Floating in the Dead Sea!

I can't believe today is our last day already and that in  7 hours I'll be at the airport hoping for an on-time flight.  Sorry I've been MIA the past two days...but they have been packed with touring, camel-riding, Dead Sea floating and various other activities.

We visited the Mount of Olives, (which  you will see boasts an amazing view of Old Town!), the Garden of Gethsemane, the House of Caiaphas (where Jesus is though to be held in an underground cave) the city of Bethlehem, Jericho (10,000 years old!), Qumran (where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls), Masada, The Upper Room...I am sure there are more that I am forgetting & the above were not in that order.

A view of the Old City and Temple Mount
from Mount of Olives

Along the Palm Sunday Path we walked to
the Garden of Gethsemane we stopped at the largest
Jewish cemetery in the world....$30,000 for a plot!

Can't go anywhere without our towel!
That's Betty Ann - our group leader...also a Pittsburgh
native!

I think Ryan is sick of me making him take
pictures with me....

Some of these Olive Trees are up to 3,000 years old...
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

Dunno...but funny

The road next to us is the path Jesus walked from the
caves of the Church of St. Peter to Mount of Olives

Camel - just tied up in someone front yard...pet?

Spot where Jesus is believed to have been
born.

Catholic altar in the Church of the Nativity....
some of you might recognize it!

Underground caves in the Church of the Nativity..
this is in the original church

A carving in one of the caves

Did not have time for a latte in Bethlehem!  Bummer!

A view of the Dead Sea from Masada

King Herod's spa...from thousands of years ago....they were
spoiled even then!! 

Another view of the desert from Masada -
can you say HOT?!?!

Dead Sea!

My mom refers to us as "the teenagers"...
I'm not arguing!

Sycamore tree in Jericho

He and I had a brief time together...but
I did not catch the ride on camera.

The Old City!

We spent all of today, and I mean ALL of today walking through the old city of Jerusalem.  It is such a fascinating place!  We experienced the busy-ness of the market (those people are crazy), almost got run over by several cars & trucks along the way, walked the streets that Jesus walked, and some of us placed prayers in the Wailing Wall.

Yesterday we also got to see the Mediterranean Sea, Cesarea, the Valley of Armageddon and walk through an underground tunnel built thousands of years ago to lead the people of the village of Meggido to the only spring safely!

In the underground tunnel to the spring -
there was actually water on the walkway!

A "silo" for grain that fed the village

Amy and I leading the Chariots of Fire!
(We did see an ancient hippodrome! So cool!)

An authentic manger...Ryan & I decided to reenact
our Mary & Baby Jesus moment...
not quite the look we sported 19 years ago!

The closest thing to a real horse in the stable.
Why not?!

In the background is an air force base,
but they hide the planes underground!
This is the Valley of Armageddon (from Mt. Carmel)

Roman aqua-duct

Cat in the aqua-duct...they are EVERYWHERE here!
And so friendly & photogenic..it's like the Where's Waldo
of the cat world!

On the bank of the Mediterranean Sea

Caught napping!  Oops!
Guess I can't say they didn't provide
us with a comfy bus.

Hmm...who wears the bigger shoes?

A market hall in Old Town...beware of cars and little
Israli women; they'll hip check you in a hot minute!

Outdoor Market; a little more room here
(and yet, no cars!)

Yummmm....Schwarma!

Wailing Wall...on Passover up to 100,000
people gather here to pray!  5,000 on the Sabbath

If you saw the stones, and the buildings, you'd
know they know what is up.

It was a long day......

but we conquered Jerusalem!

Day 2 Photos

Here are just a few photos of yesterday.  It was such a full day, like day #1, but beautiful again!  We got to drive through Nazareth, have lunch at a tiny market-type area that had Heinz Ketchup! :o)  We also visited Mt. Tabor and our last stop was at the River of Jordan where Amy and Ryan (along with 3 others) were able to reaffirm their baptism.

Mosaic floor in Zippori
They call it the "Mona Lisa of Israel"

Another mosaic on the floor of the synagogue in Zappori

Orthodox Church that was built over
Mary's well

Mary's well - Amy and I did NOT
take a drink

Altar at Mt. Tabor

View from Mt. Tabor Church

Ruins of the monastery at Mt. Tabor

Another view of the Sea of Galilee

More of our day in Galilee

Sorry I missed yesterday but we got all of the pictures from the Galilee downloaded last night and just a few are below!  We have had an AMAZING trip so far.  It almost feels like the 6 days of touring we have planned will just not be enough.

We were able to see so many sites, and we even rode a wooden boat across the Sea of Galilee (which is actually a lake!)   We have learned so much; not just about the life and times of Jesus, but about civilization and villages that were buried time and time again and a new village built on top...sometimes up to 25 times!

In Israel before they start new construction they call in the architects to look for old villages and synagogues...so different from America where we look for coal and oil!

A plaque at Church of the Primacy of Peter

The ancient synagogue at Capernaum

People leave prayers at all of the holy sites!
On the left is one we found at the Synagogue  The picture on the right is a mosaic on the altar of Tabgha (The Seven Springs)

Amy & I at Tabgha (The Seven Springs)

This is the village of Bet She'an...they just uncovered
it 20 years ago and are still excavating!

Ryan next to columns found in Bet She'an...
for those of you who don't know him, he
is 6'2" (as a reference)

Another view of Bet She'an...we walked
170 steps to the top of a man-made hill!