many (hopefully short) history lessons, Temple Mount was originally the highest site of Jerusalem, where it is said Abraham took his son Isaac to be sacrificed, and later where King David founded the city, and his son King Solomon built the great temple. Later, Jesus was said to predict the temples would turn to rubble. Along the many twisted tails of Jerusalem’s ownership (i.e. dominant religion & rulers), it would turn to rubble a couple of times, finally rebuilt as two mosques by Saladin in around 1100 AD. It is these two mosques that still stand. The main one, the Dome of the Rock, is built on top of the site that was where Abraham took his son, as is one of the most holiest spots in the world.

This is why Jewish people don’t go inside, but instead pray on the Western (Wailing) Wall, which was a site to behold as well. The Western Wall had a large open area, and then two prayers sections leading up to the wall. I myself was a little too feeble to go inside the male prayer section, though I definitely saw other gentiles do so.

The views from the Temple Mount were great, both of New Jerusalem to the West, and Mt. Olive to the right, and greater Israel to all directions. It truly was a great way to start the meat of the trip.

After Temple Mount, we ventured back to the bus station, checked into our well decorated and perfect sized AirBNB, and headed off to the Israel Museum, which contains a few notable sights: the Dead Sea Scrolls, an impressive selection of random European master artists (Picasso, Monet, Cezanne, etc.), and a really phenomenal history of Israel section that goes through everything with tons of artifacts and status and frescoes and relics and more. The Museum has more than this, but we had limited time and focused on these areas.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were great, and housed well in an impressive structure, but sadly we couldn;’t take photos. It was cool just learning about the strenuous restoration process, and getting a view at truly old timey documents, calligraphy and religious texts. The history section was a rush – honestly, it deserves probably 1-2 hours on its own and we gave it a tidy 40 minutes. There were full sections talking about Israel going back to Egyptian & Assyrian rule, through Roman rule, through Ottoman rule, up to Modern day.

Lunch was at Modern, a top restaurant in the city that I had marked down that I learned during our trip to the museum was actually adjoining the museum. The restaurant does not have the look and feel of your standard museum restaurant, and would probably be a recommendation if we had to travel separately to get there. We split a couple appetizers and entrees, all of us fairly hungry having not eaten since the day started in Tel Aviv airport.

We got an eggplant bruschetta (nice ingredients, but probably the weakest dish), a good roasted beet salad, and then mains of a beef, potatoe and artichoke stew (really nice, meat was really soft), and an Israeli take on a chicken schnitzel crossed with a chicken pot pie, with bits of chicken minced with some veggies cooked inside of a stringy dough that resembled the outside of a piece of baklava. The presentation & imagination were fantastic, the taste was as good.

After lunch, not wanting to give in to jetlag, we ventured back into the Old City, this time going to a Christian spot, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is probably the most sacred church and/or landmark in all of Christendom write large (i.e. all of Christianity, not just Catholicism), which adds to its strange charm, as six different groups of Christianity stake claim to various parts of this building.

On its face, the Church is not too impressive outside, dimly lit inside. It is essentially owned and operated by the Greek Orthodox church (not sure how they ended up with the lucky draw), with little slabs here and there parceled out. Why all the fuss? Well, this is the church that was built on top of the site of where Jesus was crucified, died and was buried, and rose again on the 3^rd day (I promise that is the last time I quote the ‘I Believe’). Some of this has to be taken at face value, but the most certain of all these claims is probably the ‘crucified and died’ parts, where a chapel (broken up between the Greek Orthodox & Catholic churches) is over the rocks where Roman Empress Helena excavated and found three crosses in AD 320 or so.

Probably due to the fly-by-night nature of the building and its feuding tenants, it is not well kept, but the incredible mix of cultures, languages, creeds and peoples milling around, feeling various levels of sacredness and connection, is pretty special. There were lines for both to pray at the Altar where Jesus would have died, and then visit his tomb (where a piece of rock said to be the stone that capped the tomb still lies). For the altar, it was a solemn moment. For the tomb, it was rushed, with a Greek Orthodox priest rushing people in and out in a hectic fury.

We finally left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre area with nightfall having descended early upon Jerusalem. Our day, despite starting pre-sunrise, was far from over however.

First we took a stop to the Machene Yahuda market, Jerusalem’s famed quasi-open air market, which was buzzing in the same way all main city markets do. The best little piece of food we picked up was a cheese filled baklava, warm and heavenly. My mom took in the spices and fresh fruit as well, happy to take some spices home, sad because the fruit would prove a bigger challenge, not that it stopped her from getting a basket of figs.

There was no real plan as such for dinner. One of the restaurants that I had looked up and shortlisted, Jacko Street, was around the corner from the market, but had a truly uninspired menu for the prices (overall, Israel is suburban or Midwest US prices). Across the street, however, was a bustling place called Haztot. It required a 15 min wait, but the style, the menu, and the tag-line of ‘original mixed grill in Jerusalem’ – however specious those types of taglines are – drew us in.

The overall experience at Haztot was great. There was a varied starter set of pita with myriad dips and pickled vegatables. We got a starter set of XXXXX and YYYYY, both quite good, and large portions, which made the price easier to take. Not that it is too expensive, but overall it took us a bit to understand that Israel in nature, in experience and in economy, is not 3^rd world – price is very much a part of that. Our one main was the mixed grill, which included chicken, veal, and chicken liver – not my favorite but my parents who swear by it loved it.

After dinner, I said goodbye to my parents and wandered backwards to the Mahene Yachuda market for drinks at Beer Bazaar, tucked away at the very back end of the market. It was still rather early (relatively, for drinks) and the place was full of mostly locals (i.e. people speaking Hebrew). They have their own set of house-made brews covering all the bases with quirky names like Bindhi for their IPA and Wheatney for their Wheat beer (OK, some were a bit on the nose). I tried both their stout and their wheat, both quite pleasant. Around 10pm, a DJ came in and played fairly soothing house music for all of us. When I left, the main strip of Yachuda market had fully changed into a mix of bars, hookah shops, and the like. It was truly a stunning change, one that made me feel a bit sad that tiredness and schedule conspired to end my night early.

It was a full first day in Jerusalem. Since with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day coming up, and unsure about how open the sites would be (mainly the Christian ones – though to note, most of the Orthodox church’s don’t celebrate Christmas, or at least don’t on 12/25), we packed a lot into a first, literally full, overstuffed, day.

Year-End Trip 2018-19: Day 1-2 - Madrid

Day 1-2: Out of Sight and Out of Time

This figures to be an amazing, a second annual intercontinental trek utilizing the forced leave between Christmas and New Year’s and the handful of days around it, to get a proper two week vacation. Last year, it was the remote isolation of Patagonia. This year, it is a trip straight into the most ethnically and religiously diverse part of the world, a two week trip through Israel and Jordan, two countries high on my list of places, higher on my parent’s list, both because they’ve been to more places (ex: China, Russia), and the religious pilgrimage aspect of the trip is even stronger.

One added bonus of the trip was 10 hours in Madrid on a stopover. Somehow, someway, through a combination of my own stupidity, and that of Air Europa’s inadequacy, the stop in what had been my #1 favorite international city nearly short-circuited the entire trip.

Let’s start out with a few truths, I have worn contacts for roughly twelve or thirteen years. In the last year, I’ve started having issues where my contacts would slip up or down, leading to blurry, unusable vision. This happened to my right eye basically the second I sat down in my seat on Air Europa. Not to any fault of Air Europa, though not not to any fault either, it didn’t get better over the course of six scattershot hours of sleep. Worse, when I left the plane, the left eye started giving trouble. That’s when I remembered the next two truths, or facts rather, (1) I packed my toilet case with my contact case, glasses and extra contacts mistakenly in my suitcase that was checked to Tel Aviv; and (2) I didn’t have any spare left eye contacts having not replaced my empty pack at home.

As you can imagine, this torpedoed the day to some degree. I took the early good fortune of finding a mom and pop pharmacy, adorned with the neon green plus sign outside, that had a contact case and salene solution. I played the long game, surrendering to walk around like a blind mice for a day to make things better down the road. My next stroke of luck is when my mom found a glasses store and confirmed, unbeknownst to me, that you can get contacts without a prescription in most non-US countries. So suddenly, despite still vision-lacking, my prospects for the Israel and Jordan swaths of the trip were far brighter.

Amazingly, through a combination of squinting too much and taking too many photos that clarified the blurried sights, and an overall air of festiveness, Madrid holds onto its #1 place to me. I do need to go back to vet it more fully. Madrid was the first place I traveled to as an adult outside the US by myself, going there in March, 2010. That certainly lends a bit of draw that other cities can’t match.

Before we get to Madrid, though, I must talk about Air Europa. I knew going in that Air Europa was an Low-cost carrier. However, like Air Berlin before it, I expected some level of not-low-cost-ness on a Transatlantic flight from JFK to Madrid. Wrong, totally wrong. We did get food. Not great food, but decent no worse than United on Newark-to-London routes food. What we didn’t get at all though, is entertainment. The ‘movie’ selection was an overhead screen one every ten rows showing movies on loop – something that I last experienced, from what I can remember, in 2001, maybe 2003. This is archaic technology. I can’t remember the last time I was on a widebody that didn’t have seatback entertainment.

Now, given I wanted to sleep, and had the vision issues anyway, I didn’t care; but color me incredibly thankful my flight back from Amman, Jordan, is on Lufthansa, and a brand new (relatively) B747-8i, instead of what may be the first Airbus A330-200 ever built. Quick spoiler, Air Europa was no better on their other flight from Madrid to Tel Aviv. The less said about Air Europa the better.

Back to better news, with Madrid. We had not too many things to see, with my parents and I having all gone recently enough to remember most of the key sites. The most natural tourist site we visited was the Reina Sofia museum, which surprised us all being so modern and surrealist leaning. Given that its showcases are Guernica and various Dali paintings, it shouldn’t be a surprise, but given I definitely went there in 2010, I feel like either I missed a lot, or the museum has changed a lot. Both equally likely. The layout is still good. The main events are still stunning, though I am a bit bitter that there was laser-eye focus on making sure no one, even the most weasily photographers, was able to snap a picture of it.

Prior to the museum, we went to a cute tapas bar, Gato Gato, sitting in the behind shadows of the Reina Sofia. Well rated, found quickly using ‘Google’ as a service, Gato Gato was great. We split a few tapas and few larger small plates, all well cooked, from a pumpkin soup, to both a beef stew and pork cheek stew that we couldn’t tell apart, but could tell quickly how well the meat was cooked, both just emlting from a light touch of a fork.

The one slight disappointment was Madrid’s local Mahou beer being far more Kingfisher than I remember it being – something I can absolutely point to Madrid being my first solo international trip clouding judgement and memories.

After the museum, we stuck with various levels of Christmas fare from then on out, checking out multiple of the Spanish capitals Christmas Markets, lit up Christmas Trees, nativity scenes, packed streets with lights on each side and above, and all the rest. Excepting Italy, the continent’s most proudly Catholic country was in full Christmas season to a level that put Rockefeller Center to shame.

The first stop was Plaza Mayor, Madrid’s largest square, which had a giant Christmas market, selling many nativity scenes and associated buildings, animals, flora, etc, that can enliven up those scenes. For us, people who have built our own sprawling crib scene every Christmas, it was a paradise, and we walked away with a few novel things. It was fascinating also to see these stands so crowded; more crowded, in fact, than the ones selling hawkerish Christmas hats and shirts and the like.

We left Plaza Mayor around 5pm, not having the patience to wait until 6pm and the tree being lit. Instead, walking about half a mile, with various Christmas window shopping related stops on the way, to Puerto Sol, to see their tree being lit. Puerto Sol is in the heart of Madrid, a bit more open than the closed off Plaza Mayor, with each artery extending outwards jam packed with window lights and store decorations. When the tree promptly lit a divine blue color at 6pm sharp, the crowd was aghast one second, and with camera phone in hand the next – me included. It was a magical sight, one potentially enhanced by the blurred vision?

Due to Madrid’s strange anywhere within city limits is EUR 5.50 policy (seriously), we were able to scratch off a few more sites before having to head back to the madness that was Air Europa. First was seeing the Palacio Real all lit up, with some Christmas lights and music, and nativity scene outside the adjourning Cathedral, and then walk over the the jam-packed, understandable for a Saturday, Mercado San Miguel, where we scrumped down various meat and fish tapas to fill our bellies enough so that we could sleep right through the 4hr30min flight to Tel Aviv.

In the end, getting a quick layover is always a nice bonus to any trip, and getting a chance to visit my #1 city, even somewhat visually impaired, was more than worth it. We picked Air Europa because it was relatively cheap both by cash (me) and points (my parents). We also picked it because we could get a day more-or-less in Madrid. That all worked out. My forgetfulness didn’t. In the end, I wouldn’t not pick Air Europa, I would just make damn well sure I pack my contacts.

10 Years Later: The Mumbai Attacks

I am Indian. If I have to self-identify, I do as that. Over the years, I've grown proud to be Indian. Actually, I was always proud, but I'm now more proud to be 100% Indian. When I was really young, and we were regaled in history class stories of Ellis Island and my classmates ancestors coming across, scores of the 'poor, huddled masses', etc., I desperately wanted to have another flag in my family tree aside from India's. I can twist and contort my personal history to include the Portuguese flag, the peoples that colonized the ancestral part of India I am from (Goa), converting many of my ancestors, changing our names to Portuguese names (Pinto and Menezes in my case - the name of the ex-Portuguese National Team goalkeeper and ex-Brazil National Team head coach). Let's be honest, very likely the Portuguese had their way with some and there is a non-zero chance I have some Portuguese blood in me.

I am a Mumbaikar. I am from Mumbai. My roots are from Mumbai. My grandmother's apartment still exists in Mumbai, and that is where my connection to this story lies. That was a long intro, but it means something to be a Mumbaikar, especially in 2018, ten years after our city was rocked. More than a Mumbaikar, I am a person connected with Colaba, the old home of all things Mumbai, a district that is still a bit lost in the times, the colonial home of Mumbai's beauty, but now surpassed as industry expanded their horizons. Of course, Colaba is still important to Mumbai writ large, and was the location of the attacks that rocked the city in November, 2008. The assailants, Pakistani loyalists somewhat led by a US-born terrorist, focused on Colaba, on my home, with excruciating impact.

From my grandparent's flat, the one my Dad and his brothers and sisters grew  up in, where my Aunt and cousin still live, you can see the Taj hotel rising above across the street and couple gullies (alleys, in US parlance). Their apartment building is across the street, literally, from the Leopold Cafe. These landmarks meant little to me pre-2008. But after the terrorists started their attack at the Leopold cafe, exiting and running towards the Taj to hold that majestic hotel hostage, it meant a lot more. I was not in Mumbai that night. My cousin and Aunt were, and they heard the gunshots. I distinctly remember us (my family and my uncle's in Boston) calling my aunt who lived in Colaba that evening, not fully realizing the seriousness and criticality of it all.

In the gulley that connects Leopold Cafe and the Taj Hotel is a tailor - Waghela Tailors. A man who I assume is Mr. Waghela, was killed in the attack. He was in process of closing up his shop, rapidly turning the crank that would gate up his store, when a shot randomly fired off of an assault rifle by a terrorist hit him. He was my dad's tailor. 

His son runs the store now, still remember who Vera Menezes's kids are, and by extension, to some degree who I am. Furthering my connections to the attack, my Uncle got married at the Taj Hotel in 1981. There are multiple pharmacies there, all of whom know my family, having set up shop in Colaba, off the causeway, since 1960-something. They all experienced loss. They all heard the gunshots.

I live close to New York. I went to the World Trade Center about a week before teh attack. I loved that building. Still, I am so much more closely connected, at a personal level, to the Mumbai attack than 9/11. In a weird way, the connection to the Mumbai attack grew over time, as I learned just how close my family lived, just how personal the ties were. 

When the attack happened in November, 2008, I hadn't been to Mumbai for five years, and hadn't visited our apartment in the Esperanca building in seven years. My grandmother died in 2002. I last visited in 2001, obviously too young to understand the legacy of Colaba, the Taj Hotel, and Leopold Cafe. Honestly, in 2001, no one really knew about Leopold Cafe.

I visited Mumbai next in 2011, a one day trip on a layover from Bangalore back to the US. I visited in earnest in 2011 summer, spending six weeks in Mumbai, all the while looking forlornly out my apartment window at the Taj, rising as a pillar above the cloudy monsoon-laden skies. I went to the Taj for the first time (that I can remember) during that trip. And went to Leopold countless times, with the bullet-shattered windows still left unfixed, a testament and monument to the horror that was November 28th, 2008. 

I can't stress enough that my family's home is right across the street from Leopold Cafe, a good five minute walk to the Taj. 10 years later everyone in Mumbai has commendably moved on. Waghela is run by his son. The Taj has laxed its security - so much so it allowed me and my cousin to enter at 2am after a temporary blackout cut power in our flat in 2013. Leopold is as popular as ever, now with a whole host of white people, transient tourists as patrons.

In the ten years since the attack, I have visited our apartment six different times, each time marvelling how close we were to the action. My cousin, as horrifying as it sounds, had a birds-eye view to my country's 9/11. If we picked the perfect moment, we could have seen the terrorists leave the Leopold Cafe post-attack and run through the gulley back to the Taj, all from our perch on the 3rd floor of Esperanca building. In a way, I'm, happy I was 8.000 miles away on 11/28/2008, but also wish I could have been there, to have a first-hand view of how evil people can be. But then also have a reference point to remember again how well man moves on. Never in defiance, but in memoriam.

There is a reason the attackers picked so many landmarks in Colaba. It was the heart off the Colonial era Mumbai. When I tell fellow Indian acquaintances that my family lives there, I often get met with a stare and awe. I am not close enough to India to verify how rare or special this is. What I see in Colaba is its age. There is a great amount of history and import to be sure, but when my cousin and I want to go out, we go to Lower Parel or Bandra, or areas that have left their colonial roots well behind. 

But Colaba is that center. Be it the western tourists that walk its causeway, fighting past hawkering stall owners looking for a fix. Be it the landmarks that were so present long before my consciousness. Be it the new places that have sprung up post attack - like Stock Bar or Colaba Social. Be it the long remembered Sports Bar XS, which was my cousin and my haunt du jour in 2011 summer.

I've lived too close to many terrorist attacks. Obviously, 9/11is the most present. Change a few variables, and I could have lost my Dad (he didn't go to the ;Windows of the World' breakfast that day, on the 110th floor of the 2nd building) and Uncle (who normally took the Boston-to-Los Angeles flight that was hijacked). Someone in my neighborhood lost their dad. Todd Beamer, one of the people who led the mutiny on Flight 93, went to my family church. I still remember when a guidance counselor entered our class room and called out a student, a friend, who's dad worked in the building, luckily on the third floor.

A bit more opaquely, I went to Istanbul Airport two weeks before it was attacked by terrorist bombs. I was in Dallas a week before a shooter opened fire during a rally. I've had my close cases. That all said, apart from the highest interpretation of 9/11, nothing comes close to the Mumbai Attack.

I didn't know it at the time, but over the years, I've grown to appreciate both the intimacy the attack could have had to me, and how well us fellow Mumbaikars have turned the blind eye and just moved on. There is tragedy and bloodshed all over those gulleys, but Mumbai moved on. Each night I spend in the Esperanca building, I look out of our window to a Taj Hotel Tower that was once on fire with hostages inside, look across the street to Leopold Cafe, which still wears its scars, and think of what could have been. But also what has become., a city that moved on, shoved the desolation in the face of the assailants, moved on with pride, whether it being Waghela's son, or Bademiya expanding, or Leopold Cafe squeezing every ounce of notoriety for being location zero.

I am a Mumbaikar. In that sense I move on as we all do. The only time I've been to the Taj hotel was post-attack, same with Leopold, where today I go and order my Kingfisher without even glancing upwards at the window with bullet-holes still in it. I've taken a train from CST (aka VT) station). I've walked the causeway, walked the gulley. I've changed to an OCI resident visa status to allow me to go back and forth to India - something not allowed with a generic visa after a US-born person went back-and-forth from Pakistan to Mumbai to aid in the planning. I am a Mumbaikar who now understands the stakes, who understands that I could have heard the gunshots. It was thanksgiving weekend in the US, and I am thankful for getting to live through what happened next.

NFL 2018: Week 16 Power Rankings & The Rest

Tier I - The "2019 is just around the corner" Quadro

32.) Arizona Cardinals  (3-11  =  192-367)
31.) Oakland Raiders  (3-11  =  260-418)
30.) New York Jets  (4-10  =  292-359)
29.) New York Giants  (5-9  =  307-348)

No point in dwelling. We have a clear bottom four. In a nice bit of symmetry, three of them were also three of the worst four teams 15 years ago (Cardinals, Raiders, Giants, who all went 4-12 that year along with 4-12 San Diego). If I had to rank which of these teams has the best chance to recover in 2019, it would be the Jets given their QB may improve drastically, and there is marginally more structure there than Arizona. For the Giants, they really just have to cut ties with Eli. The fact he may have played himself into starting in 2019 is just ridiculous.


Tier II - The "The end of the long night" Quadro

28.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers  (5-9  =  344-403)
27.) Jacksonville Jaguars  (4-10  =  225-289)
26.) Detroit Lions  (5-9  =  284-333)
25.) San Francisco 49ers  (4-10  =  301-373)

These are prime spoilers for the last two weeks of the season. Tampa can't really spoil anything unless Dallas also loses Week 17. Detroit can really make life complicated for Minnesota, which given that game is in Detroit can easily happen. The Lions seem hapless on the road, but have beaten solid teams all year long at home, wreaking havoc on the NFC. The Jaguars can knock off Miami fully, and then maybe push the Texans out of the #2 seed (assuming Philadelphia doesn't do that again). The 49ers have two chances to repeat what they did to Seattle, with the chance to end the Bears dream of a bye, or maybe the Rams chance of a bye. In reality, the group in the lowest tier can play spoiler too, but let's be real.


Tier III - The "How did they win so many games?" Duo

24.) Buffalo Bills  (5-9  =  215-333)
23.) Cincinnati Bengals  (6-8  =  337-413)

The Bills have one of the worst point differentials, not helped by some truly lop-sided losses. In a way though, I want to commend them for squeezing out five wins, for having a solid defense, top-5 by DVOA, despite having limited talent. Sean McDermott has done a great job on that side of the ball. The offense is so limited, but they've even done well creating a weird scheme based on Josh Allen's running ability. The Bengals I can't really commend, but they've been decent with Driskell at QB. I don't think he's going to push Dalton, but he's a reasonable player.


Tier IV - The "Sad little .500 teams" Duo

22.) Miami Dolphins  (7-7  =  295-374)
21.) Washington Redskins  (7-7  =  265-310)

In theory, both these teams are alive. The Dolphins need a million things to break their way, but they can also go 9-7 fairly easily. I do wonder what happens with Adam Gase and Tannehill. It's clear there is a cap on their success, and while Gase can churn out 7-9 or 9-7 seasons in his sleep, they need a full restructuring. The Redskins don't, but man having to depend on Josh Johnson is so depressing. Their run probably ends this week with Tennessee, but that Jacksonville win probably spares Jay Gruden as it removes the chance of ending on a seven game losing streak.


Tier V - The "What the hell happened?" Duo

20.) Atlanta Falcons  (5-9  =  356-381)
19.) Green Bay Packers  (5-8-1  =  332-331)

The Falcons and Packers were betting favorites to make the playoffs - admittedly both as Wild Cards, but to see them both fall so spectacularly is something to behold. People have largely let the Falcons fall without much time spent examining their issues. A lot of that is probably the spate of injuries on defense, but they've been a huge disappointment, including their passing game slipping last few weeks (last week's game excepted). The Packers are a bit more bizarre. By point differential, they aren't too bad. By actual play, they are really bad. They will be a smart trendy pick next year if they can get a coordinator or play-caller that can rein in Rodgers a bit. It is a bit ironic that these are the exact same issues that ended the Mike Sherman era, when Favre stopped respecting the coach. Which of course led to the hiring of Mike McCarthy in the first place.


Tier VI - The "Probably not, but still somewhat alive" Trio

18.) Carolina Panthers  (6-8  =  333-344)
17.) Cleveland Browns  (6-7-1  =  309-348)
16.) Denver Broncos  (6-8  =  306-299)

RIP the Panthers, the most surprising collapse I've seen. Of course, change like three plays, and they are 8-6 and a likely wild card team - be it the missed field goals against Detroit, converting the late TD against Cleveland or the DJ Moore fumble in the red zone against the Saints. I think they shut down Cam, and I'm getting the feeling they fire Ron Rivera, which I think is a mistake. For the Browns and Broncos, neither team is likely making the playoffs, and are going in opposite directions in 2019. The Broncos need their Baker Mayfield. Case Keenum is not the answer. For Baker, it will be so critical what happens to the coaching staff. It is hard to believe that the Browns have stumbled into magic with Gregg Williams and Freddie Kitchens, but the results more or less speak for themselves. They have one of the best offenses in the NFL since Kitchens replaced Hue/Haley. The Broncos are in an interesting position being in a tough division, with aging talent leading a team destined for 7-9 or 8-8.


Tier VII - The "If we can just get in...." Quadro

15.) Philadelphia Eagles  (7-7  =  311-318)
14.) Tennessee Titans  (8-6  =  268-254)
13.) Minnesota Vikings  (7-6-1  =  323-308)
12.) Dallas Cowboys  (8-6  =  276-269)

All of these teams have hopes of making it in. The Cowboys have a really good chance obviously, the Vikings have to win just one more game. But all that said, none of these teams are really that good. The Eagles can pretend Foles will recapture 2017, but there are issues with that OL and secondary that are not getting fixed. The Titans have a great defense, and it will come down likely to their Week 17 game agianst the Colts, but they've not beaten a Luck or Manning led Colts team since 2008. The Vikings are seemingly fixed, but it is hard to trust their jekyll & hyde nature. With Dallas, they are going to win the division unless they lose both games and either Philly or Washington win both, but I don't think Seattle, or any potential #5 seed, will fear that location. To be fair, their loss to the Colts was more about terrible 4th down luck than actual terrible play.


Tier VIII - The "They hope we don't get in...." Duo

11.) Seattle Seahawks  (8-6  =  363-292)
10.) Indianapolis Colts  (8-6  =  372-300)

Same record. Basically same point different (+71 vs. +72). Same seventh year QB having a brilliant season. The Seahawks and Colts are scary wild card teams. The Seahawks are probably making it, and more probably playing Dallas in the first round. Even in past year's the Seahawks peak as a wild card team has been the divisional round, but they have a high peak. The Colts may easily miss the playoffs, but this season has been a huge success. Frank Reich was a great hire. Eberflus might be even better - the one gift Josh McDaniels gave the Colts in his quick run atop the mountain. The alternative #6 seeds (Ravens/Steelers most likely) are scary as well, but the Colts are a terrifying team if you are New England or Houston in that #3 seed.


Tier IX - The "Old AFC Guard" Trio

9.) New England Patriots  (9-5  =  374-310)
8.) Pittsburgh Steelers  (8-5-1  =  384-316)
7.) Baltimore Ravens  (8-6  =  341-253)

This year's AFC has a clear best three teams/ And none of the Patriots, Steelers or Ravens (who along with 'Team QBed by Peyton Manning' have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl each of the last 15 years) are one of those three. The Patriots are out of excuses. They may luck into the #2 seed if hte Texans slip up (basically what happened in 2013 as well, the last Patriots team that was this weak). They just lost to Pittsburgh in a game where they picked off Roethlisberger twice and held them to 17 points. They punted five straight drives against Pittsburgh. Speaking of Pitsburgh, they too can't feel too good about barely beating the Patriots despite holding them to 10 points. Neither team came out of that game looking good, except for the Steelers savings their season before they head to the Superdome. For the Ravens, I do wonder how long they can continue this smoke and mirrors run the ball show, but that defense continues to be great. This is the recipe of the team that got the #6 seed at 9-7 in 2009 and beat the Patriots the last time the Patriots didn't get a bye and didn't win 12 games.


Tier X - The "2008 contenders in 2018" Duo

6.) Houston Texans  (10-4  =  352-281)
5.) Chicago Bears  (10-4  =  383-264)

It's a bit unfair to call the Texans a 2008 contender, but both of these teams are built off of incredibly talented defenses, and skittery offenses with 2nd year QBs and nice playmakers. For the Texans I get the feeling Bill O'Brien is limiting his QB and weapons, while Trubisky limits Nagy's scheme. The defenses are great, the Texans more dominant at home when Watt and Clowney can truly doinate. Quietly, Watt has 14.5 sacks this year and has been the 2nd best defensive player in football. The Bears have to hope the Eddie Jackson injury isn't too serious, as they have a special defense going.


Tier XI - The "Big 4 Challengers" Quadro

4.) Los Angeles Rams  (11-3  =  448-343)
3.) Los Angeles Chargers  (11-3  =  395-298)
2.) Kansas City Chiefs  (11-3  =  499-380)
1.) New Orleans Saints  (12-2  =  459-292)

Let's put the Chargers aside for the moment - all I'll say about them is I hope to dear god Keenan Allen gets healthy as I want them 100% in the playoffs. For the other three, the big three teams of 2018, all have serious questions. The Chiefs defense continues to be a problem - but that offense is still special. They do miss Kareem Hunt in the screen game however, which puts more pressure on Conley and those other receivers. For the Rams, there are serious problems. With two winnable games to go, they should still get a bye, but that offense does not look right. Some teams have little dips (we'll get to another one in a second), but their defense is not good enough to survive a sustained offensive dip. For the Saints, I'm still thinking this offensive blip will get fixed, but this is four straight sub-par game from Brees and Co (coming right after scoring 45-51-48 in three straight games). Unlike the Rams, their defense has been spectacular, allowing them to go 3-1 in the low offensive point, and admittedly all of the last three were on the road, but I don't think a Chicago or Dallas will fear going into the dome after all.


Projecting the Playoffs

AFC

1.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  13-3
2.) Houston Texans  =  12-4
3.) New England Patriots  =  11-5
4.) Baltimore Ravens  =  10-6
5.) Los Angeles Chargers  =  12-4
6.) Indianapolis Colts  =  10-6


NFC

1.) New Orleans Saints  =  13-3
2.) Los Angeles Rams  =  13-3
3.) Chicago Bears  =  11-5
4.) Dallas Cowboys  =  9-7
5.) Minnesota Vikings  =  9-6-1
6.) Seattle Seahawks  =  9-7


Predicting the Awards

MVP:

1.) Patrick Mahomes
2.) Drew Brees
3.) Philip Rivers

After Brees's 4th straight off performance, I do think Mahomes has wrapped this up. Even if they lose to the Seahawks and the Chargers win the division, Mahomes is a good shot to beat Marino's old TD record at 48, with a shot at 50. I'm sorry, the consistent best unit this season was the Chiefs offense and he's the most important part. The way things are trending, I may bump Rivers up ahead of Brees. At the end, unless Mahomes ends poorly, we are in pure 'career achievement' area with Brees. Yes, I agree it is sad someone as great all-time as Brees is never won an MVP, but sadly he just was never the best QB in any one season.


OPOTY

1.) Patrick Mahomes
2.) Todd Gurley
3.) Adam Thielen

Again, guy is going to end up with 47-51 TDs. There's no way he doesn't win this award. Gurley has been a monster again, and while he won last season I still think he's one of the most dynamic players in the NFL. Theilen has been quieter the last few weeks, but will end up with a silly consistent all time season.


DPOTY

1.) Aaron Donald
2.) JJ Watt
3.) Eddie Jackson

Donald is a monster. There's no one really in his league as a palyer at the moment. The only guy in recent memory that was is the guy I think is #2 this year. I'm so happy JJ Watt has returned to prominence after two seasons in teh wilderness. I would love someone to do a breakdown if Donald is better now than Watt was from 2012-2015. I don't think eh was. Watt from that era was arguably the best defensive player ever. For Eddie Jackson, I just hope he gets healthy.


COTY

1.) Matt Nagy
2.) Frank Reich
3.) Anthony Lynn

I think if Frank Reich's Colts get to 10-6 and snag a wildcard he may get it steering the Colts from a 1-5 start (admittedly, he was the coach of the selfsame 1-5 Colts). Anthony Lynn will probably get dinged a big since he was there last year, and a lot of people liked the Chargers coming into the year, but in a world of everyone loving zany offensive minds, it is easy to forget Lynn's Chargers have gone 19-7 in their last 26 games. Nagy should get it, even if Vic Fangio is the biggest reason for their success. Nagy's taken a scatter-shot QB and mix of average and good parts into a fungible offense.


Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

16.) Denver Broncos (6-8)  @  Oakland Raiders (4-10)  (MNF - ESPN)
15.) Green Bay Packers (5-8-1)  @  New York Jets (4-10)  (1:00 - FOX)

I call it "Bad vs. Bad" Monday and Sunday,


14.) Atlanta Falcons (5-9)  @  Carolina Panthers (X-X)  (1:00 - FOX)
13.) Cincinnati Bengals (6-8)  @  Cleveland Browns (6-7-1)  (1:00 - CBS)
12.) Jacksonville Jaguars (4-10)  @  Miami Dolphins (7-7)  (1:00 - CBS)

I call it "Essentially Bad vs. Bad" Sunday,


11.) Buffalo Bills (5-9)  @  New England Patriots (9-5)  (1:00 - CBS)
10.) New York Giants (5-9)  @  Indianapolis Colts (8-6)  (1:00 - FOX)
9.) Washington Redskins (7-7)  @  Tennessee Titans (8-6)  (Sat - NFLN)
8.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-9)  @  Dallas Cowboys (8-6)  (1:00 - FOX)
7.) Minnesota Vikings (7-6-1)  @  Detroit Lions (5-9)  (1:00 - FOX)
6.) Los Angeles Rams (11-3)  @  Arizona Cardinals (3-11)  (4:05 - FOX)
5.) Houston Texans (10-4)  @  Philadelphia Eagles (7-7)  (1:00 - CBS)
4.) Chicago Bears (10-4)  @  San Francisco 49ers (4-10)  (4:05 - FOX)

I call it "Holy Hell there are a lot of Good vs. Bad" Saturday and Sunday,


3.) Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5-1)  @  New Orleans Saints (X-X)  (4:25 - CBS)
2.) Baltimore Ravens (8-6)  @  Los Angeles Chargers (11-3)  (Sat - NFLN)
1.) Kansas City Chiefs (11-3)  @  Seattle Seahawks (8-6)  (SNF - NBC)

I call it "Finally some good games" Saturday and Sunday,