I forgot to tell you we got to ride “Charlie the Camel!”  What an adventure, he even gave some of us kisses! Ugh!  

Okay I get to this point with the pictures on my IPad and I can’t go any further. Not sure what you will get next but here you go.

 The Dead Sea.

Monday, October 15

We rose early this morning to visit the Southern Wall Excavations site.  We walked on the very stones where Jesus trod to Herod’s “second temple.”  The Temple area was next, The Dome of the Rock Mosque is huge! We walked through the Old City to the Crusader Church and the Pool of Bethesda. We visited Bethlehem and while there had lunch at a small family owned restaurant where they served us stew simular to what Rebekah would have made for Jacob when they tricked Isaac and Esau.  After the interesting lunch, we went to the Church of the Nativity for a very long line to see the cave of Christ’s birth, as well as the Shepherd’s Field and the plains of Boaz.  We visited one of the best olive wood shops in Bethlehem for a little shopping and then back to the “Dan Hotel” for the evening.  Best time of the day was just seeing so many spots where our guide Saliba was able to share with us in depth history.

Tuesday, October 16

Another early morning but well worth it!  Some of the group opted to miss this part, I am oh so glad that I did not!!!  We went to the Western Wall Tunnel down under the Western Wall through some wide tunnels and some very narrow tunnels. Saliba showed us ancient areas where the people lived, shopped, we could touch the Western wall structure underneath the area where the men and women were praying literally on top of us.  Layers of cities are build right on top of each other with passage ways and tunnels, and cisterns, and shops.  Oh my, I think this morning was one of my favorite spots. One could see the inner workings of many years gone by. We walked through the restored Jewish Quarter, visited Saliba’s childhood church, wavied to his mother’s cousin as we walked through his childhood neighborhood.  Saliba was raised here so it has been a real treat for him to point out various places he played at as a kid, where he worshiped, went to school, etc. Tomorrow is our last day in The Holy Land. I am so very thankful to have had the opportunity to visit.

Since I can’t seem to post pictures here, I will try to post some to my Facebook page.  

Sunday, The Lord’s Day, was spent in the Holy Land.  We started our day with another float in the Dead Sea. Next we went to Ein Gedi an oasis in the desert where David hid while fleeing from King Saul. When you think about it, it is odd to see water flowing in the desert.  Next was Qumran, the location where The Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  There are 11 caves, 4 natural and 7 man made.  Numbers 12 & 13 have been found in the last two months.  One thing I have been surprised at is the continuous excavations being done.  We saw a sycamore tree in Jericho said to be two thousand years old.We went back into Jericho for lunch at the Samar Cafe.  It was a half chicken on a freshly baked pita bread the size of the plate. Yum!

After lunch Helen, Terri, and I got to ride a camel who also gave kisses on the side of ones face. Yep! I got a camel kiss. Our first shopping stop was in Jericho at Hebron Handicrafts. I got a couple of pieces of tile, a Christmas ornament and glass bead. We stopped to view St. George Monastery where two monks still live to this day. Finally we were on our way to Jerusalem passing goat herds and Bedouin camps.  Communion was served at Mount Scopus to welcome us to Jerusalem and then we checked into the Dan Jerusalem hotel for the next 4 nights.

Pictures to follow - hopefully!

Saturday was amazing!  We left the Galilee area and traveled south through the Jordan Valley. Our first stop was Beit She’an, the place where the Philistines hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan.  Terri hiked to the top to get a picture of the bare tree where their heads were hung. We then moved on to Bethabra where John baptized and close to where the children of Israel crossed into the Promised Land.  We ate at the ‘Lemon’ restaurant in Jericho, a local place where we had the usual humans and vegtables, pita and then we were treated to lamb/beef mixed and chicken shikabobs.  Very good!  They served us lemon aid with mint.  Man was that refreshing!  The restaurants do not serve their drinks with ice here.  After lunch we went to Masada instead of into Jericho which we will do on Sunday.  Masada was incredible perched high on top of the mountain.  We took the tram ride up, and some of us wanted to walk down but it was closed when the tour was ready to leave. Big bummer!!!

Our evening was spent at the Isrotel Hotel right on the Dead Sea. Terri, Kit and I went for our first float in the Dead Sea after dinner.  You don’t really swim you float!  I had planned to come to the room and post after cleaning up however, once I finally sat down after the day, I could not keep my eyes open. I was a ‘good’ worn out! Barely remember making it to the bed.

Sunday morning - Terri, John, Helen and myself were in the Dead Sea again by 6:15am to watch the sun come up over the mountains. We laughed and had a great time just taking in the beauty around us and soaking in the soothing mineral/salt water.  Breakfast was next and now I am trying to get a post done before we leave with pictures in just a few minutes. We will see.  We are off to Jericho today and then into Jerusalem. Pictures to follow if I can.

We just returned to the Leonardo Plaza Hotel in Tiberius for the second night after a wonderful day of traveling where our Lord traveled.We took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee first thing this morning. The water was calm, the weather warm. 

The boat docked at Nof Ginossar to visit the “Jesus Boat” museum to see a boat that dates back to the time of Jesus. 

Then we stopped at the Primacy Of Peter where some of us were able to put our feet in the Sea of Galilee. The next stop was the Mount of Beatitudes.

Lunch was at a great little restaurant, Pilgerhaus Tabgha in Gennesaret. Our group was the only one there for most of our meal.  We had a choice of fried tilapia with the head still on or chicken.  We all wanted to experience a true Sea of Galilee Talapia and with the head still on.  It was delicious! Good job everyone!

After lunch we went to the site of Caesarea Philippi where springs form a source of the Jordan River.  One would have thought we were back in Marysville for the amount of rain that was pouring down when we first got there.  It was actually flowing down one of the sets of stairs to the site.  Being the brave and adventurous folks that we are and true Washingtonians, rain did not keep us from seeing this site.

Our last stop of the day was CapernaumThe Town of Jesus where we stood in the remains of a synagogue.

Tonight is the beginning of the Sabbath day for the Jews. 

Sitting on the boat this morning reflecting on all that we know about the Sea of Galilee in God’s Word was my favorite part of the day.  We are off to dinner in a bit.  Pictures are not downloading right now so I will try again later.

Tomorrow we head toward Jericho and The Dead Sea.

I am going to try again for the 4th time. We have truly been on an adventure, some hard but mostly it has been a wonder experience. 

When we left SeaTac on Tuesday, the plane was 1 1/2 hours late which made us late into Frankfurt. Fortunately, the Lufthansa Captain was able to get permission from the tower to wait on all the people connecting on the flight to Tel Aviv. They picked us up on the tarmac by bus and transfered us all way to the other side of the airport,  There were another 50 people that were supposed to be on the same flight but they did not make it before the tower made us leave.  So sad for them.

We arrived in Tel Aviv only to find out that John, Kit, and my luggage did not make the flight, everyone else’s did! Lost luggage forms were filled out and we were on our way.

Our hotel for the night was right on the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv.  Helen, Terri, and I just had to get our feet in the warm water. The area was bustling with people, several volleyball games were going on, there was a huge outdoor fitness area full of guys working out.  It was safe and so many people were out at night time.

Today we left Tel Aviv and started another adventure visiting Caesarea, Mount Carmel, Megiddo, Nazareth, and Tiberius. I wanted to post several pictures but every thing shut down when I tried earlier to post. 

The best part of the day was visiting Megiddo because we descended down into  an actual water supply system.

We are now in Tiberius for two nights. Our luggage finally caught up with us tonight. Oh Man, I am thankful for clean clothes! Pictures to follow it I can get them to post.  We will cross the Sea of Galilee tomorrow.

Our guide is an overflowing source of information and the luxury bus driver is so skilled to drive on these narrow roads.

Hopefully pictures will follow.

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We are almost ready, got our documents, name tags (my name is even spelled right), and the packing is underway.

We are official!

The weather is expected to be nice with no rain. However, coming from the Pacific Northwest, I will believe that when I see it!  Thanks to everyone who has offered suggestions (what to wear, see, eat, buy, etc.) for when we are there.  It has been 9 months since this dream started, I am so excited to see it come true!  

7 Days until departure.

7 Days to go!  I am so excited and ready to go on this once in a life time adventure.  Much to do and accomplish before then.  All of our documents have been received along with the itinerary, bags are in the process of being packed, and I am studying along the way.

Itinerary
Oct 9 - Depart USA
Oct 10 - Arrive Tel Aviv - Joppa
Oct 11 - Tel Aviv - Caesarea - Mount Carmel - Megiddo - Nazareth - Tiberias
Oct 12 - Tiberias - Sea of Galilee - Capernaum - Caesarea Philippi
Oct 13 - Tiberias - Beit She’an - Bethabara - Jericho - Dead Sea
Oct 14 - Masada - Ein Gedi - Qumran - Old Jericho Road - Jerusalem
Oct 15 - Mount of Olives - Southern Wall Excavations - Tempe Mount - Pool of Bethesda - Bethlehem
Oct 16 - Western Wall Tunnel - Temple Institute - Pilate’s Palace - Upper Room - Jewish Quarter - Southern Wall Excavations
Oct 17 - Gethsemane - Pool of Siloam - House of Caiaphas - Calvary - Garden Tomb - Tel Aviv
Oct 18 - Arrrive USA

Our hotel accommodations are as follows:
Renaissance Hotel Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Oct. 10 one night
Leonardo Plaza Hotel Tiberius, Sea of Galilee, Oct 11 out Oct 13
Istrotel Dead Sea Hotel, Erin Bokek, Oct 13 one night
Dan Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Oct 14 out Oct 18

I will try to keep you posted with pictures.

It's Just Over 5 Weeks Now!

We will be on a once in a lifetime adventure as we walk where our Savior walked exploring the land of Israel.