Thursday, March 1, 2012: Day 5

Thursday, Mar. 1 -  Another day in Israel.  Today is the last day that we will be spending in the Golan Heights/Galilee area.  I had mentioned that yesterday we visited the Syrian Border (of course we did not go into Syria; just looked from our bus), today that same area is under 10 inches of snow.  Again, I cannot believe that I have to come to Israel to have snowy conditions; even Jerusalem got some snow last night and may get more today.   Our first stop of the day was Tabgha.  Tabgha is an area situated on the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It is the traditional site of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the fourth resurrection appearance of Jesus in Christianity.  From Tabgha we headed to Kibbutz Ginosar to see the ancient Galilee Boat ("Jesus Boat") found in the mud on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in 1986.  This boat can be traced back to a period period of 25 AD to 75 AD.   Loading the tour bus and after a short trip around the Sea of Galilee, we journeyed to the Jordan River.  The Jordan River is a  156 mile long river flowing through the Sea of Galilee and to the Dead Sea. In Christian tradition, the Jordan River is the river that Jesus was baptized in by John the Baptist.   Following this tradition, most in the group reaffirmed the committee they had may through their first baptism and a couple got baptized for the first time!  From the Jordan River, we traveled past the Kinneret Cemetery for an insight into the Zionist pioneering movement. We learned about Rachel Bluwstein Sela who was a Hebrew poet.  She immigrated to Israel in 1909 from Russia. She is known by her first name Rachel (Hebrew: רחל‎) or as Rachel the Poetess. Rachel is known for her lyrical style, briefness of her poems, and the revolutionary simplicity of her conversational tone.  Two themes flow through her poems: her love of the Land and her despair of not being able to have children.  Climbing up the mountain range, we made our way to Nazareth to see the Church of the Annunciation.   The church is at the traditional location of where God announced to Mary that she would carry the child of God.  Nazareth is the childhood home of Jesus.  It is now a large and growing city.  Nazareth is actually two different cities: Lower Nazareth which is mostly Arab Muslims with a minority of Arab Christians and Upper Nazareth which is a Jewish community.   Growing tried, cold and anxious to get to Jerusalem, we made our last stop of the day at the Tel known as Megiddo.  In Revelations this area is where the last battle will take place: Armageddon. The site itself is called "Solomon's Stables" even though it is now known that it couldn't be Solomon's Stables but Ahab's Stables. A new route for us, we travelled down the new Trans-Israel Highway (Rte 6) towards Jerusalem.  Once in Jerusalem, we arrived to our home away from home (I say this because we will be here for 7 nights) the King Solomon Hotel.  The King Solomon is situated in downtown Jerusalem in walking distance of the "Old City" of Jerusalem. Another great day of touring, although filled with rain and cold weather.  We are all well and having a great time, staying healthy, but somewhat sleep deprived.  Off to bed. Shalom, Ian