The Baha'i Gardens, and some fellow travelers

Yesterday, I met up with some other people at the guest house, and together we went up to the top of the hill on the Haifa subway, called the Carmelit. There is a spectacular view of the sea from up there; it's also close to the upper gate of the Baha'i Gardens where we met up with the Kus, so there were eight of us. You are supposed to have a reservation to tour the gardens - our hostess reminded us three or four times - but somehow we got on a tour without having one.

The gardens are huge - a kilometer of terraces running straight down a steep hill - and at the center is a large domed building, which is the burial place of the Bab (a man called the herald of Baha'ullah in the Baha'i faith). They are also very much symmetrical, trim and manicured, and we saw several people engaged in clipping the hedges to keep them that way. Later we learned that these are volunteers who come from all over the world to work on these gardens. There are a lot of bronze images of animals and flowers - on one level, peacocks with their tails furled and at the next level, with tails spread; eagles perched on the posts of the gates; bronze tulips with gilded petals....

I enjoyed the company of one couple very much and we also had dinner together, and talked about all kinds of things, including some work they did for the Australian Reconciliation project, cycling around remote regions of Australia for almost two years. Their energy amazed me!

In the afternoon I enjoyed a visit to Haifa's Japanese art museum, they do themed exhibits: musical instruments, dolls in Noh costume and animals - one thing that sticks with me is a group of ink drawings of whimsical owls: a group of eight standing shoulder to shoulder, a group of three, one leaning waaay over with his ear to the ground, each one just a black silhouette with lively, expressive eyes.

I've found the people here at the hostel are friendly and open, and have had some good conversations. Also I think Rachel, the hostess, makes the best omelette in the world. Today is my last day here though, I'm about to pack and head for Tiberias.