Monday, March 9th:
We got up early today- around 5:15 a.m. Breakfast was at 7:00 a.m. and our luggage had to be in the hall by 7:00 a.m. The bus left promptly at 8:00 a.m.
Our first stop was the Church of the Multiplication. It is a church in Tabgha on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. The church is modern but stands on the site of 4th and 5th-century churches. The miraculous feeding of five thousand people is described in Mark 6:30-44, just before Jesus walks on water. The Gospel account of the loaves and fishes does not specify where it took place; only that it was in a "remote place" (6:32,35) on the shores of Galilee. It is possible that this is the actual site of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, but not terribly likely. Besides its sacred importance as the place of a miracle of Jesus, the main highlight of the Church of the Loaves and Fishes is this beautiful 5th-century figurative mosaic floor. It is the earliest known example of a figured pavement in Palestinian Christian art.
After seeing the church, we had to go back to the hotel... someone had left their plane tickets in their room safe.Next we headed to the Mediterranean Sea at Caeserea. We passed Mt. Tabor and Megiddo.
Look familiar?
We stopped at one spot along the sea where there were remains of a Roman aquaduct that is at least 2,000 years old. It was still in pretty good shape. It brought water from springs at the foot of Mount Carmel. Herod had it built.
George found a thorn bush and fashioned a crown of thorns. This is what probably was used on Jesus...
Then we went to Caesarea National Park which is one of, if not Israel’s, most impressive archaeological site. It was initially settled during the Hellenistic period (third century B.C.), when the Phoenicians built a small port city that they named Straton’s Tower. In 90 B.C., Alexander Jannaeus captured Straton’s Tower. Straton’s Tower remained a Jewish city for two generations, until the Roman conquest of 63 B.C. when the Romans declared Straton’s Tower an autonomous city. The city underwent a great number of changes under Herod, who among other things renamed it Caesarea in honor of the emperor. In 22 B.C. he began construction of a deep sea harbor and built storerooms, markets, wide roads, baths, temples, and luxurious public buildings. Every five years the city hosted major sports competitions, gladiator games, and theatrical productions. Caesarea also flourished during the Byzantine period. At the time, much of the land south of the city was used for agriculture. The area continued to be farmed during the early Arabian period as well, apparently until the Crusader conquest in the eleventh century. Over time, this land was buried under the sands shifting along the shores of the Mediterranean. The ruins are right on the sea- very cool! John, a man in our group, sang "Amazing Grace" as we sat in the amphitheatre- it showed us that is was built to carry sound. Pretty neat! They still have activities in the amphitheatre.
This is where Herod would have sat:
We headed to Jerusalem passing by Tel Aviv. As we drove into Jerusalem, George played the song "Jerusalem" - what a sight it was coming around a corner and seeing it all. With that song playing, it was quite an experience. (Gives me goose bumps even now when I think about it). Jerusalem is a town of 1,200,000 people!!
We drove to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is under Palestinian control so we actually had to go through security and go to the other side of the Israeli wall. We were now in the West Bank again. They don't let Israelis in or Palestinians out. They wouldn't even let our guide in. He got off the bus, called a friend of his inside the town, he came and got George and got him in the town. George was now a civilian not a guide.
We at lunch at The Christmas Tree- they had both felafels and schawarmas. Brenda and I each bought one and shared 1/2 so we could try both. They were both very good! We had an ice cream cone for dessert.
Shopping was the next shop. We went to the Kando Store- they sold beautiful things from antiquities to new items. They had jewelry including the Jerusalem cross, statues made from olive wood, and many misc. souviners. They had a mosaic of Jerusalem made of mother of pearl ($40,000), a 3 foot olive wood nativity scene ($42,000) and some old coins ($7,000). They were gorgeous but expensive!!! I was able to purchase some items I wanted. Today was John's (a man in our group) birthday- when we first got to the store, they brought out a cake with candles and a sparkler. We all sang to him and enjoyed a piece of cake. It was very nice of them to do that. This store and the place we ate at for lunch are owned by Christians and George likes to patronize them whenever possible. This area used to have many, many Christians - now only about 12% are Christians. The Kando store is owned by the family of William Kando. He bought the dead sea scrolls from the bediuns who had found them. In the store in a glass case is one of the original jars that held some of the scrolls. Too cool!
After the shopping was done, we headed to our hotel. We passed by Old Jerusalem up on a hill- very cool! 
We are staying at the Grand Court Hotel for 4 nights. Our next 3 days tours will fan out from here. It will be nice not to have to move our stuff for awhile. We got settled into our rooms, unpacked, then went to dinner at 6:30 p.m. There was a ton of food on the buffet.
After dinner, we went through 3 gift shops at the hotels right here together. Then I had a chance to use a computer and email home. They charge $8 per hour so I wasn't going to do it but one gal had about 5 minutes left on her time and gave it to me. It was a quick email!
Then Brenda and I tried to walk to another shop but it was closed. We walked a short ways to find the grocery store but could not find it. So we came back to the hotel and were in bed by 10:15 p.m.
Riddle from George: Who has no father in the Bible?
Joshua- he was the son of Nun....
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