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After Lunch in Northern Israel
(In real time, I just got back from a trip to Chicago where my sister and I saw the play Hamilton and I had jury duty. But, on my Holyland pilgrimage I am still on Friday, January 19th, the eve of the...
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Heading South on Saturday Morning
Saturday,shabbot. Our pilgrimage group left Tiberius on Saturday morning. We were ultimately headed for Jerusalem, but we had many stops on the way. After breakfast I had one last look at the Sea of...
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Beit Shen and Jericho
Our next site was Beit Shen or Scaropolis (or something like that). It was a Roman city, one of the Decapolis, the ten Roman cities in the Holyland region.This is a model of the city.Looking out over...
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Baptism of the Lord
It is still Saturday in Israel, shabbat.Things were closed. But we had one more appointment on the way to Jerusalem. We drove through the desert from Jericho to get there.This is no man's land between...
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Masada at the Dead Sea
Sunday morning we headed back to the desert. It was the rainy season even at the desert and there were some green bushes along the way. I didn't get a photo but out in the desert I saw a Bedouin...
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Dead Sea Scrolls and the Dead Sea
For the second half of the day we stayed around the Dead Sea. Picture from the bus of the wilderness. This was the rainy season.Our guide told us that the Dead Sea is shrinking. The hills were once...
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Navitiy of the Lord
Bethlehem is in the Occupied Territories, under Arab control. Our Jewish guide could not travel with us to Bethlehem. We picked up an Arab guide once we got there.On the way out of Jerusalem for the...
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Israel Museum
After the profound experience of Bethlehem we headed back to Jerusalem and picked up our Israeli guide. This bridge support was lighted up in different colors at night. Hard to get a decent picture...
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Mount of Olives on Tuesday Morning
As we loaded on the bus Tuesday morning I took a picture of the mosque tower that woke me up every morning. This was our second to last day of touring in Israel.We were headed east to the Mount of...
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Mount Zion
After the Mount of Olives we had to hurry over to the Jerusalem side of the valley, to Mount Zion which was above the old city of David and against the walls of the old city.I believe that the picture...
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Tuesday Afternoon in Jerusalem
As we drove to get lunch it seemed that we went to the other side of Jerusalem. I was glad to be able to get such a nice shot of the windmill.Our guide told us that a rich man had paid to have the...
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Wednesday Morning, Old Walled Jerusalem, Way of the Cross
Wednesday was our last day in Jerusalem.Some of our tour was headed back to the States that evening. Some, including myself, were headed to the country of Jordan on Thursday morning.I had received...
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Finishing Off Israel
After lunch on Wednesday we had some time to ourselves. I still had things to see at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so I joined the people going there. The alternative was going shopping in the old...
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Jordan
My pilgrimage to Israel offered an extension to visit the country of Jordan. It was a few more days and a little more money to go to Jordan. I jumped at the chance because it fulfilled a lifelong...
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Sorry, I once again let the end of the trip go hanging. Usually when I am not here it is a good thing. Life is busy and I just don't have reflection time. I hosted a Mother's Day luncheon for my...
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Jordan--Mt Nebo
So, I left off, still January on a bus in Jordan. We viewed a church with an ancient mosaic that was a map of the middle east. The signs were in Arabic which looked very strange to my eyes.Most...
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Mosaics in Jordan
On the way from Mt Nebo to Petra where we were spending the night we stopped at one of the workshops sponsored by the queen of Jordan. This was a mosaics workshop and sales room.I found out later that...
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Petra Jodan
I have to confess that when I signed on for the Jordan extension to the trip, I didn't do my homework. I always wanted to see what Jordan was like, so I didn't really care what we saw, or so I...
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Heading forJeresh
I had a nice cosmopolitan experience in Petra. I had stayed in places with bidets before, but not recently. So, potty pictures.There was a nice display above the fridge.The morning after we saw Petra...
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Jaresh, Another Roman City
The last touring site we went to in Jordan was the Roman city of Jaresh. Our guide told us that the city was still there because the area was not populated.This is Hadrian's Arch. Only the emperor...
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