Galivanting around the Galilee

Today was dedicated to fun. I put aside this day to drive all over the Galilee and Golan heights with a friend, visiting wineries and immersing myself in my absolute favorite place on earth bar none.

It all started at 5:30am when I bounced out of bed at a friend's house in Jerusalem. I quickly dressed and went to the corner to be picked up by my friend. we stopped 5 minutes later for coffee and breakfast wraps (so good, mine was avocado) and drove east to the jordanian valley.

The cool thing about the drive is that you are actually driving on an incline and heading down to -1400 feet below sea level. So every couple of miles, there is a sign that says "you are +400 feet above sea level" or "you are now at sea level" (there was a camel standing infront of that sign so we didnt see it in time to take a deep breath as if we were about to go udner water). we didnt go all the way to the dead sea, which is the lowest point on earth, but we went about -800 feet beloe sea level to the Jordanian valley and drove North in the valley towards the Galilee.

Usually the Biqu'ah as we call it, is barren and sandy and very desert-like. but this has been a wet winter so the whole drive was colorful with little scrub bushes on every sandy hill and teeny flowers popping up all over the valley. i have never seen it that way before and it was very lovely. the Biqu'ah looked like it was carpeted in a delicate velveteen green. i have to confess that i hate deserts, i cant tolerate the barren, harsh, rugged ebauty of it for too long. i need greenery, trees, growing things... so that made the ride pleasant and was a wonderful surprise.

a word here about my favorite place on earth. The Galilee/Golan is really geographically a small area. But when you are standing on a hilltop, looking out on the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias and Jordan all in the same panoramic view, and the sun is streaming through the clouds like rays of love from God and the sky is so blue as to shame every sapphire in the world with its brilliance, there is no place on earth that can encompass such an expanse of beauty in one blink of an eye. and THAT is how i feel about the Galil. When i am there, my heart is light, and filled with an inexpressible joy. i feel totally connected and grounded, yet i can hear the wind singing and feel the pulse of the birds flying overhead. i connect to the fertile vibrancy of the earth and the sweet waters of the sea of galilee and the jordan river. and it just brings me to life; cleanses and refreshes; newly rebirths; empties me out and fills me up again. and i feel energized and worry-free. this, to me, is a place of Power.

the drive north to our destination is only about 3 hours, so we got there by 11:00am. we went straight to the Golan Winery, took the tour and tasted 4 types of white wines. we befriended the tour guide and got some more "tastes".... i got really buzzed and started singing "when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, thats amore" but then i decided to comment on everything that was happening around me all day by fitiing it into that chorus, so ALL DAY LONG i was singing that song with made up silly words and poems. my poor friend was laughing so hard and i dont know how he didnt get totally sick of me doing that all day - but i digress. (a sample: "when you drive pasr Meron, and youre on your way home, thats amore" or "when youre seeing your sister and you loved and missed her, thats amore" - seriously, these are the genius poems i was singing all day. total doggerel. but addictive)

So here i was, cheerfully tipsy, and we started off to another winery, where we took ANOTHER tour and drank some red wines. I think we tasted 10 varieties, and forget buzzed, i was REALLY tipsy by that time! I was also on an empty stomache, which was not helping the inebriation.

We drove all over creation up north and had a realy fun time of it, we were laughing all day and singing silly songs. it was wonderful and precious and something i truly needed to regenrate and renew, to laugh and relax and have fun (and maybe to be a little bit drunk).

*interesting thought* i wanted to share this with you, and see if you had any thoughts about this. we started in Jerusalem, city of Fire. Drove through Tiberias, city of Water, which I have always loved and connected to, and went to Safed, city of Air which I hated and was majorly having a bad time in until i finally made us leave before we did our activity there.

The only city i havent been to is Hebron, city of Earth..... but isnt that kind of interesting?