Hear O Israel...No, it's not a remix

What a busy busy end to 2011. I went to Israel, again. After finally finishing up a couple posts about our trip earlier in the year, I was already on my way to the Holy Land for the second time. It really is amazing that I got to travel to such an amazing city twice in one year. So, in this post, I have a couple new photos for you - as well as updates about normal life and holidays.

I went to Israel for two weeks, rather than the three-week stay the first trip had been. I was able to sight-see and visit additional religious and historic sites where I'd not previously gone.

This time, I was very set on going to the Mount of Olives. The day was absolutely gorgeous. Cool enough that I wore a sweater, but not too cold to make walking around outside unpleasant. The Mount of Olives is amazing, and I'm very glad I went. In my head, I hadn't really come to any conclusion as to why this place was called the Mount of Olives. When I arrived there, it was obvious - duh - the olive trees!

The sky was clear, and it was gorgeous. Did I mention it was gorgeous? I was able to enter the Church of the Ascension as well as Mary's Tomb and the Grotto and Garden of Gethsemene. This is a photo of the front of the Church of the Ascension.

I don't know why, but this is my favorite photo of the whole trip. I think the tall columns just look really cool. And, I have some good pictures. But something about this one makes it my favorite.

And speaking of favorites, the food in Israel didn't disappoint. I went twice to a (tiny!) restaurant called P2. The pizza was made by hand after you ordered it with ingredients bought fresh daily (including fresh pizza sauce and dough) and stoked in a pizza oven. The crust was so paper thin - just barely strong enough to hold the toppings which included fresh mozzarella. Luckily, I stayed away from the falafel and convenience store snacks (think mixed nuts and candies) this time, so my waistline didn't expand as it did on the first trip. Phew!
There wasn't much time between that trip and Christmas. Christopher and I traveled to California to spend an early Christmas at my parents as well as attend a wedding of an old friend. The wedding was lovely and Christmas was great. The only negative aspect of the trip was Christopher got pretty sick. He was basically sick the whole trip, but he managed to enjoy himself anyway.

I had taken my vacation from work for the rest of the week after our return home. Of course, since I was finally home and able to rest, I got sick. I stayed pretty sick for 5 or 6 days, which included the time we spent with Christopher's family to celebrate Christmas. And I finally got well-enough just before the end of the year.

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun. We went to dinner, out to the symphony, to a bar to spend about an hour until midnight, and then finished the night hanging out with friends. That was much more active than our usual New Year's Eve activity of staying in and watching a movie.

Perhaps this post isn't as long as I expected it to be when I started. The end of the year definitely flew by, and this year doesn't seem to be slowing down any. And, if I haven't spoken to you in person recently - Happy New Year!