Haifa

Haifa seems to be a difficult place to visit. Nothing is actually open when its posted it will be.

Today we went to Baha'l Shrine & Gardens. There are supposed to be hourly tours and open self guided tour times but none of that seemed to be happening so we found one open gate where we were able to look around the top two levels of the gardens. Its a great view. Its even better if your patient and you wait between tour buses to go in. I was a little disappointed that we couldnt go down to the dome because my handy dandy guide book says the dome has the tomb of the Bab which is an awesome sight to see. According to Maors mom, no one gets to go in anymore because too many kids were destroying the place when they went to visit. I could see that being true because the one security guard was having a heck of a time chasing around little kids in just two levels trying to get them to keep off the grass.
We got a lot of good pictures and were yelled at by security for kissing. I re-read the rules on the way out and didnt see anything about kissing. I think he made it up.

We also went to Stella Maris which is a collection of buildings with a really nice view. There is a light house with what use to be a church attached but is now an Israeli base. Across the street from the light house is another church which has the site believed to be the cave that Elijah hid in.

When we were walking back to the car I noticed an overgrown path next to the lighthouse/church/army base so I started walking down it, cause Im nosy, and found a really nice viewpoint and another chapel down the path. The walk to the point where you notice there is something to see isnt that long...unless you have someone complaining behind you. For example, this was our conversation all the way down the path-
Maor- "Where are you going?"
Me- "I want to see whats over there."
Maor- "There isnt anything over there."
"Yes there is. There is a well worn overgrown path here... that means something is there."
"Your too close to the base. The army will get you!"
"Thats ok. Im American, I can play dumb."
"That sign says 'Watch out for mines'!"
"No it doesnt."
"I saw a snake!"
"No you didnt."
"Bees!!"
"Arent you supposed to take me camping this weekend you sissy?!"
Then we get to the nice view and Maor yells, "Ohhh...EMMA! DIANE FOUND SOMETHING NEW!"


 The chapel use to be a windmill but was converted in the 60s. Now its closed but I took a picture of the inside by sticking my the camera in a hole in the door. It looks like it use to be cute. It would be a nice place to have weddings. The view is much better there away from all the traffic.