Sababa

Tr:  Great, Cool, Awesome

All has been totally sababa the last 2 days.  Teamed up with this cool pal from Berkeley days of yore.  Roxanne has lived on a kibbutz for 30 years.  She knows a lot of info and she knows a lot of people.  It was a gift to walk around Ramla and Gezer with her this week.  Seeing stuff, talking, singing songs.

First, we cruised all over the cool town of Ramla. The town was built in the 700's by the Arabs.  The Ottomans were there for awhile. Full disclosure here:  I'm reading so much history at these places, I'm taking in about 16 - 22 % of it.  Loving it all, but not feeling like I'm ready to take my place as tour guide of the year here any time in the near future.  

Ramla has an awesome SHUK.

White Tower, built in the 1300's.  One of the many great things about being with Roxanne is that a lot of these sites are a little confusing to access.  Roxanne got the job done, where Husbandman and I would have just walked away, dispirited, feeling like losers. THANKS for showing us everything, Roxanne!  We also went to an artist's house/studio.  We also ate lunch in a very wonderful restaurant. RH knew all these people.  She basically knows everybody.  Friendly, fun and SABABA as all get out,  just as Husbandman and I remembered her in days of yore.  

Pool of Arches.  Underground water cistern.  Built in the 700's.  We rowed a little boat around in here. So fun. Sababa.

This is a Franciscan church, built near the site where Joseph of Arimethea lived.  He was the one who went to Pilate and asked to take Jesus's body off the cross for burial and he donated his own tomb.  This church has a Titian painting up over the altar.  Also, Napoleon stayed around the corner in a second floor room for awhile. He allegedly was angered by the Muslim early morning call to prayer and so shot the muezzin.
Lo Beseder, Napoleon.  (Tr:  Not Okay, Napoleon).

After hitting Ramla sites HARD, we headed over to the wonderful kibbutz Gezer.  We walked around the kibbutz, learned about changes that have happened there over the past 30 years, saw a barn owl sleeping in an evergreen tree, joined some of Roxanne's pals in a sukkah for a sing along, (personal fave: I'm a Believer, by Neil Diamond) and had a lovely dinner with more talking into the night.  This was a day for the record books.  What Roxanne doesn't know, but I'm sure all of you undoubtedly recall, is this:  I've been waiting my whole life to see an owl in the wild.  Seeing the sleeping barn owl of Gezer filled me with intense joy.  We will see Roxanne again.  Thanks to the glory of Facebook, we are reunited.  Sababa all around. 

This is not the barn owl I saw.  I borrowed this picture from the internets.