The Dead Sea

Well we finally got our car and wasted no time getting out for a bit! We did a day trip to the Dead Sea on Saturday, which is Sabbath here, so there was next to no traffic which was great,.....We had never been there before and with the exception of a slight detour into the West Bank (opps!!) we made it there pretty quickly and spent the day there checking it out.

Weather was beautiful and the tour buses were plentiful LOL When you walk up to the sea you notice that the sand turns to white at the waterline...keeping your shoes on is a MUST as the hardened salt is not something you want to walk barefoot on. Just as bad is the taste! I was holding Tyler where she decided to splash some water and it got in my mouth. Let me tell you I have had salt water before but nothing as awful as this!! The salt concentration is insane!! It is also oily which I hadn't anticipated. Making sure there is a place to shower afterwards is also a MUST unless you bring water with you to douse yourself with :-)

Other than that we are still unpacking stuff but, thankfully, are almost done. We took most of Thursday off from unpacking as it was Yom Kippur here. That day no one drives (it's not allowed) which means everyone takes their bikes and strollers out. We did the same :) Packed the kids up into the Charriot and took off on our bikes riding all over Herzliya, hit the pool, then continued on riding to a couple parks and then home. It was great but eerily strange. We crossed the overpass and it felt like a scene from I Am Legend - looooong highway leading to Tel Aviv and not a soul on it! It was wonderful to explore by bike and not to have to deal with the traffic - we would love it if there were more "no drive" days!!

Here are some pic's

Ice cream stop once we get there.....

Continuing our drive around the sea you see the caves in the cliffs beside you. Hopefully one time we will be able to leave the kids with a sitter and get to explore them. We also drove past the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. There's a museum there that we didn't get to check out this time...hopefully next!

Then we found a nice quiet spot to try the water...yes its true you DO float :) ty wasn't so sure about it to start with but as long as she had one of us to hang onto it was okay. Balancing is easy as long as you don't try to stand! Just need to bob like a cork!!

Look Ma!! No hands or feet LOL

Ty checking herself out post-swim

Yup you've seen it here...golden arches at the Dead Sea! (The building/hotel in behind is a Crowne Plaza)

I picked up some of the famous black body/skin mud and brought it back to the house with me...I'll let you know how that goes LOL