We started our day with a beautiful tour of the ancient tribe of Dan. It was breath taking. It was full of greenery and lush colors. There were nature springs and flowers along the hike to the the ancient city. In was a perfect day for a hike up in the northern part of Israel. Breezy and mountain like weather.
I was amazed of how much agriculture is grown here. In my mind, I always pictured dry places with some trees and such. But up in the northern part of the country it is absolutely gorgeous. Our next stop was at Caesarea Philippi where Jesus took his disciples. Mark 8:27-29
We also went to Hermon Stream to see a waterfall. The water is so fresh smelling and crystal clear.
Another exciting day here in the Galilee region. We had a massive storm that came on the Sea of Galilee last night. Made us think of the disciples. The setting is just breathtaking.
Today we went to the following places today: Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Nof Ginnosar, Yardenit Baptism Site.
This is "THE" exact synagogue that Jesus preached at in Capernaum. They rejected him in this town, even though He lived here. We also saw Peter's house right outside of the building. One of the rare places we "KNOW" is an authentic site. It was special to know that the Disciples hung out right near where we stood. This is the beach were it is said that Jesus first called Peter and where he told Peter to meet Him after the resurrection. It was a special calming place. I will post images and videos to the best of my ability but words can't really describe this place. Awesome!
A video from the place where Jesus gave his special speach to the Disciples.
A crazy long day but what a blast. I don't even have time to go into all the cool things we saw and did today... We hit 5 major spots in one day.
This is the water aqua-duct that Herod the Great built in Caesarea by the sea. The outdoor, ancient theater Chuck spoke at was awesome. This is were Peter was on trail, found in the book of Acts. I uploaded images so click on that link and I uploaded a video of our hotel lookout over the sea of Galilee. Awesome.
Gabriel spoke with Mary in the background (Nazareth)
We went to the following places today: Caesarea, Mount Carmel, Megiddo, Nazareth, Cana, and Tiberias. We ended the day on the Sea of Galilee.
Well, I should be asleep right now. It is around 2 in the morning. When your body says "you should be awake" there is not much you can do about it.
It is very quiet in the hotel. All I can hear outside is the sound of gunfire and explosions in the distance (Just kidding Alan). Actually, the streets are quiet too. Mandy's breathing and the noise from our battery-operated sound machine fill the room. (When we laid down... it sort of sounded like "rain" but now it sounds like digital rain falling on a working electric train track. There are some weird noise patterns in this thing) I'm hoping the batteries wear out soon.
Most everyone in Israel speaks English as their second language. Most signs are in Hebrew and English (most but not all). The funny thing so far is something that I have always wanted but now I have it, is sort of weird. The elevators (There are 5 in this hotel) will show you which door will open "way" before the door opens. So if you push "up" an arrow above a certain door will light up. It may not open for 4 more minutes, but at least you know which one to wait in front of. Not a bad feature.
Once again, I am in another country that loves sports we know little of in the US. Mandy and I watched a handball game on TV briefly. Looks fun. Sort of like Water Polo...without the water.
The currency rate is 3.5 to 1. But we have been told, don't argue over some rough calculations when purchasing things. 3-to-1 is easier to do in your head and most people wing the price of things anyway. Their dollar is called a shekel still, but the shekel in the Bible was made with silver (I believe) and means "weight." This currency is obviously not based on a gold/silver standard anymore, I would guess.
Its going to be a whirlwind tour, I can already tell. Between packing, eating, loading, touring, bathing, and following instructions, it will be real difficult to log on and upload to the blog, but we enjoy it and will do our best.
A great day here in Tel Aviv. After sleeping in till 10:30am (boy we needed that), we got ready for our 11:30 meeting with the entire IFL and DTS staff. We learned of our responsibilities and some facts about the tour we needed to know. We then had a good lunch at the hotel. A few of us (6) decided to go to the port city of Joppa (or Joffa) about a mile and a half walk down the shoreline.
The ocean was very blue, almost Caribbean blue but the pictures really do not do it justice. Sort of cold but swimmable... just not for us. The city itself was on a hill, which I can only guess, was done on purpose since ships could see high ground first when looking for land. Most of the town looks "old" and is not littered with modern buildings or shops. I think it would be a fun 3-4 day weekend destination. Beautiful views, a cool wind, and clean streets. We could better understand why in Acts Peter went to the rooftop to take a nap. We saw many roofs with small gardens and could tell the cool breeze felt better on the high places in town. (our first.. "now I get it moment") We came back to the hotel to greet some buses and travelers arriving from the airport. We actually met a small group from Van Alstyne this evening.
Before dinner we (and a part of the Stiles family) took time to stroll down a local market. It was crowded, noisy, and frankly dirty. But very authentic and part of the everyday life here. Fresh fruit, bread, olives, spices, peppers, cheese, and even a few t-shirts. We walked through a city park and took pictures in front of a small olive grove and at the beach. The evening ended with a large dinner and meeting of 700ish people in a room. We were introduced as Bus 6 (The Plum Bus) host and hostess. Tomorrow I may have to speak in front of 700 people and explain the video blog we are working on each day. Not looking forward to that.
We are headed to bed and getting ready for a big day in the morning. Miss the kids and hope they get to take this trip of a lifetime sometime in the future.
Not sure if it really counts as day 2 or not. It is 9:43 at night. Dark outside right now but it is Monday day in Dallas. This counts as our day two since our last post was Sunday.
Israeli customs was not near as bad as we have been told. It was no problem at all. The airport was big and looked very nice. No guard dogs and guns (that I saw).
Traffic was bad.
Our bus was VERY impressive. Very lush and new! If we tour the Holy land in these bad boys all week, then I will consider us very lucky.
Our room is clean and overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
Just took a shower and went down to eat with some other IFL and DTS staff. Food was great. Buffet style. not food I normally eat.. but that is good. We need to expand our horizons.
We are now hooked up with Internet and uploading more images. $17.50 Shekels a day (we think).
Tomorrow we will walk up to Joppa (Jonah's port and Peter's vision) about 1 mile up the beach. We have a few meetings to attend. Our big Welcome meeting is Tuesday evening. Most of the tour guest arrive in the afternoon.
Our view from the balcony A video we made in the room.
Does not really count as Israel but it is day one away from Gunter, Texas. Everything went smooth this morning. Got to DFW and through security with no issues. The flight to New York was very short. great tail winds cut our flight time by almost 1 hour. The view out of the right side of the plane stunk. We saw the Empire State Building but not much else. Water, houses, and the back of a ladies head.
From our seats on the long flight
We are at JFK now and had some Chinese food. We have plenty of people watching to do. (I just lost my seat to a guy in the lobby. I guess he thinks my suitcase in front of a chair does not count as "taken.") I'll just sit here on the floor I guess for the next two hours.
We are going to try and get better seats but I have to wait till 7pm before they release the extra spaces. I am uploading some images as we speak. Next stop Tel Aviv.
Just woke up. Left the window open and we are FREEZING. Sunny but windy and cool. It might rain a little betwwen now and our trip to the airport. (it did)
Ok, Mandy just worked out. I was wearing shorts and hung out in the gym. Got about 40 minutes of "something" in. We walked around downtown again. Sort of a different vibe on Sundays. Most shops and eateries do not open until noon. So we decided to wait for Bean Town Pub to open. Glad we did. People watching was fun but the food was really great local fare. Our trip to the airport was not too bad. Walked two blocks. Took the Subway 4 stops to the airport exit. Took a bus a few more blocks to Terminal B. The security line was bad. The guy in front of us thought he was "Above the Law" and did not need to bag his liquids. The next 10 minutes was spent discussing the issue between the Middle Easterner and the Security Agent. We had to sit back and watch.
Boston is a really great place. I would not want to move here (for the rest of my life) but I could see living here a year or two. It would be a great experience. The people are great, except for all the cussing. The city is very unique and full of viewable history. I am sure after my first hard winter, I would want to be back in Texas.
Very busy today. Saw Boston. Because of trusting the forecast, we made a certain set of plans. If we would have known it was going to be sunny most of the day, we would have been outdoors.
Started the day taking the "T" down to the waterfront. It was cold and windy but we enjoyed the character of the area. We then got back on the subway and headed to the Boston Science Museum. This place was interesting and full of things to do. While inside we noticed the sun can out. We went to many exhibits and watched two Imax films: Grand Canyon and The Alps. Breathtaking scenery. The last thing we saw was an indoor Electrical storm. Wow. remind me to stay inside next time I see lightning. Once we stepped out of the building, it became cloudy and started to sprinkle. We got on the Red Line and headed to Harvard. We got about an hours of sightseeing and the clouds dropped their fury on top of us. We were NOT prepared for a rain shower. Our clothes were drenched and we had nowhere to hide. We just kept walking back to the train. After drying off we went to a local Pub and ate and watched Boston hockey and baseball on their TVs.
A little about Harvard. Nothing little about this place. It is massive and impressive. I can imagine how beautiful it must be in the Spring and Summer. Saw a few "weirdos" on the curb singing (I think that was what they were doing) and I saw a Black Panther rally. If it was not raining, I would have loved to hear more.
Turned out to be a very busy day at work. The meetings gave very little free time for me to blog, make phone calls, check email, or talk to Mandy. I believe she spent a good part of the day running at the park and shopping nearby. I spent my day discussing the Internet, software, and donation strategies with other non-profits.
We were going to go out to a local symphony (we were offered free tickets) but our dress attire was very limited, so we stayed casual and close to our hotel. Walked near the water front and had some clam chowder and walked around for a while. We even sat in the lobby and people watched for 30+ minutes. Got in enough site-seeing to feel good about it, but not enough to blog or talk about today.
Electric atmosphere here. Awesome. I doubt I will ever care to experience another Ranger game. Its almost like its another sport all together. Every pitch is electric and has the crowd on the edge of their seats. The outside of the park is just as fun and electric.
Great nights sleep last night. This room is small. Was able to jiggle the toilet handle from my bed with my big toe. Mandy slept like a rock.
I am on my way to the CAB conference in the same hotel. Mandy and I just walked part of the city. Sunny and bright. The weather is awesome. Walked a few famous cemeteries. More to follow soon. We are heading to the Red Sox and Detroit Tigers game tonight. Look for some post from my cell phone.
Wasted our first night with a walk in the park and a movie. Had to watch this guy talk about how humans are destroying the earth first. Then some trailers of better movies than what we just paid for. Leather Heads, I think. I give it a 4 out of 10.
This town is pretty at night, but I can't seem to get a good picture. Flash doesn't do it and neither does suppressing it. Guess I'll buy a postcard.
On our late night walk at the park
The downtown city park is very large and well lit. We saw plenty of police and many emergency phones. Mandy felt safe enough to run around during the day. The city ice skating park just closed and will becaome a wading pool soon.
Even with all the American Airline cancellations, we got away from Dallas with no problems at all. No lines at the curb, ticket counter, security, shops, or runway. It is cold here. We even saw ice on the area lakes.
The subway taking us from the airport to downtown
Our very small room downtown (oldest hotel in the US)
Right across the street from our hotel Mandy needed some food (from my cell phone)
At a downtown hangout (shops and food)
Eating Mexican food in downtown Bean Town was interesting. I did get a salmon dish, so I mixed Texas and Boston into one meal. Here is the hot sauce I tried. Not too bad. There are a LOT of Boston Red Sox hats, shirts, stores, fans, etc around here. I thought Cowboy fans were bad. Wow. Of course, we are near tourist traps but the prices seem very high for t-shirts. Maybe we will find a dark ally shop with some lower prices.
The downtown is a nice mixture of old world America & brick and new world steel & glass. Narrow brick streets and allies give way to lights and concrete. I think Boston has done a nice job keeping historic buildings in place and showing their heritage. We look quite the tourist as I look up while I walk and take images at every new corner I see.
Our hotel is noted as America's oldest continuous hotel. Our room is very small and I think of all the people who must have used these sheets over the last century. I hope they turn the mattress at least once every fifty years.
It feels like the city. We cracked our window and hear horns, sirens, and yankees. We will see what it is like not having our fan going and dogs barking behind our house while we sleep.
It is sort of nice not having to wave at everyone we passed today. They wave here too but use a lot less fingers than Texans do.
Our next stop was at Caesarea Philippi where Jesus took his disciples. Mark 8:27-29
Our next stop was at Caesarea Philippi where Jesus took his disciples. Mark 8:27-29
