Masada
Four hours before any sane person would wake up the 47 found ourselves half asleep facing a treacherous (but fun) mountain ascent. After the breakfast of champions, brownies, we headed into the dark abyss and began the 888 step (counted by our very own Becca Freund) journey up Masada. After thoroughly sweating through all of our clothes, we finally made it to the top for the beautiful sunrise that awaited us. With “Here Comes the Sun” playing lightly in the background (compliments of Laura Nelson and her iPhone), the sun rose up over The Dead Sea. Our most handsome and charming tour guide, Iftah, then fulfilled our innermost desires by guiding us through the mesmerizing attractions atop Mt. Masada. We cultivated our intellect by exploring ancient cisterns, bath houses, and agriculture systems while hearing the notorious story of the Jewish struggle atop Mt. Masada. While enjoying breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and the Dead Sea we shouted our favorite Hebrew words into the echoing canyons that surrounded. With plenty of daylight left we finally made our way down the mountain just in time for an awesome breakfast. After a quick shower we joined Jobi, our smokestack of a bus driver, who had only just woken up for our drive to Jersusalem. The group of us enjoyed a well deserved nap while Elliott had a banana-chocolate-pop rocks ice cream for breakfast. According to sources, it was awesome - way more awesome than Dan and Sophie, who wrote a prior though much less entertaining blog post, but not nearly as awesome as the people writing this blog post. First stop in Jerusalem was Ben Yehuda Street where the girls unleashed their inner shopaholic. All enjoyed a lovely lunch on the bustling pedestrian street. “It was fun” said Becca Freund. We then arrived at Caesar’s, in Jerusalem, Birthrighters sunbathed at the rooftop pool. Later we discussed the finer points of Israeli current affairs and politics with our favorite Iftah leading the discussion. The night comes to a close as we head off to well deserved rest and quality bonding time. Especially for Dan and Elliott who love each other. You can take this to the bank because this is straight cash. God bless America. Allie Gould (Norwich, CT), Abby Richman (Somewhere else in CT), and Elliott Poppel (Saratoga Springs, NY)`
