May in Jerusalem

Greetings from Jerusalem, everyone, where my phone doesn't work yet, typos abound and I'm inexplicably up by 5:30 am. 'Tis a city wherein we discover our great contrasts.

The flight was fine--we were in one of El Al's new planes, with souped up entertainment systems so new that they weren't working for most of the flight. But theoretically, the entertainment featured about eight movies, several TV shows from Israel and the US (24, which I'd never watch on a plane; some Israeli dramas, and an Israeli video music channel that featured a clip in which a woman shacks up with a Muppetish thing: they do seem happy together, though...), and several music channels. Lindsay and I managed to watch "Juno" together before we and the system conked out. Then, once the systems were up again, we went to the "Games" section and played some Tetris against each other on our personal handsets/remotes. (If you've ever flown Virgin Atlantic, you might be familiar with this type of system.) Hopefully, once the kinks are worked out, this system will rule and make life easier, especially for those of us who have trouble sleeping on planes.

The new plane features three sets of three seats in each row across. This means no section of five in the middle, which is great. There's decent legroom underneath the seat if I stretched out my legs straight. But who can sleep like that? Any other position seemed uncomfortable. Had a neck pillow, but it made my neck warm, so I couldn't use it for extended periods of time. Also, cool lighting in the morning made waking up seem very loungey, which was nice. But the food seemed less edible than I'd remembered, which was disappointing, because that El Al breakfast is usually so nice, varied and fresh. Still, a decent flight all told.

A driver picked us up and drove us to Jerusalem...the spiraling ascent to the city was peppered with flags all along the route, and once we were inside the city, smaller flags were posted on people's cars, maintaining the sense of energy and celebration that people undoubtedly felt last week in celebrating the country's 60th. While the weather was a bit overcast yesterday, the air, as always, is wonderful.

We were in Jerusalem all of two hours before we went to dinner (at Caffit, in case you're wondering) and noticed they were serving "Beagle Toast." (Tough luck, Snoopy. Good grief.)

More reports from Jerusalem--and from tomorrow's President's Conference--to come.

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[Cori]

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