Short and Concise - Reporting: Walter Winchell Style (Imagine Teletype in Background)

Flew Olympic Airlines to Athens -9 hours - good food - Didn't sleep one minute - read all the way

Ushered to ship [boat - I'm never sure] Prinsendam - Holland-America Line - Nice cabin-near in-laws

Left Piraeus, Greece

One day at sea - Discovered the casino - Played Blackjack - Won $95

Landed in Alexandria, Egypt - Took 3-hour bus ride to Cairo - Then to Giza and the Pyramids and Sphinx

Was awed by the site - Pesky guys on camels - Bought souvenirs [bust of Nefertiti]

Bus to Cairo Museum - Much antiquity - More souvenirs - cheap junk but you just have to buy

Left Alexandria - Going to Israel

Disembarked Ashdod, Israel - Jews have a regular country - Glad to see the ordinariness - Heart warming

Left for Haifa - Arrived Haifa next morning - Comparable to San Francisco - Went to Bahai Gardens

Bahai - Interesting Religion - Bus to Acre - Crusader City

Been to Israel 3X - Once in the Army 1961 - Primitive - couldn't even get a pastrami sandwich

Once with Lorraine in 1980 - Masada and floated on the Dead Sea [ever since I saw a picture of a guy floating in the Dead Sea, with his arms and legs out of the water in my sixth-grade Geography Book, I wanted to do that]. I did it. Water was salty and slimy. Every cut in your body ached from the salt.

Once in 2007 -last week. It was great to see a functioning Democracy

Back to the Prinsendam!

Every supper was delicious, 7-course elegant meals [served by waiters from Indonesia]

Lectures on board, Trivia Contests, The Casino, Hot Tubs, Swimming

There was one child on board - Over-70 couples were in abundance - inordinate amount of Hebrews

We had a Friday night service performed by a NY Rabbi: Gefilte fish, Challah and wine. Lovely!

Hit Turkey just as Turkey was hitting the PPK Kurds. War fever. Every balcony had a Turkish flag Port was Antalya - Visited the ruins - Had a Turkish lunch at King Farouk's former palace - olives, salad etc.

On to Rhodes - Capital of Dodecanese Islands [Greece] - Been there before - Had an incident.

To be continued [If you are interested]