Jerusalem, Israel. Posted by Adam.

Throughout our stay in Jerusalem, there were three places that I liked the most. These places were full of archeology and while I was there I started to love archeology.

City of David: The tour started with buying our tickets. We walked of with our guide to a tiny theater where we watched a 3D movie about how King David captured Jerusalem and united the twelve tribes of Israel around it. Then, we walked to a view point and saw the hill that David’s City was on. The city was really hard to capture because there were steep valleys on each side of the hill. Next, we walked down to the remains of what archeologists think was King David’s palace. After some more hiking our guide showed us ancient tombs, under people’s houses! There was the tomb of an Egyptian princess (not as grand as in Egypt) which I thought was really cool. Then came what I had been waiting for, the cistern and tunnel that were used to transport water to the city. They were both fed from a spring, but people had to walk to the cistern while the tunnel that replaced it brought water inside the city walls where it was easier and safer to get. I could hardly tell that the remains of the cistern were a cistern, but the tunnel was carved out of solid

stone and perfectly intact. My favorite part of the whole tour was walking through the tunnel. At the beginning, the water was up to my waist but after a few feet it went down to my ankles. It took about forty-five minutes of walking in only the light from our flashlights to reach the end of the tunnel and get to the pool. I love thinking how King David helped Jerusalem thrive.

Western Wall Tunnels: At the beginning of the tour or guide showed us how the holy temple was built, destroyed and rebuilt on a platform surrounded by walls. One of these walls was the western wall. When houses were built above the valley around the temple they were supported by arches underneath them. There were also tunnels and cisterns. When we entered the tunnels we saw a stone as big as a bus! Nobody knows how or why they put it there and I thought that it was astounding. We walked down a long tunnel and

even though it felt like we felt like we were underground we were fifty feet above the ground! That means that when I was walking in the streets of Jerusalem I was one hundred feet off the ground. Next, we came to a cistern that used to be used by the people living near and above it. I was amazed at what I was walking on in Jerusalem without knowing it!

The Citadel: When we arrived we saw a tour was just starting and we got into the group. I learned that Crusaders turned what used to be a tower and wall into a fortress by building walls all the way around it. Then we went into a museum and learned how many civilizations occupied Jerusalem and how they all lived. Some of them included Canaanites, Jews, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Moslems, and then modern civilizations. That was just a few of the empires that conquered Jerusalem. It was conquered thirty two times in all! Next, we toured the actual citadel. I actually saw arrows and catapult balls from the battle in the Chanukah story which I loved. After some more touring we left, but we would be coming back the next night.

We arrived at nine p.m. into a large crowd standing in front of the stone entry gate and waited to be let in. Finally, the crowd started to slowly move into the citadel. Everybody walked around past small scenes projected on small walls or inside arches until we got to our seats. The show started with flute player projected on the wall right in front of the seats. Next, the same wall was transformed into a desert with three people walking across it. Then the sand melted away to reveal a library projected all over the citadel. From there, I was launched into scenes from the history of Jerusalem with all of the civilizations that conquered it. The show was completely amazing and also the best light show I have ever seen.

Elephant Festival 2011

Kira's post.

Everyone was excited when the day of Jaipur Elephant Festival arrived. We had just got to Jaipur and into our hotel the night before. I woke up alone in the bedroom the next morning. It turned out it was 9:30 a.m. I opened the door a crack and peaked through to see three members of my family drinking chai at a table outside of our hotel room. (Chai is a very milky kind of tea that is almost everywhere in India. Usually it’s very sweet.) I managed to get Mom to notice me inside and she came in and told me what the plan was for the day. I had forgotten all about the Elephant Festival. I was so excited when she mentioned it in our plan.

After breakfast we had to get clothes for Holi the next day (Holi is an Indian holiday that happens in the beginning of spring. They throw colored powder everywhere and it’s lots of fun.) because we didn’t want to get the clothes we’re traveling with colored. When we had found some clothes for a cheap price, we came back to our guesthouse to drop off our clothes and drove away to the Elephant Festival with the owner of our hotel. His name is Diggie. He is really nice and the night we arrived he gave Adam and me chocolates and Sprite.

I was so excited to go to the Elephant Festival! When we got there we had to get seats in the front row for Adam and me because we couldn’t really see over the heads of all the other people. While we were waiting, an announcement came from the loudspeaker. “There will be a few activities after the procession has ended,” it said in a booming voice. “Please come to the front table if you are interested and get further information.” My dad was interested so he went over to check it out. When he came back, he told us he signed up for a race where you have to carry a pot of colored water on top of your head.

After about another 30-45 minutes of staring at the open field, the first elephant came into my line of site. There was the head, neck, and hind legs of a lion painted on it’s head. In the lion’s mouth was a small animal that, to me, looked a lot like a deer. But the coolest feature of all, I thought, was the lion’s eye. It was actually the elephant’s eye. That way the lion could blink! Of course, the first elephant was the best. The parade of elephants never ended. After quite some time I spotted something that didn’t look anything like an elephant. A camel! Lots of camels! Next came lines of dancing ladies, all with long flowy skirts twirling in the air. Then more elephants. It was such an amazing sight!

Finally the procession ended and it was time for my dad to go out onto the field and do the race. He got a shirt that said “The Jaipur Elephant Festival” on it. He was out on the field and then the speaker called “On your mark, get set, go!” He ran pretty fast but he didn’t win. The pots were really big and heavy. On his way to the finish line, he spilled his pot and it soaked about five different people with pink water, including him. Then the pot fell to the ground and shattered. My dad wasn’t the only one who broke his pot, though. It was fun to watch.

After awhile people started going onto the field and my family just had to go on too and see what was going on. We walked right up to the winning elephants. It was pretty cool seeing them up close. Adam and I got our picture taken with the elephant that got a trophy.

Then we noticed a big crowd in the center of the field. We came over to see what was happening. There were lots of ladies doing a dance with flower petals and men playing drums and singing. The ladies threw the flower petals up and spun them around in trays. After awhile the crowd of locals and tourists joined in, including my family. There were flower petals flying everywhere! Then people started throwing colored powder everywhere and we decided to get away because we didn’t have our Holi clothes. Then there were the “Holi-works”. Holi-works is a name my dad made up. It was like fireworks, but the colored powder shot into the sky instead of sparks. We decided not to get too close because we might be sprayed in powder.

Finally it was time to go. I was kind of sad to leave all the fun. The Elephant Festival was one of my favorite things in India.