Jerusalem, Israel (Cruise)

The view from the Mount of Olives where Jesus came many times to instruct and weep over Jerusalem.

The cemetery on the hillside had many caskets below!

Also, on the above picture, to the left, at the edge of the tall wall are steps that Jesus would have walked on to head through Antonia Fortress.

Standing out from the view on the Mount of Olives, the Temple Mount was first the location of a temple built by King Solomon 3,000 years ago, but later destroyed by the Romans. It was replaced by this Muslim shrine (The Rock on the Mount) in the 8th Century AD.
The Church of St. Mary Magdalene from the view on the Mount of Olives.

The Golden Gate built in the 6th/7th centuries. In Jewish tradition, this is the gate through which the Messiah will enter Jerusalem. Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I sealed off the Golden Gate in 1541 to prevent the Messiah's entrance.

After walking down Mount of Olives Road to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested, we came to the Basilica of Agony.

This is the oldest olive tree in the garden (next to the kids).
Basilica of Agony built next to the Garden of Gethsemane.

Inside

Next we found the Bethesda pools where Jesus healed the cripple.

Then we began our walk up the Via Dolorosa. Here is the chart detailing our trek following the walk Jesus took to his crucifixion. It amazed me that at every stop (where he fell the first time, met his mother, fell the second time, etc.) there were chapels or altars built in remembrance of the event. I was not expecting this at all. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but not the shrines.

Station 4 below to show an example of the shrines built

As we walked the Via Dolorosa I realized I should be reflecting on what all of this meant to me, but it was rather challenging to think about because of the shops along the path between stations that distracted us.

This is station 5 where a Cyrenean helped Jesus carry the cross and supposedly Jesus' hand touched this spot where millions have touched since.
Following the stations of the cross we headed to the Antonia Fortress to the site of the crucifixion and burial in the Holy Sepulcher.

Our guide tucked away some flashlights in his backpack that he allowed the kids to use when they walked inside the tomb. It could have been the site Jesus was placed, but if not, it was similar and gave the kids an idea of what a tomb really is like.

Then we walked to the Jewish Quarter to the Western Wailing Wall Square.
We ended the day with a visit to Mt. Zion where the Room of the Last Supper is located.

The kids overlooking the city.
These were outside and I had never known what myrrh and frank incense looked like. In case you were wondering too...

Next we headed to the Israel Museum to see a beautiful model of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea Scrolls housed in the nearby building (sorry, no pictures allowed inside).
As the sun was setting on an exhausting, jam packed day, Jacob took us to an army museum so the kids could run around and climb on tanks. Our son loved this part of the day!

Nazareth, Israel (Cruise)

Upon exiting the ship, I was extremely at home with our tour guide who spoke English just like us - no accent. He was originally from Chicago, had come to Israel years ago to brush up on his Hebrew in plans of becoming a rabbi and ended up marrying, having children, and becoming a tour guide in Israel. I would recommend him any time. He had a detailed plan for the 2 days, yet was patient when the kids needed something, catered to our every need, and really was a class act.
Here he is explaining the carvings on the door from stories of the Bible. Notice how tired one child is and we've only begun!

First off we visited a site in Migdal called the Basilica of Annunciation where the cellar of Mary Magdalene is still in tact. If you look closely, there is a woman maintaining the walls inside.

Nations had donated wall sculptures and this is the one from the U.S.

Then we stopped at the Sea of Galilee where an ancient wooden boat (possibly dated back to Jesus' time) was recently found when waters receded during a drought in the 1980's. It is now on display at the Beit Yigal Allon Museum in Ginosar.
Sea of Galilee

This is the Roman Catholic chapel (below) built on the Mount of Beatitudes from Matthew 5. One wonderful added affect was the reading from the Bible that Jacob provided throughout the two days. Wherever we went, if there was a Bible story to go with it, he read to us as we pictured the story unfolding in our imaginations.
This seemed to be a regular thing...something pertinent happened in the Bible and years later, they built a church or chapel on those exact grounds. This was also the case in Jerusalem which really caught me off guard. I was expecting ruins everywhere, but these cities have been built, destroyed, and rebuilt so many times that now these reminders stand in place of where the events in Jesus' life happened. Jacob claimed we could be certain these were the exact locations of the events because from generation to generation people passed down the information to their offspring.
This is the outside of the chapel.

Next, we boarded a ship across the Sea of Galilee with a group of french speaking Christians singing praise songs and had our longest french conversation (mind you, we're not even in Belgium at this point!) to a sweet older lady who just adored our kids. Waiting on the other side was a lunch of St. Peter's Fish that I just had to get a picture of...usually I would have made my dad skin these things, but what do you do when they come highly recommended by the tour guide? I rolled up my sleeves and got a little dirty. It actually tasted very good!

The water was uncommonly calm this day.

My St. Peter's fish:

We drove by the area in Tabgha where the Multiplication Miracle of the Loaves and Fish happened (John 6). We, however, didn't get a picture of the hill where it occurred. We pressed on to a possible baptismal site on the Jordan River where John baptized Jesus (Mark 1:9-11, Matt. 3:3-17). This is where our son was baptized also. You might have read about this from our November posting, but I'll add a few pictures just in case.

Rhodes, Greece (Cruise)

What a surprise! We had never really even heard of Rhodes as being a top tourist destination, but it's quite a cute and quaint little area! Our ship docked and we gave the kids a choice as to playing in the Kids' Club on board or touring with us. They chose the former, giving us a little romantic day to ourselves before the big tours in Israel and Egypt for the next 4 days straight.

We have no idea what any of these places are called, or what their history is, we just enjoyed our time exploring without any kids!

This was just a random strange tree shaped like a reindeer that someone painted an eyeball on to finish the look.