Castles, Chocolate, Ancient Toilets and More!

Yesterday was a lot of fun. First we went to Kibbutz Naot Mordecai to get shoes. They make the shoes at the kibbutz and have a factory outlet store there. It was the sixth factory we've seen in Israel. Here's Jonah and me with our purchases:

Then we went to Nimrod's Fortress, a castle up in the upper Upper Galilee. It had an amazing view of the valley below!

We found secret passageways, places where they'd shoot arrows from, and this cool ancient toilet:

The fortress was destroyed in an earthquake. Here is the remains of a tower with my Abba walking next to it.

Here he is on top of it (with Jonah)

Inside the castle we found an underwater cistern and water pool area:

 Here's me taking an ancient "bath"

After Nimrod's Castle, we went to Mt. Hermon, the northernmost part of Israel. We took a chairlift up to the top of the mountain:

 Here is a view from the top:

Our tour guide was really smart. He told us about various plants that grow on the top of the mountain, including these tiny sour cherries that Isaac and I liked to eat:

We saw down into Syria from the mountain. There are two roads below. On the left of this photo is Syria. On the right is Israel.

There were a lot of soldiers up there. This one let us take a photo with him and his big walkie-talkie that Isaac got to hold!

From there we went to Kibbutz Dafna's Shulman Chocolate Factory. We got to make delicious chocolates there. Here's me in my chef's hat:

 Isaac got white chocolate squirted all over his face:

We made ganache balls rolled in coconut or sugared peanuts and we made characters with white and dark chocolate. I made a monkey:

 Jonah made a dog.

 Isaac made a pirate squirrel.

Today we went to Beit She'an, which had a great amphitheater that had room for 700 people! In this photo I am standing on the stage.

Again we found a room for ancient toilets.

Here are more ancient toilets from the other end of the site. I love finding ancient toilets. They are so cool!!!!!!!!

Beit She'an was really amazing:

After that we went to Gan HaShlosha, or Sachne natural water park. It has a river running through it with multiple pools. It was awesome to swim there!

Isaac is here in the blue swim shirt:

 Here's Isaac and Jonah:

 Here's me, my brothers, and Mommy in the river. Abba took the picture.

Some people believe that Gan Hashlosha was the original Garden of Eden. I don't think that is true, but it is a really beautiful place.

The Biblical Zoo and more!

Shabbat in Jerusalem was fun. We had a wonderful dinner with Bruce Rockman, father of one of my best friends in NJ, Rafi Rockman. We had Shabbat lunch with friends of Abba and Mommy, Shalom Holtz and Leebie Mallin.

Sunday we spent the day at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. We were there for FIVE hours! It was awesome!

We found a turtle walking around outside an exhibit. Jonah and I got our pictures taken with it before we told the zoo staff about it.

 We also saw lions, tigers (and panthers) and bears--oh my!

We saw both real bears and these statues. We were posing like the bears.

My mommy really liked this cool pigeon in the tropical rainforest exhibit:

We did this really fun project where we had to answer questions about animals. When we got an answer correct, we got a puzzle piece. At the end, we put together the pieces and it make this picture:

 The playground at the zoo had awesome sculptures like this cat...

 ...and this elephant.

I love zoos. I had a great time there.

Then yesterday (Monday) we left Jerusalem. On our way to Tzfat we stopped at Appolonia, on the coast. There we saw a crusader fortress. Check out my new crusader friends:

We were on a cliff over the water. Jonah and I hugged there.

 We could look through the crusader casement at the mediterranean ocean below.

Finally, we got to Tzfat last night. Our apartment is great! It has a hammock that Jonah really likes.

Today we went to Mount Arbel.

We drove to the top and saw an ancient synagogue from the time of the Mishna and early Talmudic period. From the synagogue this was the view off the top of Mt. Arbel:

Then we went swimming in the Sea of Galilee, which was super fun! (Check out the mountains across the sea on the other side!)

 Beach selfie!

Here are my parents on the beach:

Thank you for all the comments on my blog and emails to my Mommy. I love hearing how much everyone is enjoying my blog.

The best day EVER

Yesterday was the best day of our trip so far. It was SO much fun! Here's a photo of me with spiky wet hair:

Anyway, to tell you about our day, first we went to Tzippori, an amazing archaeological site. It was HUGE! We saw many beautiful mosaics, but everyone's favorite was the one called the "Mona Lisa of the Galilee." Here is a photo of it:

We also saw lots of Sabra Cactuses. Here's one:

 And here's Jonah with another one:

After seeing lots of sites at Tzippori, we fulfilled my mommy's lifelong dream: we toured the Elite Chocolate Factory! We had to suit up in these funny clothes:

 (Yes, Abba needed a special cover for his beard!)

We weren't allowed to take any photos inside the factory, because we actually saw them making and packaging things like candy bars and gum, but we took this photo at the end, just before we got to eat as much chocolate as we wanted (as long as we didn't take any with us):

From there we went to Beit Alpha, which has a cool zodiac mosaic on its floor.

Then we went to the Marzipan Museum and Factory in Kfar Tabor:

There we got to see cool marzipan creations made by artists. Everything in these photos is made out of Marzipan:

 Here is Dobby from Harry Potter:

 Here is a scene from the Jungle Book, with a book made out of Marzipan:

Then we got to make our own marzipan creations...

 The flowers and some other stuff were made in a mold but I made this smurf by hand.

 Jonah made these purple mushrooms for my smurf:

...and chocolate creations, with white and milk chocolate, yum!

Today we went to Bet She'arim, which had tons of burial caves and catacombs. It was cool to walk around in it. Here is a human-sized carved rock menorah we found in one:

Here is the tomb of Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Nasi, Rabbi Judah the Prince, the man who compiled the Mishna. We went in and saw where he was buried. He is one of the most important rabbis in Jewish history. It was so cool to be there:

Now we are in Jerusalem for Shabbat. Wishing everyone, everywhere a peaceful Shabbat Shalom!!