I've been trying to get some time to update you on our time in Israel thus far. There is so much to tell, but our schedule has been so full of amazing things that I am struggling with getting it all down. So for now I'll give you the basics and hope to share more in-depth and reflective stories later on.
We met up with our group at Vienna airport on Thursday afternoon. There are 32 of us in total in mixed ages from mid 20s to upper 60s I would guess. After a 3.5 hour flight we arrived in Tel Aviv at 12:55am local time early Friday evening (June 10th). We all cleared immigration and Customs in a record 40 minutes and were shortly after on a Coach headed toward our hotel in Jerusalem - Hotel Rivoli.
Since we all didn't get to bed until after 3:30am local time, we slept in until 11am the next morning and had a late brunch around noon before heading out for our first day of exploration. Our activities this day focused on Jesus in Jerusalem and stops this day included The Garden Tomb (a possible location of Jesus' burial that in the very least gives a better understanding of the type of situation Jesus would have been buried in), St Anne's and the Pools of Bethesda, the Via Dolorosa, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (built over what some believe is the garden tomb) and the Western 'Wailing' Wall.
On Day 2 (Saturday, June 11th) we travelled to the Dead Sea region for a glimpse at dessert life, including a visit to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, Crazy King Herod's fortress at Masada, The pools and caves of En Gedi (where David hid from Kind Saul), and a float in a giant saline bath tub (the Dead Sea). Got my own souvenir chunk of Dead Sea salt deposits off a rock on the shoreline -- who says good souvenir's cost money? That evening after dinner, a small group of us wandered up to the New Jerusalem to an area where youth hang out and grabbed some ice cream at a street cafe, and on the way back experienced an interesting Orthodox Jewish street performance group that I will have to describe more in asubsequent posting. Let's just say it was something like Bar Mitzva meets Techno.
Day 3 (Sunday, June 12th) we spent another day in Jerusalem. Visits in the morning focused on Jerusalem during the time of King David and later King Hezekiah. We saw ruins of the Jerusalem David conquored from the Canaanites, Hezekiah's Tunnel and Hezekiah's Borad Wall, the Pool of Siloam, The Temple ruins from the time of Jesus under King Herod's rule, the Temple Mount both historically and modern day, and some ruins of rich man's villas dating from the time of King Herod that lie in a center under the houses of the Jewish quarter. We then spent our afternoon enjoying Shwarma Laffa's (Kabab wraps) in the Jewish Quarter, broused through the different Souks (markets) as we cut back across the historic city, and wandered a bit in the Muslim Quarter.
So, as you can see we have been busy and have really had a great time learning more about Jewish and Israeli culture. It also has brought our faith to light as we have been learning of and visiting more recent archaeological finds that reinforce the integrity of the historical accounts found in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. But more on that later.....
Next stop on Monday, more Jerusalem and then Bethlehem.
More to come soon......
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