Photo Overload: Mountains, Masada, Ein Gedi, Dead Sea

Days 2 and 3 are sort of melded together in my mind, but they were so very different. Day 2 started out with an early morning run (after cleaning the cat fur off my face) up the Mount of Olives and over to Mt. Scopus.

The view from the top of Mt. Scopus

After the run and a bit of Shabbat fun at the Jerusalem Center (really fantastic) we finished the day off with more sites around the city. If I'm perfectly honest, most of these sites were a bit of a disappointment. With all the thousands of pilgrims wandering the city, it's quite difficult to get a feeling of reverence, and look at the sites as they really ought to be. Some of my favorite moments in Jerusalem were not at the famous  Christian, Judaic, or Muslim sites but in random corners of the city where I could just look over it and think of its significance. That being said, here are some more pictures of the famous sites.

Protestant's version of Calvary

Protestant's version of Jesus' Tomb

Garden of Gethsemane

The next day we woke up at 3am to catch the sunrise at Masada, an old fortress first built by Alexander Jannaeus, later taken by Herod the Great, then later by the Romans in about 70 AD. The Romans laid siege to the fortress, and rather than give in to them, the zealots inside committed mass suicide. 

...but the sunrise over the Dead Sea was nice.

 

The cistern and the only remaining inhabitant of the fortress.

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Really just incredible.

After Masada I swung up to the natural springs of Ein Gedi, which is where David hid from Solomon in his early years. 

This rock was just begging to be climbed. 

This waterfall had a sign that forbade swimming. But I've always been a rule breaker.

I decided to try to run to the top of the falls with the 15 minutes I had left. Another passenger on the bus told me I couldn't make it, but I think we all know that made me want to do it all the more. Sorry for the bad video, but you get the picture I think.

After Ein Gedi we drove up to the Dead Sea to take a dip. This was pretty fun, and very odd. You can just sit, or even stand in the water and you just float. 

The mud is apparently really good for your skin.

And that was all done by about 2.00. The rest of the day is for another post.