Day 5 Tuesday
16.994 steps

The alarm went off at 06:15. Busy day today. We are going on a bus tour today. Our guide is Ido, a Jewish young man with his roots from India. First stop was just to have a drink and breakfast. We go through Judea & Samaria to Masada. Herod had his fortress here on a rocky plateau in the middle of the desert. 
What I forgot to say is that today is Holocaust Memorial Day. At 10 o'clock in the morning the sirens sounded for 2 minutes and everyone stands still for a moment. The bus comes to a halt just before ten o'clock and Richard and I stand outside for a while out of respect. 
Back to Masada. In the middle of the desert, what a height and how handsome they were in those days. I'm definitely going to dig into the history. Then to Ein Gedi.

Ein Gedi is an oasis in the middle of the desert. My legs have actually had it since yesterday, but we persevere. We see 3 beautiful waterfalls. What an oasis! Literally stunning!

I learned so much today. That, for example, the Palestinian cars have a white license plate and the Israeli ones yellow. That the date in Israel is called Medjoul which is Arabic for "no name", a translation error of a misunderstanding. That the dead sea is shrinking. That an Ibex is an alpine ibex and lives in the desert here.

Continue to the Dead Sea from 3:00 PM to 4:15 PM. What a special experience the Dead Sea.On the way home at the mount Zion sang a song for Papa Ries who has his birthday