LIMASSOL, CYPRUS (visited 11/99; written circa 7/00)

I'm sorry to say that I don't have anything to report about Cyprus except to say that I was there for about 2 hours. I didn't visit anyplace of interest. All I know for sure is that the island is half Turkish and half Greek, the Turks hate the Greeks and the Greeks hate the Turks, Henry Kissinger had something to do with it, and as a result he is universally despised by everyone. And oh yeah, a shopowner gave me a free sticker!

HAIFA, ISRAEL (visited 10/99 & 11/99; written circa 7/00)

The ship visited Haifa on three separate days, all of them being turnaround (embarkation) days. I was extremely busy running around trying to care of some personal business, and consequently did not have the chance to see anything worthwhile.

Although it was disappointing to have gone halfway around the world to a place that is considered the holiest of lands by three different major religions and not be able to experience anything special about the place, nonetheless I felt grateful to have had the opportunity to set foot on this sacred land.

In reality, however, my experience of Israel was quite boring, so much so that except for the tight security, it felt like I could have been in any of a thousand other modern homogenized cities in the world. At least no bombs went off while we were there!