My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

Jerash – The Pompeii of the East. We walked through columned
streets, hilltop temples, public squares and plazas.
The next morning we travelled the Kings Highway, a route
mentioned in the Bible, lined with prehistoric villages from the
earliest biblical towns. We travelled through the Jordanian desert
to Petra, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, which was
the main reason for our visit to Jordan. We enter the Rose City of
Petra, through a narrow passage through the mountains up to the
treasury that suddenly appeared at the end of the gorge and left us
breath-taken by its size, color and beauty. We continued into the
heart of that ancient city carved into the mountains, passing
hundreds of tombs, monuments and the spectacular Amphitheatre.
It was fascinating to see so many beautiful buildings carved into
the mountains. It was so unique!
Israel
We left Amman, crossing the border by limo into Israel. There was
a check point at the border with Israeli guards on top of a tower
and some border patrol personnel on the ground to check our
passports. A little beyond the border, I got out of the car to take a
photograph of the tower. Immediately, the guards pointed their
guns at me and ordered me to get back inside the car. I was so
scared, because it was the first time anyone had ever pointed a gun
at me! I apologized profusely, saying that I just wanted to take a
picture. They remarked angrily, “No pictures!” We continued on
our journey and went through 3 or 4 more checkpoints, where
again we had to show our passports to the guards who searched
through everything we were carrying. They found my wife’s blow
dryer; they took it inside, checked it to make sure there was
nothing harmful about it. There was a Jordanian Catholic priest in
the limo with us. After we left the second check point he said that
it was good that we had American passports. Otherwise we would
take hours and hours, going through all the check points, before
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