Israel Trip – Day 0

   When a person travels overseas, getting there is always half the fun.  On my recent trip to Israel the journey there took me into a time machine.  Leaving September 2, I stepped on a plane to visit my daughter in New York City (Step one of the journey).    Arriving in New York, we took my bags to the apartment where I was staying, and then went to Metro Moses, a group of Messianic believers who met for a Bible Study.    Wednesday we began the morning with a bagel (eastern European Jewish food), and then went into the city.  We took a walk in Central Park (top to bottom, visiting botanical gardens first.  We rode a tram to Roosevelt Island.  Then we visited the Tenament Museum (http://www.tenement.org/), which looks at life of immigrants (including the life my grandfather lived when he arrived in this very community).  We took a walking tour, and saw how the community changed over the years.    In the evening we attended prayer meeting at East Seventh Baptist Church (www.graffitichurch.org) in lower Manhattan.  The church purchased a Synagogue made up of a Jewish Community from Poland.  The building had to be rebuilt, and I had the opportunity to help in the construction (lots of fun stories, but not part of this blog).  The members of the church are from inner city NYC, and always fun to see.  We enjoyed prayer and a good message from the Pastor.     Thursday after a bagel breakfast at Ft. Greene, we boarded the plane.  It flew east, so the afternoon and the night went very fast.  We flew to Istanbul, where we spent four hours in the airport.  We endured some jet lag, took some rest, and explored.    This area is not far from where my grandfather grew up.  Turkey is just below the Black Sea.  My grandfather comes from Odessa, which is on the north side off the black sea.  When he immigrated the first leg was on a ship which sailed through the Bosporus to France.     Leaving Istanbul, we took the 2 hour flight to Tel-Aviv.  We flew over Turkey, and saw the area where Paul must have traveled.  Landing at Ben Gurion Airport we passed quickly through customs and readied to leave the airport.    True to New York, we took mass transit to Tel Aviv, and then walked to our hotel, Beit Immanuel Guest House (http://www.beitimmanuel.org/) which is in the American Colony.  This area was settled in the nineteenth century, and has a long history.  Our accommodations were very good, and close to Jaffa.