This place was built by crusaders and remembers the Last Super.
We got our first look at Israeli girls in military training.
We went to a chuch that now covers a 1st century house some believe was the site of Jesus trial before Caiphas. I think the location is questionable, but it was a good place to remember the events, including the old cistern that could have been used as a place to hold Jesus before he went to Pilate.
Here we're standing on 2000 year old steps that Jesus and his disciples almost certainly would have walked on when they were in Jerusalem.
We next headed into Bethlehem, now under control of the Palestinian Authority. Our tour agency insists that we visit one specific olivewood store and factory there and it was overpriced and a little too pushy. Ana and I quietly moved around and encouraged our people not to buy there. Bill and I snuck downstairs to take a look at their factory.
The next part was not so good. We got to the church of the Nativity and it was packed. There was a Disneyland type line to get into the grotto and lots of rude, frustrated people standing in it. We even got into a bumping match with an highly rude nun! This is an amazing, historic place...the oldest standing church in the holy land, but the crowd sucked the joy out of it.
Of course, we are a part of that crowd...
We did a brief stop at a a better olivewood shop that actually has one of the original Dead Sea scroll pots, the one the Isaiah scroll was found in. This is a good Christian family who it was a joy to support.
Just outside there shop, you can see a part of the Israeli security wall that surrounds Rachel's Tomb. Not a very pleasant view.
On the way back to Jerusalem, we stopped at the Hass viewpoint, to the south of the old city. This is a view Abraham might have had 3800 years ago (OK, it has changed a bit)
Our final stop was a place known as the Garden Tomb. This tomb is too old to be the one Jesus was placed in, but it is an oasis in the midst's of the chaos of the city and a good spot to visualize what Jesus' tomb might have looked like.
You see a lot of strange people in this city, but this guy must be out for some award.
Tomorrow night I might be out to dinner with an old friend who is a guide, so I might not get a post in. Thanks for looking!
We did a brief stop at a a better olivewood shop that actually has one of the original Dead Sea scroll pots, the one the Isaiah scroll was found in. This is a good Christian family who it was a joy to support.
Just outside there shop, you can see a part of the Israeli security wall that surrounds Rachel's Tomb. Not a very pleasant view.
On the way back to Jerusalem, we stopped at the Hass viewpoint, to the south of the old city. This is a view Abraham might have had 3800 years ago (OK, it has changed a bit)
Our final stop was a place known as the Garden Tomb. This tomb is too old to be the one Jesus was placed in, but it is an oasis in the midst's of the chaos of the city and a good spot to visualize what Jesus' tomb might have looked like.
You see a lot of strange people in this city, but this guy must be out for some award.
Tomorrow night I might be out to dinner with an old friend who is a guide, so I might not get a post in. Thanks for looking!
