From Paris to Jerusalem

Holy smokes, what a day....All along, I had assumed that if there was one border crossing that could potentially problematic, it would be the Turkish-Syrian border; if you've read my entry about that particular day, you know that all the stress was over nothing, as I was in and out within thirty minutes...easy peasy! It's all fun and games until you try to cross into Israel with a Syrian stamp in your passport...in all of my travels, I've never ever been stopped for questioning at an international border until today, when I wound up cooling my heels at the Aqaba-Eilat border crossing for four hours of security questioning. On the bright side, the border guards were very nice about it, letting me hang out in an air conditioned holding room (I am definitely equipped to handle desert heat), and giving me a can of tuna, pretzels and chocolate wafers at the three and a half hour mark (I think they felt bad for the silly Canadian girl who hadn't thought to bring lunch). On the downside, I missed the last direct bus from Eilat to Jerusalem, and had to detour to Tel Aviv in order to catch a connecting bus to Jerusalem. In any case, this doesn't bode well for making a quick departure from Israel (apparently questioning can be as intense upon exiting as upon entering), and have been advised to show up at the airport six hours early.

I've made it to Jerusalem in one piece, which in a way brings this journey to an end. Of course there's another three weeks left before I go home, but as the title of this blog indicates, this entire trip was conceived as a Paris to Jerusalem trek; now that I've arrived at my final destination, I'm almost a little sad that it's over. That being said, fear not my loyal readers! I will continue to update this blog until I set foot on Canadian soil.

Alright, it's 1AM here (and 2AM in the rest of the Middle East), I smell like a bus, and I'm hungry. There are so many things that I'd like to write about, but at this point, the only thing on my mind is getting into my sleeping bag and passing out.