Yesterday I went for a final walk to Tel Aviv to say my goodbyes to the city and surprisingly I came across a little electro party on the beach. Unfortunately the battery of my camera was down to a complete zero and I wasn’t able to make a single picture. But it was great electro with DJs and live guitars, basses and even a didgeredoo (I don’t know how that is spelled) being performed live. It was sundown but still light and the crowd kept growing and going crazy. So what do I do? I stripped down to my bikini, just like everyone else, got myself a beer and danced along.

 None of the Munich-esque let-me-stand-around-and-just-look-arrogant-while-I give-other-people-snotty-looks. These people know how to let go and just listen to the music and just dance and not give a fuck about how their hair looks while they dance. Even young mothers dancing with their babies and old white-haired people mixing in and dancing in the middle of the young crowd. Everyone is absorbed by the music and big-sunglassed divas dance alongside dreadlocked-goa returnees. All the way down to the water you had people even dancing in the water and just letting go and having a good time.

It was a perfect closure to my trip here, and it was probably even a good thing my camera died, so I could just forget about taking pics and could just enjoy it.

I love Israel and I love its people. I distance myself from the religion and the politics. I’ve met right-wing and ultra-left wing, I’ve had great Arab shopkeepers and taken pics for German tourists, I’ve been mistaken for an Israeli time and again (even yesterday at the beach). I guess its an honour and a compliment to be mistaken for a people so beautiful, open, friendly and strong.

I close my blog from Israel here for now. I thank everyone and everything that had made this amazing experience possible for me. I came here for a holiday and knew it would affect me but could never have fathomed how much it would.

Oook, so I need to go and pack now coz I need to get my ass to the airport in about an hour. My flight back home to the rain, cold and unfriendliness is at 15:55. Shalom.

 The sound of Hebrew radio while driving around Tel Aviv just to give you an impression of the sound of the language here.

 Walking down an alleyway in the Old City on our way to the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem.

Not particularly fascinating in any way but gives you a feel of what its like walking around there I guess.

 An elderly guy sitting on one of the benches on Carmel Market, listening to his music and dancing (though unfortunately I dont have that on the video). He’s telling people that he’s over 70 years old and that his secret is listening to music and dancing and that as long as you do that you will stay young

…Pour faire de l’enfer un paradis
A chacun son paradis…

Everything is holy in the holiest of holy cities – Jerusalem’s Holy Bagels

I was at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem yesterday. The feeling there is absolutely overwhelming in every possible way. You walk up to the giant wall, you realise its been here for thousands of years. Its a representative for a people and a religion that has survived no matter what has come and no matter what has happened. You feel an overwhelming sense of awe, of respect, of admiration…at the same time it is soothing and you feel a calm come over you. I stood at the wall and laid my hands against it and my head against it. I felt the stone against my skin. It felt like some sort of thousands-of-years old energy entered me and flowed through me, it soothed me down and calmed me down. I felt like I couldn’t feel any weight anymore. I stood there for minutes and you know people leaves notes in the wall with prayers and wishes…but I just stood there and felt this overwhelming wave of emotion flood over me and I had no wishes left, in this moment I felt so at ease and peaceful with myself and with the universe, with everything and all around me.

I prayed that I may be forgiven for all the sins I may have ever committed intentionally or unintentionally, that I may be forgiven for any and all pain I may have ever caused someone or anyone in any way (intentionally or unintentionally) and I prayed that anyone who has ever hurt me or caused me any pain in any way (intentionally or unintentionally) may be forgiven too. I felt like I became one with all around me, like everything is a giant circle which closed for me in that moment. I had no wishes, no requests left.

I walked away from the wall, walking backwards all the time because I could just not turn my back on it. I came away from it and then broke down crying, but it was a happy crying. and I’m not even Jewish, so I’m not going to try to imagine what its like for a Jewish person to go through this experience.