Day 12 - June 15

This is our last day in Israel.  We slept in again today.  We were ready to go to the Old City at about 9:15 am.  This morning, our merry band was four.  We started walking to the Damascus Gate.  Before coming to Israel, a friend of our pastor warned us that we should avoid the Damascus Gate.  It has become our entrance of choice.  What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday was the final day of celebration for the Islam holiday of Ramadan.  Yesterday, the Damascus Gate was packed as we left the Old City for the day.  Today the Muslims were sleeping or worshiping. 

Just inside the Damascus Gate yesterday (June 15th)

Just inside the Damascus Gate today (June 16th)

We headed through the Damascus Gate, through the Old City to the Jaffa Gate.  We toured the Tower of David Museum.  The museum is inside the Citadel, known as the Tower of David.  This museum is where we had watched the story of Jerusalem projected on the walls a few days ago.  We chose the tour without a guide.  As we walked through the museum we were able to soak in the history of Jerusalem at our own pace.   More information sunk in as we walked.  There was even some Chihuly glass exhibited here.  I had seen the Chihuly glass exhibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus.

Chihuly Glass at the start of the museum.

The green plants in the middle of the picture are glass and not real.

The views from the top of the museum/citadel walls were among the best that we have seen.  I took lots of pictures, some panoramas.

Panaroma of New and Old Jerusalem

 - gold dome is the Dome of the Rock.

Fortunately, it was a light day.  We were back in our hotel room to rest, pack and catch dinner before we make the long trip home.  We catch a bus to the airport at around 7:30 pm, get to the airport at 8:30 pm.  In Israel, you have to be at the airport 3 hours before the flight at around 11:30 pm.  We fly for 10 and a half hours to get to Newark, NJ then through customs and fly to Columbus.  We will arrive in Columbus, Ohio at 8:30 am tomorrow. 

Today is our final day in Israel.  It is a bittersweet feeling.  I look forward to being home and in my own bed but I can't believe that our trip is over.  We started planning and drumming up interest for this trip more than a year ago.  Those that wanted to come but didn't come with us, really lost out.  My mind almost explodes when I think about what I have seen and heard on this trip.  I have experienced almost all possible emotions on this trip.  I have laughed with my group as we did something silly.  I have cried as I was moved by what my Savior has done for me or as I prayed for the world, Israel, my friends and family at the Wailing Wall.  I have felt awe as I think about how much our God loves us and Israel.  I have felt a nervousness but not fear as I walked some of the streets of the Old City.  Yesterday was the final day of Ramadan.  The Muslims partied all night and this morning nearly all of the shops are closed.  It was eerie as we walked through the empty streets.  To me, there was an increase in my nervousness.  I have felt safe as we traveled all over Israel and Jerusalem.  We have crossed into Bethlehem through military checkpoints because it is a Palestinian held town.  We drove to the northernmost regions of Israel, just a stone's throw from Syria and Lebanon.  We drove along the border with Jordan for almost 100 miles.  At no point would I use the word "afraid".  Would I come back?  If my health holds out, I could see me coming back in a few years.  This was a great trip!

Day 11 - June 14th

The temperature today started off like yesterday but it didn't take long to reach the 80's.  Today we walked to the Damascus Gate through the market to the Dung Gate.  Again we had Eugenia, our fearless leader leading us.  Eugenia said that she had stayed with a friend in Israel for 2 weeks.  She said she ran errands for her friend so she had walked around in the Old City by herself.  She then led us to the City of David tour that was a little more than a block outside the Dung Gate.

Just before reaching the Dung Gate, we walked passed the Wailing Wall.  We heard drums and music coming from people in front of us.  Evidently, today was the day for Bar Mitzvah's.  Bar Mitzvah's are celebrated when a boy turns 13 and becomes a man.  The picture below shows the boy being taken to the Wailing Wall with friends and family.

Blowing horns and beating drums as a boy in lead to the Wailing Wall.

As you can see he is a very tall 13 year old boy.  The men with him are holding their horns up to his head like horns.  It is all in fun.

The tour was a very interesting tour.  It turns out that except for the Temple Mount, Jerusalem at the time of King David was outside the Old City.  The City of David was an active archeological dig.  Our tour guide was a young Jew that had lived in San Francisco at one time.  He spoke English with no accent.  Everything that he spoke about, he would read about it from the Bible to verify it.  I did ask him about the current believes of Jewish theologians regarding Genesis 1 and creation.  His answer was that the Earth is about 6000 years old and that the Seven days of creation were seven 24 hour days.  A woman on the tour butted in with her own ideas.

Part of the digs of the City of David

Ruins believed to be the Palace of King David

 Poster that shows how deep Hezekiah's Tunnel is (about 32 inches).

Part of the tour of the City of David is a tunnel built by the Jews at the time of King Hezekiah (8th century BC).  At the time of King David, the Spring of Gihon was the source of water for Jerusalem.  It was where King Solomon was anointed as king of Israel.  There are two parts to the tunnel.  One is now dry and the other has about 32 inches of water in it.  You can walk through the tunnel.  We chose the dry side but many went the wet way.  The Spring of Gihon is the source of the water for the wet side.

Terry descending in Hezekiah's Tunnel.

Cistern used to store water above the tunnel.

More steps to the tunnel.

After we exited the tunnel, we were at the Pool of Siloam.  We took a wild ride in a van back up to the start of the City of David tour.  The driver was in a hurry to get back down and collect more money from passengers.  We were scared to death.  Again, no bullets or bombs, just crazy drivers.

We walked back up to the Dung Gate, then to the Zion Gate, and finally to the Jaffa Gate.  At the Jaffa Gate we went on the southern Ramparts Tour.  This gave us fantastic views outside the Old City.  

As we were walking to the Dung Gate.  A dig being done by the UNC Charlotte

Same dig from above on the Ramparts Tour.

Terry on the Rampart.

There were 7 of us that did the Ramparts Tour.  Once we finished the ramparts we walked all the way back to the hotel.  We walked more than 6 miles again today.  We got back to our hotel and crashed.  

The Muslim holiday of Ramadan has been going on while we have been on this trip.  It is celebrated for a month and ends tonight.  We have already heard fireworks.  The markets were packed at the end of the day.  They have been partying the last couple of nights.  We haven't gone out after dark and decided not to take the midnight bike tour because of it.  Since it is Ramadan then we are not allowed to go up on the Temple Mount since it is controlled by the Muslims.

Day 10 - June 13 - 1st Day of Extension

This morning started as a cool day, 65F.  It warmed up to the low 80's.  It was the best day as far as weather yet.  Today, we headed to the light rail and we took it to the Shuk.  The Shuk is an open air market.  We had been through a similar market in the Old City but it was like comparing Kohl's and Walmart.  Eugenia led the way.  She has spent some time in Jerusalem and knew her way around.  With her help, we arrived at the Shuk.  She said just ask the vendor's and they will let you try their fruits and vegetables.  It was an amazing morning.  The rest of us never felt comfortable just taking something off a table and trying it.  We would tell her and the next thing we knew we were eating it.  We tried fresh figs, lychee nuts, teas, a local granola, smoothies and various nuts.  The lychee nut is a strange fruit.  It has a hard nut shell, a citrusy fruit inside and a nut in the middle.  The Shuk gave us an idea of how the people of Jerusalem shop for groceries daily.

We heard such things as "You broke my heart because you wouldn't buy my granola."  or Eugenia bartered with someone and he said "You are squeezing me like a lemon!"

Light Rail - 6 Shekels or $1.50 to ride

One of the streets of the Shuk

You could buy fish -

Nuts, cheeses, more fish - 

Dried fruits and nuts -

Fresh Fruits - 

Breads - and the list goes on and on.

Lychee Nut 

We went to an upscale Shuk and went into an Aroma Coffee shop.  I picked up my hot chocolate that I ordered and it came with a wonderful little piece of chocolate.  Terry loved it.  I started drinking my hot chocolate and it was just hot milk.  We had eaten so many Israeli chocolate desserts that were not sweet at all.  I thought this was the same.  They had also given me a spoon.  After a couple of sips, it dawned on me that I should stir the hot chocolate.  I lifted up the spoon and there were partially melted chocolate bars.  I got it totally mixed up and took a sip.  It was the best hot chocolate that I had ever taste. It was thick, creamy and rich.

Then we headed to the Jaffa gate to get tickets to do the Ramparts walk.  The ramparts are on top of the wall.  There were two sections.  Today we would walk the ramparts from the Jaffa Gate to the Lions Gate.  We were missing our bus.  We had walked from the train to the Shuk and from the Shuk to the Jaffa Gate.  We walked from the Jaffa Gate to the Lion's Gate on the ramparts and then finally to the hotel.  By the end of the day, we had walked more than 6 miles.  We saved the Southern ramparts for tomorrow.  The views were amazing.

Jaffa Gate

Rampart

Dome of the Rock from the Rampart Walk

Golgotha - Calvary from the Rampart Walk

Damascus Gate from the Rampart Walk

Day 9 - June 12

Today, we slept in because we didn't need to get on the bus until 9:00 am. Tamar felt that the later start would allow the other buses to be out of the way.  First, we headed for the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.  We were the only bus to drive by at that time.

Sign directing us to the U.S. Embassy

Nearest we could get to the U.S. Embassy

We headed to the Lion's Gate (or St. Peter's Gate).  This would get us into the Old City once more.  

Lion's Gate

We walked through the Lion's Gate to the Pools of Bethesda.  This where Jesus healed the crippled man.  He told the man to "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  Much of Israel reminds of visiting our family in W. Va.  They use cisterns to catch water.  That is how they filled the Pool of Bethesda then.  Today they are dry.

 Pool of Bethesda

We then headed to St. Anne's Church.  This church has amazing acoustics.  We were allowed to take a turn at singing in the middle of the church with the good acoustics.  It sounded heavenly.

Next, we headed to the Via Dolorosa.  Before we started to follow the path of Christ to His crucifixion, we paused for a devotion and an opportunity to reflect on what He had endured as He was lead to His death. As it says in Isaiah 53:7, "he was led like a lamb to the slaughter."  In a garden area Laurie and I read Mark's account of the trial, flogging and crucifixion of Jesus.  I sang "Give Me Jesus".  The song was made popular by Ernie Haase and Signature Sound.  You can follow the following link to hear their version:  Give Me Jesus.  Below are the Via Dolorosa or the path that Jesus followed on his way to the cross.

Then we walked to two churches that commemorate Jesus flogging and where Jesus took up His cross and started walking.  Today was a tour day so the Via Dolorosa was very busy.  

All three pictures are the Via Dolorosa

When we reached the end, there was the Church of Holy Sepulchre.  This church building was built by the Crusaders.  The church is said to be the place where Jesus was crucified.  It also has a room that houses the tomb where they laid Jesus body.  Just like much of what we saw in Israel, it is thought to be the right place.  

Place of the crucifixion inside the church

Place of the empty tomb inside the church

Another proposed place of the crucifixion

Old photo of the same site

Another proposed Garden Tomb.

Pastor Larry gave a devotion relating to communion from 1 Corinthians 11.  It was very moving and thought provoking.  He had two from the Muncie church serve communion.  It was a great day.

Later that evening we had to say goodbye to 22 of our group.  There were 9 of us that were staying an additional 3 days.

Day 8 - June 11

This morning it was cooler in Jerusalem, 72 degrees.  However, we were headed down, down to the Dead Sea and Masada.  The Dead Sea is said to be the lowest place on Earth.  It is more than 1200 feet below sea level.  As we travel to lower and lower elevations, the temperature goes up and up.  The temperature at the base of Masada was more than 100F.

Masada is a fortress or place built for Herod to escape to if Jerusalem fell.  It did fall but Herod didn't make it to the fortress.  You can look up Masada on Wikipedia or watch the mini-series or movie.  It is too much to cover here.  Needless to say, the Romans did capture Masada but all of the Jews were dead.  Each man had to kill his wife and children then the men killed each other and finally the leader fell on his sword.  When the Romans entered Masada, only a couple of women and children were alive.  Almost a thousand were dead.  The key thing about Masada is that it is on top of a mountain.  We rode a cable car up to the ruins of Masada.

Masada is on top of the "mountain"

 Cable car ride up to Masada.

King Herod the Great had Masada built with all sorts of amenities.  He had storerooms built, bath houses and a palace.  Since water was difficult to get, he but an amazing way to fill his 10 cisterns.  He captured the water from the flash floods that occurred from time to time.

Our guide (under the umbrella) explaining to our group in a food storeroom.

Ramp built by the Romans to conquer Masada

Next, we traveled to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  A group of devout Jews or religious zealots moved out to near the Dead Sea and made copies of the Bible at that time.  A copy of the book of Isaiah was found that was 3000 years old.  We couldn't take pictures inside the museum but we could the outside of the building.  When we got outside Pastor Brian was snapping pictures of us in front of the museum.  I have none to post at this time.

The Dead Sea looks like any other large lake.  Below is a picture taken as we drove along the highway.

Dead Sea shore.

The Dead Sea mud is suppose to be therapeutic.  We all rubbed it on.  Terry was amazed that I really floated in the Dead Sea.  There is so much salt and minerals dissolved in it that I do float.

Rubbing mud on us.

What a way to spend my birthday.  It was great.

Day 7 - Sunday - June 10th

Today was another hot day, it was in the 90's in Jerusalem.  We started the day on the Mount of Olives.  The sights were amazing.

Dome of the Rock

Islamic Shrine where the Temple once stood.

Graves in the foreground, Dome of Rock and

Old City in the background.

Us blocking most of it.

As we walked from the Mount of Olives we traveled the route the Jesus entered Jerusalem that we call the Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem.  This walk took us first by the Jewish cemetery.

Jewish cemetery - Jews buried with no casket - wrapped/not embalmed/below ground.

As with almost everything else in Israel, there is a church building to commemorate the Garden of

Gethsemane where Jesus agonized over His pending death.

Inside of the Church

Outside of church - oldest olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane

We entered the Old City through the Dung Gate.  Although this is not the original Dung Gate, the original gate was used to take out the trash.  Now it is an entrance for large numbers of tourists.

Barbi posing at the Dung Gate.

From the Dung Gate, we walked to the Teaching Steps.  It was believed that Jesus taught here a number of times.

Even though it appears that we are doing nothing, the temperature is in the 90's.

The first picture above shows the Dome of the Rock which is an Islamic site build on the Temple Mount.  The Temple was destroyed and the rocks used to build it were pushed off.  The next picture shows some of the rocks from the third Temple which was destroyed when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70A.D.  

Stones from the Temple Mount.

As we continued to walk in the Old City we walked to the Wailing Wall.  We had the opportunity to touch it and to pray there.  The Wailing Wall is the closest the anyone can get to where the Holy of Holies that was in the Temple.  Small folded paper with prayers written on them can be stuck in the cracks of the wall.  I prayed and put prayers into the cracks of the Wailing Wall for family and friends.

  

Wailing Wall also called the Western Wall

We then traveled by bus to the Israel Musem.  This museum has a 1/50 replicate of Jerusalem showing how it looked in the year 66 AD before it was destroyed and 33 years after Jesus was crucified and resurrected.  It also has the building that has a copy of some of the Dead Sea scrolls.  Unfortunately, no photographs could be taken in this building.  

I would like to correct my previous statement (Second day).  The bus driver is amazing.  He has maneuvered the huge bus in and out of some very tough spots.  Each day when we get back to the hotel, we applaud him for is driving.  The road in Israel belong to the big and aggressive and with our bus and Ishmael, our bus driver we just about own the road. 

Replica of Jerusalem in 66 AD.  (1/50 scale)

Museum that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and other relics.

Our final stop of the day was the Holocaust Museum.  Once again no photos could be taken inside the museum.  It was a horrible reminder of what the Nazis did to the Jews.  What was displayed in the museum was depressing.

Throughout Israel, we have seen a number of what I think are crows.  The bus driver also called them crows.  I asked "Mr. Google" and it said it was a "Hooded Crow".  They even sound the same as crows back home.  They look slightly different.  They are not as large and they are wearing a gray jacket.