Unpacking

 Unpacking my Jerusalem and Greece guidebooks, and Pilgrims Progress.
Putting my little icons from Nazareth on my kitchen window sill.
Soaking chick peas, in Dead Sea Salt.

Greece and Israel are memories.
Sweet memories.

Sun April 28 Leaving

Leaving Israel today.
I am ever so grateful that, in a moment of "Let's just do it", that Mike and I booked this trip.

Would so recommend this A&K tour to anyone. It's the 30,000 feet view of Israel. You get the highlights, and then several times during the day, time to be still and absorb. Recharge. Reflect.

Note, Mike said I should have used light-years not feet in the above paragraph, because light-years is a really cool unit of measuring distance. I stuck with feet. 

Our guide does the highlights. In interesting story format.
It is not every detail, but I didn't want that.

It is the footsteps of Jesus, amidst the history of the Jews and the more modern history of the Muslims. Which is the reality of our modern times.

What moments will follow me home?

Sitting on the shores of Galilee with Mike, at the church of St Peter, near Capernaum. Reading the last chapters of John. This is what it looked like, when Jesus appeared to Peter, James, John, Andrew as resurrected. Ate with them. And asked Peter three times, Do you love me.

Sitting on the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount. The very stones that were there when Jesus would have walked up them.

And the mayhem at Bethlehem, not because it upset me in the least. Only because Bethlehem today is what Jesus is not. He is grace, spirit, eternal, forgiveness, peace, love.

We worship a living God, one who is not housed in a building, and we don't need to pay anything to approach him.
The price was paid 2,000 years ago.
His house is the Kingdom of God.
And we are its citizens.

How cool is that?

Sunday April 28 photos Walking Jerusalem, flying home

Last of our bountiful breakfasts. Last of our Fruit slicer-men.

Taking the photo of the fruit, I heard a voice behind me say, "I'm vaiting, I'm vaiting." I turned around to see a waiter looking at me. I smiled at him, thinking he meant, humourously, that he was waiting for me to take his photo. As I am a quick photo-taker. I don't do alot of posing, I just point and shoot. It's a memory I want. Well, as I smile at him, he says again, "I'm vaiting." He wants me to move. He has one cappucino on a small tray, and he could easily go around me. But he wanted me to move. They are very aggressive in this hotel. I just laughed, and moved sideways.  

Then sheep!

And we walked towards and into the Walled city of Jerusalem. Past the French Consulate. 

Mamilla Shopping Mall from the Jaffa Gate entrance. Beautiful lavender and rosemary. Sharp contrast of old and new, in the same limestone. Imagine coming here from surrounding towns. The elegance and oppulence would be breath-taking.

Walked around for a few hours. Sat for turkish coffee at a recommended fountain near the Church of Holy Sepulchre.





 Hookah.

Then a tour group of 50 came, very friendly, from Arkansas. Sat behind and up from us.

 I so appreciated only 12 of us walking through this city, having lunches sitting family style waiting for us. Air conditioned, cool buildings. Clean restrooms.

Boy don't I sound old.

 Loved sitting watching people.

 It is Orthodox Palm Sunday, so many carrying palms, or wearing yamulkahs, or in chadors, or not. 

We found, Mike found, Samara for lunch.

My last chicken shishkeh and fresh fresh pita.

Parade marched by with drums and bag pipes.

We were told they were Syrians.

Emphasizes the diversity here in Jerusalem. 

Then Mike took off. Walked around the Old City.

Had a moment when he was overlooking Kidron Valley, outside the walls, towards Gethsemane. Meditative. Then looked up towards Temple Mount (you can see Dome from there) and he saw what looked like a gun sticking out through the parapet aimed at him. He looked, he was sure.

He ducked behind a tree, waiting until others came, and he walked sideways away. And then back to hotel. Other than this, we have felt 100% safe here. Little kids walk around alone. 

I walked back through Mamilla Shopping Mall.

And then through David's Village Artist Colony. 

Road Sign, even English doesn't help sometimes.











Soldiers on the road.
































Jewelry in hotel:
Tank has all the symbols of Jewish holidays.

















 Hotel door: scripture over door, and 2 door keys. One is Shabbat, you don't use electricity during Shabbat so you can ask for a metal key instead. 

Goodbye Blooming Gladiolas.

To the Romans, what three ancient wonders did Israel hold?

1. Sea where nothing floats

2. Day when no one works

3. Temple with no Statues

Sat Apr 27 photos

Friday Night sundown starts shabbat. Everything closes down. Dinner service at the hotel is sparse.














We walked to Adom, Middle East French. Fantastic. Lamb chops, tabouleh w mint, green onion, parsley, cranberries.

Moon over Jerusalem.

Saturday breakfast was all cooked Friday, just reheated. No cappucino's, nor croissants nor poached eggs. Lots of fruit still. You know the meat carvery stations at buffets, well here they have a fruit carvery and fruit juicer guy. I had cucumber juice yesterday, beet juice too. 

Today we drove, 12 of us in our huge bus, 2 people stayed behind as it is hot, and steep walking.

We went 1-1/2 miles south into the West Bank, drove along right next to the Dead Sea, to Masada.





















Bedouins living next to the highway.

Landscape becomes less green.
Desert.

 It reached 100 degrees at the Dead Sea today.

The sun has been hot and bright this whole trip, even MORE so now. 

Qumran, hills above Dead Sea where Essenes lived, John the Baptist. They copied and stored the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Date Plantations, sulfur springs. 

This is confluence of three continents, cross species. Acacia tree from Africa. Ibexes too. We saw a mom and baby cross the highway ( no photo).

First sight of Masada. Huge. Ginormous. Steep.

5 BC Roman Herod the Great ( fortified Second Temple in Jerusalem) builds several forts in Israel. Masada has a palace for Herod, three tiers going down hill, bathhouses, large buildings, for 900 soldiers to live here. 

67 AD Rome takes over all Israel directly, Masada is last holdout... of the Jewish Zealots. 10,000 Roman soldiers lay seige to 900 Jews here, for a year. Romans built seige towers ( diamond bases on ground) and were building a seige ramp up west side. Finally they broke down double wall. Jews had all taken their own lifes rather than become Roman slaves.




Opted for cable car instead of 'snake path'.

Desert as far as you can see. Or the salty Dead Sea.

Dovecote, their protein source.

Triangle is seige ramp. 

Part of double wall Romans broke through.

Church built in Byzantine time. Then Muslims took over in 700.

Birds, some soar, some sit and watch.

Salt lady.

Shoreline of Dead Sea, white is not foam, it's hard salt.

Mike's in, and yes he is floating!

I went in up to my knees, but I did cake the mud onto my hands. Softens them. 

Driving back to hotel. 

Several Bedouin camps. 

City on hill, still in West Bank.

Camels just by the road, alone. 

Back at hotel, my lobby 'desk'.

And the gladiolas which were tight buds when we came, have opened up.