Tiberias

I went to Tiberias with three girlfriends to spend a couple days hanging out. Tiberias is a city in the north, situated right on the Kinneret (Sea of Gallilee in English). The trip got off to a rocky start. Our gate at the bus station in Jerusalem was absolutely packed, mostly with young people who were more than likely all heading to Tiberias for vacation. My roommate Leora and I missed the first two buses, because there were just way too many people. So we made sure to stand at the very front of the line, right where the buses pull up. But when the bus pulled up, everyone just converged all around us--dozens of people pushing and shoving to get into the narrow bus door. Israelis obviously don't believe in lines, or any type of priority given to whoever was waiting first! Leora and I were being smashed from all sides, I had a gun shoved into my chest (from one of the many soldiers there who all wear their rifles slung across their body!), and we were falling all over the place. We were falling onto this one girl's luggage, and she is screaming at us in Hebrew. Like we are choosing to fall on top of her! I started getting claustrophobic and I was so close to just giving up and going home!! It was awful. We somehow managed to get on the bus and get seats, but about ten people didn't get seats. They were forced to stand or sit on the aisle for the two and a half hour bus ride. (The inter-city buses are all like Greyhound type buses) It's pretty ridiculous. In the US, paying for a bus ticket for a long trip and not getting a seat would not be okay. In Israel I guess it is!!
So we finally got to Tiberias. We were a ten minute walk away from the lake, but there weren't really any beaches that we could find. The only beaches are really small, full of rocks, and you need to pay to get in! So after walking around for a while, we eventually just paid a hotel right on the water 40 shekels to let us use their pool for the afternoon! It was fun and relaxing with a gorgeous view of the lake. The next day we went to some hot springs and another pool. The scenery was beautiful--green hills on one side of us and a large lake on the other side surrounded by more green hills. One night we went on a boat cruise for half an hour around the lake. Tiberias seems to be more of a family friendly place with lots of shops, restaurants, and a fair like atmosphere--everything open until late.
Many restaurants in Israel stay open during Pesach and just convert into Kosher for Pesach. Instead of bread, they serve matzah! They also serve pasta made out of potatoes (it was good!), and pizza and sandwiches, etc made out of matzah meal! So it's pretty interesting. All the grocery stores are open, but they put paper or covering over all the none Kosher for Pesach items.
I'm going to Yad Vashem--the Holocaust Museum here in Jerusalem--on Sunday, and I start work again on Sunday. In two weeks I'm going to Eilat, which is the southern most city in Israel right along the Red Sea.