I thought i’d leave Israel without ever setting foot in Bethlehem. I was supposed to go with some friends last Sept and I was really very excited about that trip. Unfortunately I was so sick that day. Good thing our friend Daniel invited us to go last weekend. (It was his 3rd or 4th trip to Bethlehem already I think)

So we left Haifa around 8am and drove 2hours to the border in Jerusalem. We left our car in the parking lot there and walked to the border. It was windy and kinda cold that day, good thing I brought my and iya’s jacket.

israel side of the border

had to pass by 2 or 3 of these

and can’t help but feel sad while walking along the high concrete wall dividing Israel and the Palestinian city

the wall must fall
bridges not walls

this is the end of the line… we’re in bethlehem

We first went to a place called Shepherds’ Field. The place it was believed, where the angels appeared to the shepherds and told them about Jesus’ birth

franciscan chapel

Next we went to the Milk Grotto. According to the marker outside:

“The original church was built during the time of the crusaders. According to a 6th century tradition, the Virgin Mary hid there with her new born on her flight to Egypt to escape the massacre of the male children of Bethlehem, and event that was ordered by King herod and is known as the slaughter of the innocents. While nursing her bhild, a drop of milk landed on the rock where she was sitting, and it became a source of many miracles”

a picture of the Virgin Mary nursing baby Jesus

I prayed that I might have enough milk to breastfeed baby no.2, atleast a few months longer than i did with iya

Last but not the least, the reason people flock to Bethlehem is to go to the Church of the Nativity, where Jesus was born. There were a lot of tourists like us there. The church from the outside was huge, but the door leading to the church was small. It’s called the Door of Humility. Those who want to enter must stoop a little to be able to go inside.

this is what you’ll see upon entering. the main altar is an orthodox iconostasis. people are looking at the preserved 4th century mosaic floor hidden under the wooden floorboards

columns on the side aisle of the church

The Nativity Church houses different religions. There’s the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian. The grotto of the nativity is located on the lower ground on the right side of the church. It’s sort of like a cave.

the silver star that marks the place where Jesus was born

iya looking at the site believed to be the manger

And now I can say that my stay in Israel is complete. Having been to where Jesus was born, crucified and laid to rest. It is really a humbling and an exhilarating experience. I know going to Israel, the Holy Land, is one of the wishes of most Filipinos. I am so lucky to be able to go and actually live here. Who would’ve thought that 30 years after my grandparents visited Israel, i’d be able to go too

Our trip to disneyland probably was the best thing that ever happened in my daughter’s 4 yrs!It was raining the previous days so we were praying for sunshine on the day we went there. We bought her a raincoat the night before incase it does rain coz we don’t have umbrellas. And so on that fateful day, we woke up to a surprisingly bright morning. Thank God i said. So we hurriedly took a bath, fixed our stuff and off we went to the train station. It took us about an hour. And the weather started getting gloomy again…

After we’ve purchased our tickets we looked at the schedule for the day and hurriedly fell in line for Mickey’s photo op. The schedule said the photo op’s gonna last only until 12:15. and it was already nearing 12nn. The line was long. I was thinking we won’t be able to make it but fell in line anyway. And then…it started to rain..again!! dang! i really thought the weather would cooperate that day.

Well anyway, iya couldn’t sit still on her stroller..for she can see Mickey who’s only a few feet away… she could see kids hugging and kissing mickey… and she reminded me far too many times that she would “only picture with mickey” and not hold or kiss him. You see, my little girl’s deathly afraid of mascots. and I mean terrified! It started when she was a yr old. Some people find it funny that she’s afraid of mascots. But I tell them it’s no laughing matter. especially when you see your kid trembling with fear, crying, and not knowing where to hide! (You must be wondering why we even thought of bringing her to disney where there’s mascots galore… well, she loves disney characters & we already promised we’d bring her to disney months before) And so we were waiting…and i looked at the clock..it’s 12:15 and right on cue, mickey started walking away…I thought i’d cry! you see 6yrs ago hubby and I went to Disney in Ca..it rained on the day we went too! and it was hard! and i wasn’t able to get a picture with any character! (the one and only chance i thought i had went pfft! i was in line for Goofy i think..and it was finally my turn!! But he decided he’d had enough for the day and disappeared!!!) but to my and other parents’ relief, they said he was just gonna have a water break. I’m sure the disney people took pity on us waiting there in the rain, that they decided to extend the photo op.

A few minutes more of waiting and it was our turn! and when I told iya it’s okay to go to Mickey now, she went to him without any fuss! (and i was expecting she’s ask me to carry her) and this was her photo with him. (well she did look quite stiff, pinakikiramdaman si mickey–but with a smile on her face teehee)

ofcourse we had to have a family picture:

After that we had lunch and iya ate a mickeymouse shaped pizza. Then off we went to explore the park, ride the train that went around the park, rode dumbo (w/c was fun!), it’s a small world (w/c was really nice compared to their california counterpart) bought a few souvenirs for her, (there were tons of cool stuff for kids but i had to refrain from buying too much..euro kaya yun! we’re not rich,hello!? lol!) pictures here and there… The park wasn’t that big. Well i’m comparing it to Disneyland in Anaheim. But definitely it’s bigger naman siguro than Disney HK.

The highlight of the day was the parade! And oh, you should’ve seen iya’s reaction! She was totally speechless with excitement! You can see it in her eyes! and I was beaming with joy when i saw her reaction. As in super! She couldn’t believe all the characters she’s been watching on dvd walk past her! I too got a kick out of the parade! peter pan was cute lol!We left the park past 7pm…and just before you exit the park Mickey was there doing some spiels, waving and blowing kisses and at one point when he blew a kiss it was directed at us… oh how happy Iya was!

“mama! mickey kissed me!” she gushed!

“can we go back tomorrow?”

venetian masks

St. mark’s basilica

St. Mark’s square

Iya and the gondolas

We’re back! And what a vacation! We were in Italy a total of 10days. And France for 6days or should i say 5 1/2    

FIRST STOP ROMA:   We left Haifa on a wednesday around 12am, arrived at Ben Gurion Intl airport an hr and a half later and checked in around 3am. Our flight via ELAL (it was the cheapest we could get) was 6am. We arrived in Rome a little past 9am. From the Leonardo da Vinci airport, we rode the train to Termini (center of Rome). But upon leaving the terminal you wouldn’t believe that you’re actually in rome. Coz while looking for our hotel we passed by door after door of chinese traders! as in! We were laughing our heads off while walking, nasa China yata kami, wala sa Italy! 

Our hotel:  Ariston              Via Filippo Turati 16, Rome   

4 star hotel, free wifi, 5mins walk from termini (w/c took us 15 coz we went the wrong way hehe) and continental breakfast! yummy!! We were actually quite exhausted from the travel from Israel. I swear i wouldn’t get another early morning flight like that! we’ve been up since the day before kasi. And poor iya. imagine sleeping peacefully then i had to wake her up at midnight. She was able to sleep sa plane pero siguro 2hrs lang then she was awake ulit upon arriving in Rome and hanggang gabi na yun. Well anyway after settling our stuff in the hotel we went out to have lunch and familiarized ourselves with the termini. Went back to the hotel to rest. Later in the evening we met my hubby’s aunt working there in rome and we all had dinner at this nice restaurant. Hubby and aunt had vino. R and I had… soda! lol! 

The ff day we rode the 110 open trambus. I think it was about 16euro. It was a 2hr tour around rome. Passing by major tourist sites. It was a hop on and off bus. (but you can use the bus for 24hrs) What we did was stay on the bus the whole trip and take everything in. Then when the bus went back to the terminal we hopped on another one and this time we got off near the fontana de trevi w/c was packed with tourists ofcourse!

Went to Vittorio Emmanuel monument (gigantic horses galore!)

and walked to the colloseo in the evening. I like the colloseo better in the evening with the lights on than seeing it during the day. Parang w/o the lights, it’s just one of those massive structures surrounding rome. hehe The rest of the days were spent going to: 

the Vatican (but ofcourse!) 

St. Peter’s Basilica  

Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum   

Piazza Navona 

St. Jerome

Spanish Steps

The Pantheonf

eel sleepy..sorry… later…..