A good day, despite the cold and wet. Started off by visiting the holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. It was both interesting and shocking. It covered the very first anti-Semitic doctrine propagated through the Nuremberg legislation; then such things as the Warsaw Ghetto; and, finally, details of the concentration camps all over Europe, where Jews were either gassed, forced to work, or were used as guinea pigs in medical experiments.

After a tasty pizza at a very unhygienic Palestinian place called Mohamed Ali Green Door, we got a Palestinian bus to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is an occupied territory and is inhabited by Palestinians. Not surprisingly, it is a real dive, but it would be very embarrassing to leave Jerusalem without a few snaps of Jesus' alleged birthplace. Also, the view from the church was amazing.

The Shrine of the Nativity.

Despite doing our tour of Bethlehem in only ten minutes, we missed the last bus back to Jerusalem. Fortunately the shared taxi cost only 2 shekels each.

We spoke to an English guy in our dormitory about kibbutzim and moshavim. Maybe we didn't have such a rough deal at Ein Yahav after all. At his kibbutz some people washed dishes all day, while some had to tie knots in pastry as their only job. The punchline is that they ended up paying for the privilege of having such a fantastic lifestyle.

I am just about to go to bed now, when I have written to Louise. I am glad that this is my last night in this freezing dormitory.