And the roosters crowed...

(Ruins of the Herodian, one of Herod the Great's many palaces)


(Recently found Tomb of Herod the Great)


(Model of the Old City of Jerusalem)



(Entrance to the Church of the Nativity, built over the birthplace of Jesus)

As I type this, the roosters are making themselves heard...as they have for the last couple of hours. If you are not woken by the call to prayer at 4:30 am, then the roosters will make sure you are awake soon after!

Today we are off for the Mount of Olives and the old city of Jerusalem. It is supposed to be close to 90 degrees today, so we are getting an early start.

Yesterday we drove to the site of the Herodian, one of Herod's largest palaces (he had many!) There were two mountains side by side, and he wanted to build his palace on the smaller one, but he didn't like the fact that there was a larger mountain beside it...so he had the top of the larger mountain taken off and moved to the top of the smaller mountain...sounds like a lot of wasted effort to me. He had an upper palace and a lower palace (which was where he had his swimming pool...he liked to swim and he liked to drown people). Lovable guy, I guess. Then we drove into Jerusalem to the Israeli Museum and the Shrine of the Book. This is where there is a model of Jerusalem during Jesus time..and I don't mean a small model. It is like a mini-city! The Shrine of the Book houses information and pictures of the Dead Sea scrolls found at Qumran. I didn't know this, but the only Old Testament books not found there were Nehemiah and Esther. From there we went to the Church of the Nativity, the supposed site of the birth of Jesus. It was interesting, but extremely crowded. Last stop was Beit Sahour (the Shepherd's Field) where the angel appeared to the shepherd's announcing Jesus' birth. Once again, this is all supposition! A little excitement...this time at the checkpoint we had two Israeli soldiers come onto our bus and walk down the aisles. Obviously, just a little flexing of the muscles, but interesting just the same. This place is a real hotbed of tension. We feel safe enough, just have to be careful what you say and do.

Ok...gotta go catch the bus. I have really tried to attach some pictures but the internet is just too slow. We'll just have to have a slide show presentation when we make it home! Love to all of you...we miss you!