Day 3-Part 2

The last post is so long I couldn't get it to publish. 

Our guide reading the scripture story of the show down between Elijah and the priests of Baal as we looked out over the Jezreel Valley.  

This is an ancient stone tomb on the side of the freeway. We just slowed down as we drove by.  Look familiar?

We arrived at the Megiddo Tell a very large archeological site finding 25 layers each a civilization.  It is also the site of Armageddon.  We walked down steep stairs into the water system. Truly amazing.

We stopped near the place of Jesus first miracle turning the water into wine at the marriage in Cana.  It bothered me that there were so many shops selling Canan wine.

We arrived on the beautiful shores of the Sea of Galilee where we will stay for 4 nights.  We have a little bungalow.  It has been a long day of what Mark calls shepherding.  I am starting to wonder if The Roberts would like this.

Day 3-Caesarea, Haifa, Megiddo, Nazareth, Cana, and the Sea of Galilee

I can't begin to describe what we saw today.  The places, the stories and the feelings would take many pages of writing.  So I can only gloss over these very important places.  I have heard the names since I can remember remembering.  Bible stories and songs about Bible stories are in my DNA.  Prior to now they have been just names of places I have read, sung and talked about, thought about and taught about.  Now they are real, although I never doubted their reality.  

We had a quick buffet breakfast at the hotel before boarding the bus and heading to Caesarea.  The Roman ruins on the sea include a theater, a palace, an arena and an aqueduct.

It was quite warm for 8:30 in the morning.  I was worried about the rest of the day, but it was quite nice all day.  The wind kept us cooled off for the most part.

Our next stop was Haifa.  It is a large port city looking down from Mount Carmel.  It is the world headquarters of the Ba'hai religion.  

I see lots of plants and flowers that grow in California.

Port of Haifa

On top of Mount Carmel. These girls were posing for us. 

Graves of two Mormon missionaries buried in a German cemetery in Haifa. 

Day 2-Paris to Tel Aviv

After a good night's sleep (thanks Ambien), we get up and walk into the terminal from the hotel.  It is  two hours before our plane is to leave.  I get nervous about times, so I said let's get to our gate and then eat breakfast.  Mark would have been happy to eat at the hotel and get there an hour or less early.  We get finally get to the border control which is massive with Disney type lines snaking all over and we are pulled out and told we need to check one of our bags.  We have to check one of our carefully packed carry-ons for weight (17.5 Kg)?  I don't  like that at all.  I say I'll stay right there and hold our spot and Mark can take the bag to where ever.  I watch him talking to the agent and I can see that neither one is understanding the other.  I hear Mark say, "How many yards?"  So I say, I'll take it and off I go running down the crowded 2E corridor.  I finally make it to "Area 2" and get the bag checked and run back to Mark and we get back in line.  Time is clicking away......  We finally get to the front and we are in the wrong line but we fudge and get in the "all passports" line when no one is looking.  We then head for security, but it we have to go catch a train to get to the "L" gates.  Mark is taking his time, which does not make me happy.  We finally get to the "L" security and lucky the line isn't bad.  We get to the gate and it is time to board.  We are both hungry, so we go buy some yogurt and quiche and find out the plane is delayed 15 minutes. We get to eat and then when we go to board they take our other carefully packed carry on and send it to be checked??  What??  Anyway we get on and we have separate seats and I look over at Mark and this is what I see.  How can you not laugh and be happy at that?  The stressful two hours melt away.

We get to Tel Aviv and meet our friends and the rest of the tour.  I can tell this is going to be amazing and I think to myself, wow our cool next door neighbors, the Roberts are really missing out!  

We have a nice big bus with wifi.  We drive to Jaffa (Joppa) and have a little tour.  It is on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.   

Our guide Blair takes us to a little place and we read Acts 10 about Peter's vision of the unclean animals and his difficulties understanding and following the Lord in this matter.  We are asked:  What will try our faith, what is a deal breaker for us in following the Prophet?  I hope I don't have one. 

This is also where Jonah came running away from his assignment. 

We have a buffet dinner at our hotel, The Metropolitan Tel Aviv.  It is good and I eat too much.  Then we go out to the Med Sea and wade around a minute and take a walk on the beach.  It is not warm, but it is beautiful.

It's hard to get a good picture on an iPhone in the dark.  But this is so I will remember.  I never had my camera with me today so all the pictures are from my phone.  All in all, a good day and hey....we are in Israel!  How cool is that?!?

Day 1-Salt Lake to Paris

We flew over the ocean for over 10 hours at very fast speeds to reach Paris.  When we get there. We like to travel like the locals, so we took the train from CDG to Paris.  It seems we are the only tourists who do so.  I remembered the system and got us to our destination at the Rodin Museum.  I was at this museum 39 years ago and have always wanted to see it again.  Rodin mesmerizes me and I love every statue.  Mark had never seen it and enjoyed it too, although for different reasons.

For Ryan Enniss

Some Hugo for Liz

Icarus' sister

We walked to our familiar haunts and bought a baguette and some cookies before dinner.  The Roberts and the Winspears should be with us because they would laugh watching us navigate together.  Above ground, Mark knows where he is and how to get to where he wants to go.  I occasionally argue but pretty much trust that he is right.  On the other hand, underground his sense of direction is all off, he just doesn't know it.  I love figuring out the metro, trains and where we are going.  It can be very confusing and is like a puzzle.  Mark just goes by feel and what looks right to him.  Without me he would have never made it to dinner or back to the airport. I did make one little mistake and noticed it right when we got on the crowded train.  I yelled, "wrong one" and jumped off.  Mark tried to follow me but the doors were closing and he got stuck.  A nice guy pushed him out just as the train sped off down the track.  He didn't even get mad at me.  

For Pat-they wouldn't let me take a picture of their guns.  The police and military presence was 10 fold what I have seen before.

We went to dinner at a cute little place that Doug and Vivian Cline (true Froncofiles) recommended.  It just happened to be in our favorite neighborhood.  It was good and the owner was very helpful and friendly.  He even kissed me on both cheeks when we left.  

A millevanilli for Karl Jepsen

Speaking of kisses, thirty-nine years ago, a random stranger, grabbed me and gave me a kiss under the Eiffel Tower. Mark makes sure to reenact that event every time we are here.

We got back to our hotel in the airport by 10:00 pm and hope to sleep before our morning flight to Tel Aviv.

This is a test!

I haven't blogged for a long time.  I got a new iPad and I am testing it to see if I can blog from it.