Stolen Mona Lisa...

The Mona Lisa had gone missing...

and we had to find it.

Back in Kfar Blum, me, mum, dad, and my brother went to an Escape Room in another kibbutz near us.

An Escape Room is basically a game where you're trapped in a room, and you have to crack codes and solve riddles using clues to escape. A man told us the rules, and what we were going to be doing. We were private investigators who were sent to retrieve the stolen Mona Lisa, return it to the museum, and arrest the thief - Carmen Amzalez - before the museum opened to the public.

The first interactive escape room opened in Japan in 2007, and now there are over 1,850 in the US, 350 in the UK, and 408 in Canada. There are lots of different themes like: Bank Robberies and prison breaks, Crime investigations and Zombie apocalypses, and some you just need to escape the room.

Our time limit was an hour and we just reached it. It was so confusing; I don't even remember half of the things we did. There were all sorts of locks and hidden clues and riddles. There was artwork all over the walls like you would see in a museum, and random things that you would not see in a museum.
A bucket of different keys, a sandcastle, giant red buttons, etc. You had to really think outside of the box but despite the struggles, we found the Mona Lisa and managed to finish in precisely
59 minutes - a minute before our timer went off. We had so much fun and Leonardo Da Vinci would be proud.

Western Wall and Tunnel Tour!

Another attraction we went to was the Western Wall.

The Western Wall is an old, sacred wall made out of limestone in Jerusalem. Another word for it is the Wailing Wall, or Kotel in Hebrew. The wall is around 50 metres long and 20 metres high. 

The ancient wall has been there for around 2,036 years and is the most famous landmark in Israel.

Visitors and tourists are supposed to write a wish or a prayer on a piece of paper and then slip it into cracks between the stones on the wall. You can write as many as you want but my Auntie told me that only the first wish comes true. In true tourist fashion, we had the full experience and went underground for a tour of the Western Wall Tunnels.

We went to an underground room where the tour guide was explaining the Old City to a group of people. The Old City is an area within the modern city of Jerusalem. The ceilings and walls were all made out of stone, and the room split into different tunnels leading deeper underground. The tour guide talked to our group about the history of the Western Wall and the tunnels. Since the tunnels ran through the Western Wall, we got to put our wish on it from the inside. We were all grateful to be away from the heat outside and it was a experience we will never forget.

The Zoo!

Shortly after coming to Kfar Blum, we went to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and takes a couple hours by car to get there from Kfar Blum. Jerusalem is also one of the oldest cities in the world, and is about 64 kilometres from the Mediterranean sea. The entire city is on hills, with many valleys around it. We went with our cousins ( the same ones who went kayaking with us ) and they had been planning this trip for a while.

Straight away, we went to the Jerusalem zoo.
Luckily, the zoo was close to the hotel we were staying in, so it was a quick car trip.
The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo covers around 404686 square metres of land and is rated the best, ( and only ) zoo in Jerusalem. The zoo was established in 1940 and a new aquarium is planned for the future. We stayed there the entire day and despite the heat, we saw lots of amazing animals.
Even better; there were alpacas there!                 

Alpaca Facts: Alpacas can live up to 20 years and they don't spit at humans very often.




Wolf Facts: Wolves are the largest members of the dog family and they eat large animals such as deer, elk and moose.

Leopard Facts: Leopards are super fast and can run up to 58 kilometres per hour! They love climbing trees and can leap 6 metres forward in the air. They weigh from 36 to 90 kilos, but females are slightly lighter than males.

Giraffe Facts:

Giraffes are the tallest mammals on earth and can live up to 26 years old. They only need to drink once every few days and lots of water comes 

from the plants that they eat. 

Giraffes sleep standing up and rarely lie down.

Tiger Facts: They are awesome.


We enjoyed it so much and it's not every day you get to see two wolves play tug of war with their food!

Note: 

These animal photos are from the zoo's website - 

(our camera ran out of battery halfway through.) 

http://www.jerusalemzoo.org/home-english

Our Holiday in Israel

Shalom! :)

A few days ago, we arrived in Israel - a Middle Eastern country on the Mediterranean Sea.

Our dad grew up in Israel along with his entire family, and many, many pets. We're staying in a Kibbutz where he lived. Their are many kibbutzim in Israel, but our Kibbutz, Kfar Blum, is a small community where everyone chips in to help each other to get an even share of everything. There is no money, no fences, barely any cars and grass everywhere. There is also a local supermarket, pool, hotel, school, laundry and a dining room for everyone to enjoy. Everything is only a bike away and the entire kibbutz is basically one big family.

Yesterday, mum, dad, me, my brother and our cousins went kayaking along the Jordan River. The Jordan river is around 252 kilometres long and flows from West Asia to the Dead Sea. The cold water was really nice under the 30-degree heat, and I had a great time; especially when I 'accidently' hit my brother Shai in the head with an oar.  The river is still home to a huge variety of wildlife and birds. Over 500 species of birds are migrating to the area seasonally, and a few swooped into the water and sat on the edge of our boat. The rapids were pretty smooth and we all got in one big raft. The day was perfect and we all had so much fun!