Fourth Day we knew was going to be a long day since we got an fairly early start (wake up call at 6:45) but also had the semi-formal dinner with the ministry of tourism and the tour line owner and following that was a nighttime tour we were going on.

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.

Well tonight I get to write this from the balcony of my room at the Mount Zion Hotel overlooking Jerusalem.

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.

Today was pretty busy, had our breakfast and in the bus by 8:15 am this morning. So first a couple more shots from the hotel in Tiberius:

First site was driving through Cana, Nazareth which as you can see from some of the pictures once we go to the Arab side things get a lot dirtier, as they population doesn’t have a strong belief in cleanliness.  Inside their homes they are clean, however they don’t have a problem with just dumping their trash outside.

Second site was the mountain where they took Jesus up to throw him off  which overlooked the Jezreel Valley, Megiddo (biblical Armageddon)

Following that was Mt. Carmel where Elijah called down fire from the sky, which also overlooks the Jezreel Valley, Megiddo (biblical Armageddon):

My wife who is a fleet manager for an insurance company with a fleet of Camrys, couldn’t resist taking this shot:

Next was a location where we were able to again look at the Jezreel Valley, Megiddo (biblical Armageddon) going through some ruins on the way up:

Following that was lunch where I had a sandwich, not unlike a gyro, however it wasn’t nearly as good. 

Next Site was Bet She’ham which are the largest and best quality archeological Roman Empire find in Israel:

Last stop of the day was what they called the Jesus boat find.  Basically it was a boat that was found that dates back to the time of Jesus and would be very similar to what they would have used then:

And if that wasn’t enough, after dinner we went to an Israel National Diamond Center – one of the three diamond cutting centers in Israel is in Tiberius only a couple blocks from where we’re staying at the hotel.

Think that was enough for today, tomorrow on to Jerusalem!