Anyway leaving the Dead Sea area:

On to Caesarea Aqueduct:

Then onto the ruins:

We ended up staying in Tel Aviv and I got to see the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea, which was beautiful.

So of course we got some good travel pictures:

So first stop was the Qumran Caves.  This was the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

Then got some pictures of the Dead Sea and you can see where the water level has been reduced:

Then onto the Valley of Elah, Cave of Abdullam and the Oasis of Ein Gedi.  Both of which were beautiful, to actually see the waterfall in the desert due to a spring was pretty cool, unfortunately we encountered battery issues again.  However we got them sorted out again and got some pictures of:

and then on to an old synagogue:

some more travelling:

And arrive at our hotel – Hotel Isrotel:

Dead Sea side of the hotel:

Mountain Side of the Hotel

Sunrise over the Dead Sea

However before I get into the sites, I thought I’d snap a couple from our room’s balcony:

First Site: Western Wall:

Second Site: Wailing Wall

Third Site: Western Wall Tunnel: this Tunnel goes along the Western Wall underneath the Arab homes that are on current street level.

Fourth Site: Pool of Bethesda

Fifth Site: Church of St. Ann (Mary’s Mother)

Lion’s Gate and Jericho Rd

Seventh and Final site was Bethlehem which is across the border:

Bethlehem, of course had a church on the traditional place where it’s through that Jesus was born and Jesus lay in a manger.  These are traditions, however archeologists have said it should be within 100 sq. ft of that location.  It was strange because there were three churches in the same building – Greek Orthodox, Aramaic, and Catholic.

Then back across the border:

That’s it for today, tomorrow we head to the Dead Sea area and stay overnight on the shores, and the following day on to Tel Aviv.

First Site: Mount of Olives:

Yes, that is a cemetery with the bodies above ground, that is so when Jesus returns they will be the first to arise.

Second Site: Tomb of the Prophets, unfortunately it was closed

Third Site: Garden of Gethsemane

Following that was the Holocaust Museum, which unfortunately they don’t allow for picture taking inside, only outside:

First we went to the children’s memorial which remembers the 1.5 million children killed, then we went into the museum which we also found out that the Israeli military is required to go through at least once.  My wife made it through about 2 or 3 rooms until she just couldn’t take anymore and had to pretty much take off.  The way in which they have it set up is chronological, so you’re going through each room and they have audio, video as well as artifacts and replicas from that time period.  And while I thought I had understood what had happened, I really had no clue as to how cruel it really was.

Next was the Garden Tomb which cannot be proven was the site where Jesus was buried, but can be proven that it was very likely the site.

After that was back to the hotel for our dinner with the representative from the Ministry of Tourism:

After that was the night tour where unfortunately my batteries ran out and I had forgotten to bring spare on the tour, so I didn’t get any good pictures, however we went by a couple gates including the Jaffa Gate, we went to the Western (wailing) wall, we saw the Jerusalem Menorah as well as got a view of the city from an overlook again.  Got back about 10:45 pm with a wake up call of 6:30 tomorrow.

Today we started out at the Sea of Galilee Region traveling towards Jerusalem.  Here’s the last few pictures we got of the area:

On our way towards Jerusalem we saw the Dead Sea (didn’t get any pictures, but we’ll be headed back later this week).  But we did stop at a point that would be termed the wilderness:

And then into Jerusalem:

Then we stopped in some shops:

And onto the miniature replica of Jerusalem prior to the Romans coming and destroying the city:

And at the same site was the location of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  They are in an environment where they are able to be shown, but due to the sensitive nature, no pictures were allowed to be taken inside, however here was the outside of the building:

So the plan is to stay in Jerusalem until Wednesday and then onto the Dead Sea for a night then back to Tel Aviv for a night and then travel on Friday.