On Saturday, October 7, Amnon spent the day showing me around several interesting places in northern Israel: Caesaria, Haifa, a Druze village, and a Carmelite monastery. Amnon's daughter Gal - a very sweet little girl - came with us.

	Gal in the amphitheater at Caesaria. The amphitheater, which is from ancient Roman times, is still in use for concerts.		Part of the grounds at Caesaria.
	A building at Caesaria.		The Baha'i world headquarters, in Haifa. We didn't arrive there in time to go inside: the building closed at noon, and we got there around 12:30.
	The Baha'i gardens, in Haifa.		More of the gardens.
	Haifa. After leaving Haifa, we visited a Druze village and had lunch there. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos there.		A view from the roof of the Carmelite monastery. Amnon told me what the mountain is in the distance, but I can't remember what he said.
	Amnon and me, on the roof of the Carmelite monastery.		The statue of Elijah at the monastery.
	A view from a hill near the monastery.

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Epilogue:

Although I didn't know it until late in the evening, this was to be my last day in Israel. I had planned to stay until October 10. However, on the evening of October 7, the television news reports said that the violence between Israel and Palestine had gotten worse. Since the violence was localized to the Arab areas, Amnon said that the parts of Israel that I planned to visit on October 8-10 should still be safe. But he also said that it might be more pleasant for me to leave.

I made several international phone calls to inquire whether I could reschedule my return to the US. Travelocity (the travel agent for my plane tickets) was of no help at all, but Air Canada (the airline for my return flight) said that they had a flight to Toronto shortly after midnight, and that if seats were available, it would only cost me $50 to change my ticket. This was their only flight until October 10, because the airport would be closed on October 9 due to Yom Kipur.

By this time it was after 10pm, and the plane flight was scheduled to leave in two hours. Since it normally takes about 3 hours to get through security at the Tel Aviv airport, I didn't even ask whether seats were available -- I felt certain that it would not be possible to reach the airport in time. However, when I explained this to Amnon, his immediate reaction was, "let's go!"

I hurriedly packed my bags, and Amnon drove me to the airport. We arrived there around 10:30pm. I was wearing my bicycle helmet on my head, because I hadn't had time to pack it! Amnon helped me get through the extensive security checks at the airport, and I got a standby ticket on the plane flight. The seat became available, so I left. Thanks again for your help, Amnon!

Several things happened on the flight to Toronto. First, apparently there was a medical emergency in the seat behind me, but since I had taken a sleeping pill, I slept through it! Second, an elderly man in the seat to my right asked for my help filling out the Canadian immigration form. He spoke no English -- only Arabic -- but I filled out as much of the form as I could, using the information in his passport. However, this didn't answer all of the questions on the form. How to get the answers from him when he spoke no English? The woman in the seat to my left found someone who spoke both Arabic and English, to act as an interpreter to get the answers to the remaining questions.

I'm glad we were able to help the old man -- I imagine it would be rather intimidating to go through immigration and customs without knowing any of the language! However, there's something I'm still wondering about. The man had an American address and an American passport, but he had been born in Jordan and he spoke no English. How could that be? Perhaps he had children who had previously emigrated to the US?

Addendum. Sarit Kraus says, "Concerning your question about the Old Arab; if one of his parents was a US citizen, he could become a US citizen without even being in the US."