Rozmaryn Ramblings: Dead Sea Weekend

Typical family picture. Ami squinting, Eitan looking away, me smiling...

This weekend we had a little getaway to the Dead Sea. What's amazing is that it's only an hour or so drive from Jerusalem, but a different world entirely! Seriously- it's vacationland. It was about 15 degrees warmer then Jerusalem- averages were in the low 80's, there's beach and it's all hotels, and everyone just walks around the streets in hotel robes.

We came very early on Friday morning and we stayed at the Royal hotel- it was lovely. Even though check in is at 3pm, and we came at 11am, they apologized that the room wasn't ready! It was so sweet. They called a couple hours later when it was which was also nice. And because it's Israel, check out on Shabbat day wasn't until a bit after Havdallah. And all the food at meals was kosher, and they had a space for candle-lighting, wine and challah available. It was just really convenient. And really nice. The pool was lovely, the kiddie pool even had a tent for shade, they have a private beach, the room was fantastic. Anyways, the food was surprisingly delicious. We kept being surprised that it was all delicious and not overly Jewishy like we'd expect from a Kosher hotel. There were obviously a few things that weren't great to remind us that we are in Israel, and not at the Fairmont Mayakoba (the ultimate standard of any hotel for us now, we're screwed...), including crappy terrace furniture, non-fluffy towels, some letters missing from signs around, etc. But that's me nitpicking.

Kiddie Pool!

Friday we spent some time at the kiddie pool, went out for lunch, and had a dip in the lowest place on earth. We came back to the hotel with a few minutes to prepare for shabbat- which in vacationland means showering, and while trying to snap a picture, Eitan of course, threw his beloved car off the terrace. And he wouldn't let us forget it- he kept saying "dar" "dar" "dar". And being the Super Mom that I am I went into the parking lot in the bushes and found it! YES.

Shabbat day we had breakfast outside by the pool (so vacation-y), and relaxed at the pool. It was great. Eitan loved the pool, and was totally fearless! He would just turn around and crawl backwards into it- like he does to go down stairs and say "wawer", he acted like the whole thing was the kiddie pool. It was hilarious. And terrifying. And we have no pictures of it because it was Shabbat. But don't worry. Here's about a million pictures anyways.

Once shabbat ended and we checked out we caught a bus back to Jerusalem, and were home by 9:15pm. Fantastic weekend, and now we're all about getting ready for our trip home. With tiny tans to make us feel better about having up and moved to the Middle East.