Honeymoon Trip

On Thursday we concluded negotiations on a 2004 Peugeot and, having closed the deal, we used our “new” wheels to head off on our (belated) Honeymoon!TJ and I went to the Dead Sea for Phase One of our Honeymoon (Phase 2 will be Petra, etc). Here in the middle east the weekends are Friday and Saturday, which has taken some getting used to... We stayed at the Dead Sea Marriott Hotel, which was an absolutely fabulous place. The service, food and ambiance were all excellent. Our most pressing decision was which of the many pools did we want to use. We settled on the Infinity pool, which had a breath-taking view of the Dead Sea. On the West Bank we could see the city of Jericho and at night one could se the lights of Jerusalem on the distant hilltop. The other feature of the Infinity pool was that is was for 18+, which significantly cut down on the noise.After a wonderful Italian dinner on Thursday we wandered down to the bar near the beach. There was a small band (two guitars, and a singer playing bongo drums, plus the help of a sophisticated music machine filling in the rest of the sound). We each had a drink made of 100 proof Araco (good stuff!) and then the audience was entertained by a belly dancer. Very, very interesting!Friday morning was spent covering ourselves with Dead Sea mud and then floating in the Dead Sea. After that we wandered back to the Infinity pool. On Saturday we enjoyed the pool (and I took the opportunity for more Dead Sea mud and floating) and then checked out of the Marriott and headed for the Jordan River site of Jesus’ Baptism and then on to Mt. Nebo, where Moses viewed the Promised Land after his 40 years of wandering (that was before GPS).