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Israel part one

My dear blog reader, as I write this, I am tired and sore from my past week’s adventures. My spine feels like Cracker Jacks and I have been fighting a headache since we got home. I want to tell you about our trip to Israel, but I’m afraid of writing too much, or not enough. Please be patient with me as I try to give you something worth reading, while not overwhelming you with too many details. Thanks

Garrett and I flew out of Flint, Michigan to Atlanta, Geogia.  From Atlanta, we flew to Tel Aviv. Unfortunately, our seats were not together. Garrett sat next to a very nice couple on their way to tour the Holy Land.  I sat between two equally lovely pilgrims 5 rows ahead of them. After our 12 1/2 hour flight, the lady who sat next to Garrett told me he was “incredibly well-behaved the whole way.  Really, he was fantastic to sit with.”  Aaaaaaaahhhhh!  My heart just got paid!

It was wonderful to see Blake’s shining face at the airport after our very long, boring flight! He drove us to the Golden Crown hotel in Nazareth, where he’s been living since February. We went out to eat Sushi at a really nice restaurant in the mall where we unexpectedly met Doron, an Israeli guy who works with Blake, and his wife, Iris.  As we ate dinner, I chatted with Iris, eventually telling her about the boat. I even gave her my card and invited her to read this blog!  HELLO IRIS!!!!! We Guardian wives need to stick together! xoxo

We went to sleep fairly quickly, but when the Mullah started singing at 4:30am, (click the link to hear a YouTube version) I was awake and not going back to sleep. Damn jet lag!!

On our first day, Blake gave Garrett his B-day present, a roller-surfer and pads, which he took down to the court yard to play with. The weather, as you can tell from the picture, is dry and in the hi 70’s.  Afterwards, we drove for half an hour to Zippori, the hometown of Jesus’ mother Mary, known for it’s mosaics.

We climbed the path to the top of the hill, walking through this incredible cactus garden along the way.

After Zippori, we drove to Mt. Tabor, historically, the spot where Jesus re-appeared 3 days after his Crucifixion.

Garrett didn’t seem too tired, but by mid-afternoon, I was exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel, so I could nap.

The following day, Sunday, we got up early, drove toward Jerusalem and picked up our tour guide, Adrian, a British ex-patriate licensed by the State of Israel to give tours through the Holy city. Check him out at  www.adrianw.co.il

We started at the Mt. of Olives where Adrian pulled out maps and described in detail how the city started out small and then grew and grew over the years. He did a great job explaining everything, I just can’t remember it all!

Next, we drove to Gethsemane (the garden Christ prayed in the night before his Crucifixion) with 1800 year old olive trees, next to the Church of all Nations. While inside the church, we were astounded to hear some Finish pilgrims singing a liturgy. It was amazingly beautiful!

From there, we drove further into the city and parked the car. The rest of the day was all on foot!

We saw Mary’s Tomb,

King David’s tomb ……………and the Hall of the last supper.

Everywhere we went, there were pilgrims from all parts of the world, come to pay their respects.

Here is a picture of some Korean Muslims on a tour.

Jerusalem is filled with people from all over the world. I heard languages of all different kinds being spoken. Russian, German, Hebrew and Arabic.  Fortunately, most everyone we talked with knew at least some English, or could find someone close-by who could.

We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant overlooking the old city. Then we went on a tour of the Burnt House, where we watched a movie about how the Romans burned down Jerusalem in order to take it over. The movie re-enacts the story of a priests family who lived in this house which was later excavated in the 1970’s. The charred remains of the house and a girls arm holding a spear had been unearthed. Creepy!

We then went to another place where more houses have been excavated directly underneath apartment buildings currently being lived in.

We walked out toward the Temple on the Mount and the wailing wall.

All around us were pilgrims, tour guides and hundreds of Israeli troops preparing for the Memorial Day services to be held the following day. (quick note, the days in Israel start the night before at dusk. Once you can see 3 stars in the night sky, it’s tomorrow. It was really strange and hard to get used to, but all part of the adventure)

We saw Robinson’s Arch, the only remaining part of the original entrance into the Temple.

We also saw Harrod’s road, the actual road built by King Harrod over 2ooo years ago.

And we saw a replica of a catapult.

We had Adrian take us through the new Davidson Center, located right next to the Temple on the Mount. It’s a subterranean (air-conditioned!) museum built with an endowment from Guardians (now deceased) owner William Davidson. It had artifacts (coins) from the site, informative films and computer animated recreations of the Second Temple. We were really glad to have seen this and very proud of Mr. Davidson for making it all possible.  Thanks Mr. D, we miss you!

The sun was starting to go down as we came out of the museum and we still had a lot more to see.  Adrian did a fantastic job taking us through the Muslim quarter,

the Christian quarter (somewhere along all of this, was the Via Del la Rosa, a path traced by pilgrims meant to portray Christ’s carrying of the cross. Adrian explained that because of the growth of the city, the actual way doesn’t really exist anymore) The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

(check out the 13 century grafitti!) was built in the 3rd century by Constantine, at his mother Queen Helena’s urging.  She is the one who actually went into the tombs and found a cross and pronounced it “the” cross upon which Christ was Crucified.  She had it mounted on a stone and that became Golgatha. This became the very first Christian church in the world.  (by the way, if I screw up any of the history here, it is totally my fault and not our tour guide Adrian’s. He was phenomenal and just brimming with information.  Really! Go check him out  www.adrianw.co.il He is AWESOME!!!)

Inside the church we saw the actual stone where pilgrims wait in line to kiss the spot where Christ was Crucified, as well as a gorgeous mosaic mural depicting the crucifixion. (sorry the picture doesn’t do it justice)

Here’s a picture of the exact spot where Jesus was entombed. We saw many, many more things inside this church, but for the life of me I can’t name them all.

We had cappuccino at the Austrian Hospice, which is actually owned and controlled by the Vatican. Here’s a picture of the view from the top, overlooking the city. Pretty cool, huh!

It seemed like the day would never end.  Adrian was amazing in his knowledge of all of the history and architecture, stopping to point out tons of things I’ve since completely forgotten. Garrett was fantastic at keeping up with us the entire time, even when he was obviously getting tired and bored. I’m so proud of him!!!!

It was dark by the time we got back to the car and drove Adrian back to his motorcycle.  We drove back to Nazareth, only to find out that the hotel was not longer serving dinner because of the Memorial day holiday.  Most other restaurants were closed as well, so we had to drive into downtown to get an Arab sandwich at Mr. Schwarma.  It’s made fresh, (like Subway), with grilled, spiced lamb on a baguette with lettuce, tomatoes and pickles and a spicy curry/mango sauce.  Delicious!!!

That’s about it for today, my friendly blog reader. I’ll be back on Wednesday for part two of our Israel trip.  Have a marvelous Monday!

xoxoxo Pam