Final Trip to Israel

     This two month project lasted for nine months. My first trip to Israel began December 27, 2012 with my final trip ending on September 13, 2013. I left the Atwood Beacon drilling rig on September 8th. The Jewish New Year and Shabbat had just ended so our boat was allowed to return to the port. I had planned my departure for the 12th of September because we were unsure of the day I would leave the project. I stayed in hotels in Tel Aviv and did some sightseeing. After the first night I located a very nice hotel named the Embassy Hotel right across the street from the US Embassy and one block from the beach.
 

Crowne Plaza Hotel and Azrieli Center

      Originally I had planned on traveling home through Europe and visiting the WWII beaches at Normandy, but my lack of knowing when I would be departing Israel prevented me from booking tours early and they were filled through the end of October by the time I had a departure date. Instead, I spent those three extra days touring and revisiting sites in Israel. One thing I enjoyed while on the drilling rig out in the Mediterranean, was the sunsets. Having grown up so far away from any ocean and with very few visits to them, this was quite an experience for me.

One of the many sunsets I watched while in the Mediterranean.

 

 

During these three extra days, two were spent back in Jerusalem.  I had not seen the Holocaust Museum of Israel.  Dale and I had been to the one in Washington D.C. and planned on going to the one in Jerusalem in February but ran out of time.  Therefore Monday, September 9^th, I made a trip to Jerusalem to see it.  Unlike the one in Washington D.C. which concentrates on the Holocaust, the Israeli museum in Jerusalem begins with persecution of the Jews from the beginning and goes through the Holocaust to modern day.  It is an interesting and moving place.  No photographs were allowed inside the museum.  The only photo I could shoot was of one of the train cars the people were packed in while being transported to one of many concentration camps.  I was amazed at all the personal items that had been collected and displayed in this museum.  One of the most moving exhibits was of shoes collected by the Nazi’s.  They were displayed under Plexiglas in the floor of the museum.
 

Nazi railroad car used to transport Jews to concentration camps.