New Year's Eve....

So long 2007! It has been quite a year! I'm ending the year and starting a new one in Israel. Shalom! Boka Tov! Hello! and Good Day! Today we will be heading south to the Dead Sea. We started off by seeing a wonderful sunrise over the sea of Galilee! We headed off to Bel Voir. This was a former fortress high on a mountain! And yes, the bus made it all the way up there. The view was wonderful, except for the haze. From here you can see over to the boarder to Jordan. The Jordan valley goes all the way down to Africa! This old fort had a dry moat. Only men were here, no women or children were. There was a cistern to collect water. The Muslims were sneaky and went up the mountain and dug tunnels under the fort and placed logs there and burned them and most of the fort collapsed. I think the crusaders at that time were also trying to attack this fort. It is cold and windy up here! As we left and headed down the mountain we saw two gazelles. We learned that Israeli cows produce 40% more milk. They are milked 3 times a day and are fed while being milked and have music played and have a mist of water sprayed on them! Interesting. Also, seedless fruits were genetically produced in Israel. They also make a square watermelon! They also have different colors in cotton! We only have white! hmmmmmmm..... Anyway, we head to a Bedouin Village and go to Mount Tabor. This is very high, and how Jesus had the strength to go up here to pray is beyond me. The Franciscans have once again preserved this area. There are awesome views from here, and we are able to see the snow cap on Mt. Herman. We had read from the book of Judges. We then went to a Kibbutz. When they were digging several years ago they came across a mosaic floor which belonged to an old synagogue. The story was fascinating. Our guide is awesome, we weren't even scheduled to stop here and he is very knowledgeable! We went to Bet She'an National Park. This was a most interesting place because the city of Scythopolis. This was a fantastic ruin of a city! Also it is the city where Saul and his sons where brought (dead) and their bodies hung on the wall upside down....ewwwwwww. It was ruined in 749 because of an earthquake! They even had they're own sewer system and running water! There was a hippodrome that had awesome acoustics, you could even hear when the person on stage whispered, we tried it out! There were three layers of mosaic tiled sidewalks. It is called the WOW city, because every where you look you say "wow"! It was built by the Romans and Christianity did in the Romans! From here we left and drive through the Jordan Valley. I'll tell you this country is rich in agriculture, it puts our country to shame, all the food is fresh everyday! We did go thru a few check points, the scenery changes from lush to dry dusty dirt, yet, it is farmed and beautiful plants and trees grow. We passed Mt. Gilor and it was cursed and nothing grows here, just like the Bible says! The west bank means that it is in relation to where the Jordan River flow. There are wire fences that are very high tech. and have all sorts of sensors, don't mess with them. The Israeli air force was flying a lot today, and sonic booms where heard quite a bit. We eventually came down to the Dead sea about 1300ft below sea level. We'll go for a swim or should I say float, tomorrow. We had spa treatments today. I had a deep muscle massage...OWWWWWWW! But, I am pleased to say that my neck moves, I have a bobble head! We will be celebrating the New Year here! All the best to you for a Wonderful 2008! Love ya!

Baptism

The Jesus Boat
The Sea of Galilee

December 30th
This is probably the most awesome day. We spent at the Sea of Galilee! It started out hazy with a sunrise. Boca Tov means Good Morning. We went to see the ancient boat that was taken out of the sea in 1986! Amazing. This boat was from Jesus' time. We went to the Mount of Beatitudes. This was awesome. Mussolini commissioned and paid for this to be built. It has 8 corners (8 stands for monuments in the bible). Then we went to St. Peter Primacies on the sea of Galilee, while we where reading the bible Matthew 5, a fishing boat was there with it's nets cast and the fish were jumping! There was a rock preserved in the church where it was believed to be the one used to feed the 5,000. Jean and I had gotten in with Father Girard to received communion! Awesome! The Jewish symbol for eternity is the SHELL! We went to Caphernaum where Simon Peter lived. A lot of archaeological info here. Even a Christian built synagogue! The Star of David is only a recent symbol of the Jewish faith, the true symbol is the Menorah. Lunch on the edge of the sea of Galilee and yes I had fish!!! We went to the Jordan River and several of us were reBaptised, and the water was freezing, have pictures and DVD! Amazing! We then took and old boat and sailed on the Sea of Galilee! What a FANTASTIC DAY. Tomorrow we travel to the Dead Sea. I'll get a message!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Caphernaum in Synagogue

Baptism at the Jordan River

Arrived in Israel

December 29, 2007
At long last the adventure continues and I arrived in Tel Aviv! The airport is new only 2 years old and clean. We arrived at 3am, we got thru the passport check, pictured up our luggage and met our guide Roni (Ronny) (which means "rejoice" in Hebrew). Off we went by 5am we were on the Mediterranean Sea and having breakfast and then off to Jaffa. The highways are very nice three laned with street lights. The bus is brandnew....God had a plan! We walked around in Jaffa and saw Simon the tanner's home as well as the center of where all roads more or less lead to in Israel. We left Jaffa and and headed for Caesarea's National Park. This was King Herod's City. This is an amazing place and I'll update blog when I get home. We saw the former area where the place was. The amazing thing was the stone (Large) that was found engraved with Pontias Pilate! This is yet another proof of the Truth. They even has water brought in from 7 and 10 miles away! Did you know that Israel is part of Asia? We went to Mount Carmel which overlooks the Mediterranean. We went to Nazareth and went to The Church of the Enunciation where Mary lived. Where she lived the Catholic church build a church over it to preserve it. The church next to it was St. Joseph's and they have preserved where the Holy family lived which was actually a cave and Joseph had a workshop there! The Franciscan order has maintained this area. Some of the others went to the Synagogue where Jesus spoke, it is a windy path to get there in very narrow walk way that was a street back in the day, and there are merchants on both sides, I got all the way back and close to the synagogue but then got a bit unnerved in the area where I was, so walked back, had I kept going up just a bit further I would have met up with the group. We went to Cana to purchase wine, this is where Jesus changed water in to Wine and then we were off to the hotel!

Athens, Greece

It is Friday - I can't remember the date. It is around 8pm time in Greece which is 1pm EST.

Well, we finally got out of the US and were on Olympic Airways heading for Greece. We went over the Cape Cod National Seashore at an alt. 10,100m speed was 1,011 km/hr and the outside temperature was -48c. So for those family members in Cape Cod, I flew right over you at about 18:45 (6:45pm). Wine on the plane is FREE! The white wine was Moschofilere Boutare, it didn't have a lot of taste. Dinner was good however. After dinner the lights in the cabins were turned off. Now to sleep. There is a challenge. The seats had t.v. screens like Jet Blue, but the leg room was tight, and my legs are long and kept hitting the bar in the seat pocket in front of me. I really didn't get much sleep at all. By the time we landed, I didn't feel well. But, we are in Athens! The city is surrounded by three different mountains. It is sunny and warmish, however, breezy! The highways are similar to ours, traffic was fine. The signs are in Greek and English! That makes it nice. We left the airport with one of our tour guides Yani and then he trained office with a woman whose name more or less translates to Alice. She took us the Acropolypse which means the highest point. The Parthenon is there. It looks most impressive as we get closer. The interesting thing is that the Acropolypse with the Parthenon is actually the second highest, the Greeks used it because there was water there. How can you have a fort without water? The streets are narrow and some of the cars are so tiny! We make our way to the Acropolypse and walked to Mars Hill. The Apostle nPaul spoke here. It is amazing. The view is breathtaking. I can see out to the to sea, and then over to the Oldest Temple which is below us. There are ancient buildings mixed with the modern, and the buildings stretch all the way up into the mountains. The Parthenon. What can I say, I've always wanted to see this, and it is magnificent. It took 10 years to build, and with out modern tools! We can see out to the City's highest point where a small Greek Orthodox Church, St. George, is perched! We looked over to see an area where there were rock steps and this was where democracy was born in the 5th century before Christ! It is called the Abema or tribunal and can accommodate 10,000 people in the pnyka! There is what appears to be another small relic which is an old monument mausoleum to honor a rich prince of the 7th century! It was struck by lightning so there are now lightning rods around it! All this was built in the golden age. I walked up into the Parthenon. The Parthenon was built as a tribute to winning the war against Persia (Iran). It is currently being taken apart and refurbished, because the last renovation caused other problems. Further back is another smaller building with female statues that are columns they are called Caryatids. We saw the temple of Nike (they pronounce Nikki). It was just breathtaking and amazing. Pictures you asked....LOL tons!!!! I love architecture, so this was one place that I could get some close ups. There are are parts of an amphitheatre or "Theater of Antiquity" which was used for only music! There were many other places that we went in a short amount of time. One of which was the original Olympic stadium, which was just used again in the last Olympics. Being a fan of the Olympics and having attended the 2002 Winter Olympics, it was wonderful to see where it all began. The "Modern" Olympics restarted in 1896! The stadium like most of the other ancient buildings are made of Marble. We saw the embassies of the US, Turkey, and Portugal! We went by the Presidents residence (the former Kings Palace) and the guards. The President is only a figurehead, he has now power. Greece is run by a Prime Minister and a Parliament of at least 151+ members of his/her party! Greek Orthodox is the religion of 98% of Greece, and amazingly they too have a few million illegals living in their country! They are part of the original European Nation and use the Euro. Oh yes, we saw what was left (some columns) that were the temple to Zeus. We went by the Prime Ministers residence which is next to the Presidents Palace, The Parliament building, and the tomb of the unknown soldier, and many other interesting places. By the time the tour was done, I was really ready for a nap, I didn't really sleep on the plane at all, so it was a welcome relief to go to the Tatiana Hotel, and get a shower (love my hot showers) and brushed my teeth and took a 2 hour nap. I'm now killing time, because we'll be eating dinner soon (we are 7 hours ahead of EST). We'll be eating here at the hotel - a Mediterranean Cuisine. We did go to a restaurant here in the hotel called the Olive Garden and on the terrace we are able to look over to the Parthenon which is all lit up! It's off to the airport again, to get our flight to Tel Aviv. Did you know that if you get your passport stamped in Israel, it could prevent you from getting entry into other countries such a Egypt, etc.? How sad is that? You can have the stamp on a paper added to our passport! Can't the world get along? What a phenomenal day!!!!

Life is an adventure....

It started off being a foggy Florida morning. Things went smoothly until I got to the airport and was at the baggage check in! Then there was something about a delay and perhaps not making the connecting flight. So, I had to go into the airport and met up with my group all waiting. Apparently there was a mechanical issue with a plan coming in from New York. There were many signs, small as they were, mine was I spilt a whole cup of coffee and nothing splattered on anyone or any of the suitcases. There was talk of Jet Blue sending a plane down from Tampa. Then it was the flight was coming but instead of leaving at 10:55 am it was going to be 2:10. There was another Jet Blue flight at 3:00. Well, Jet Blue reps. worked very hard and out plane arrived at 2:10 and they were quite efficient in getting us loaded on. Half the plane in one line the other loading the plane going outside and up the stairs into the back of the plane. We did get a free lunch. Jean, Rosemary, Bill and I ate at Chili's. Anyway, after the long wait we were finally getting ready to taxi down the runway. We were on the runway, and then we turned around and headed back to the terminal. There was a mechanical issue with an electrical generator which needed to be checked out, then signed off. Finally, after 5pm we were up in the air. We landed after 7pm at JFK. We missed our flight to Greece, but we were given accommodations and will now be taking a tour of NYC before heading off to the Airport. It is cloudy and in the 30's here. I guess God had other plans......

I'm leaving on a jet plane....

Well the day is finally here. After months of planning a a few bumps along the way, my much anticipated trip to Greece and the Holy Land is about to commence. I leave this morning to JFK and then fly off to Athens, Greece! There will be some sightseeing and rest time before heading off to Tel Aviv, Israel! I'm so excited. Then on Jan. 4th I'll be heading back to Athens for a couple of days before coming home! I've been so busy with everything else, I just haven't been able to have all the information sink in, but it is at last. I'm packed, rather lightly, I'm kind of nervous. The big suitcase is only 1/2 full, and I have two small carry on items which could be placed in the big suitcase and fit quite nicely. One is like a big purse (like a computer bag purse) and the other is a small not much bigger a real small suitcase, but I have two days worth of clothes and stuff packed in it! If I'm able I will try and keep up with the blog, otherwise I'll have to update the blog when I get back....the Adventure begins!

Merry Christmas!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Merry Christmas! Today is one of those days that is planned out for weeks if not for months and before you know it, it is here and over and done in just a little more time than it takes to say "Merry Christmas". This year was no exception. I start months in advance in planning on what I'm going to give, and I was done a few weeks ago. It's so good to be done with shopping before all the rush occurs. My biggest obstacle this year was baking. I haven't baked in months, which is highly unusual for me, and maybe this was part of the problem. I've never made so many baking errors in my life! I burned cookies, I even made 4 pumpkin pies (including the crust), baked them, and then at 9pm last night figured out that I left out a key ingredient....SUGAR!!! Good Grief! So, I had to start in again, making the crust, and thankfully I had the pumpkin etc. to make another 2 pies. The kids were on each others nerves and arguing ensued, which doesn't keep with the season of peace on earth goodwill towards men, however, it was resolved with some good nights sleep. The last of the wrapping took place and the presents magically appeared under the tree with a few helper elves. I didn't get much sleep, watched the "Holiday" and downloaded more songs into the iPod, and finished up some odds and ends. The morning was a fresh new start, and everyone was in good spirits, sleeping in helps. I've made a smilebox to record the events of today. There was much smiling, laughing, and joy, and it was indeed peaceful. There were many surprises indeed. It was then time for lunch, a nap, and getting things cleaned up! It's done, over, only to start again for next year. I'm off to pack, I have an early day tomorrow! Peace to all of you and Merry Christmas!