Second Trip

Here are the pictures of our trip...it's late so I probably won't be going into a lot of detail. :)

The view as we came down the road to the river valley and the border crossing. We were already below sea level and we still had a ways down to go.

One of the guys traveling with us feeding the donkey at a re-created 1st century village. They were threshing wheat.

The carpenters in the workshop at the village.

The Basilica, or Church of the Annunciation. I was told it's the largest church in the Middle East. Downstairs is the grotto where they say the angel came to Mary to announce the coming of Jesus.

The family we stayed with were celebrating the daughter's birthday with sparkler candles. She's on the chair with balloons around her and the oldest brother is in the blue shirt. They are a very nice family who I enjoyed meeting. :)

Shabbat eve we sat at the Western Wall and observed the celebrations and the people coming to pray. It was fascinating. 

Morning coffee in the Old City of Jerusalem

At the Garden Tomb. 

This place was amazing and I had a couple of cool encounters with people there that I won't go into on the blog. And just to make sure it's clear, the tomb is empty...He is risen!

Like the night before at the Western Wall, we found a spot in the shade to observe people around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This little Ethiopian girl was running around. :)

The doors to the church and our vantage point in the square.

A view from the Mt. of Olives of the Old City.

On the way back to the border we stopped for about 20 minutes to step into the Sea of Galilee. It was a hot day and it was nice to step into the water for a bit, even if the stones on the shore burned my feet afterwards. :)

The four guys we traveled with. 

They were a lot of fun to hang out with and really looked after us two girls. It added a different dimension, certainly, to the trip, trying to coordinate everyone traveling at different times and going different places and without cell phones, but we managed to have a blast and there are loads of stories to tell of our adventures over the four day trip.