Wednesday I bought a ticket to Israel. Thursday I went to Israel. Before you start thinking that I'm rich and frivolous, tickets are super cheap from here...so only the latter is true. I flew into Tel Aviv Thursday night, and the next morning was on a bus for Jerusalem.
Day one was a bit confusing, trying to find my way around a city that I had 1) not planned anything for 2) had no map of and 3) has so many interesting things that I easily got distracted/lost. It turned out ok, and I found the hostel (which ended up being an adventure all on its own), and started the tour of the city.
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| At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Orthodox faiths believe Christ was crucified and buried. I was trying to figure out where to go next and looking great doing it. |
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| Western Wall |
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| Random school above the Western Wall. As I've said before, one of my favorite things to do is just wander around new cities. This definitely held true in Jerusalem. |
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| Such a fascinating cultural struggle. The whole time I was there I was just blown away that things don't just erupt into violence. It's such a strange balance. |
After a long day of wandering around Jerusalem and seeing much more than I'll ever be able to tell, we came back to our hostel. This hostel is located in the middle of the old city, and you're supposed to sleep on the roof. I set aside mats and blankets, but when I came back they had been commandeered (filthy hostel hippies). All that was left was a damp one and a sheet. It was pretty cold, but luckily a tabby cat came and slept on my face to keep me warm.
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| This is what I woke up to. Sort of worth the freezing night, right? |
Days 2, 3, and 4 to come!
This makes me supremely jealous. More than any of your other adventures, which is saying quite a lot (I get jealous a lot). Oh man! I can't wait to hear more details (possibly in person in a few weeks?). This is our number one travel destination (that we never think we'll actually see). Did you feel like you had to study the Bible for weeks before you went to make the trip worth it? Paul says he doesn't want to go until he's studied well enough to know what he's seeing. I think we should just go and then study after. How was the weather? Oh, so many questions, and so much envy. Cool, cool, cool.
ReplyDeleteI read the Gospels before I went, but since it was super last minute I didn't do as much study as I'd like. Also, at some point you just have to go. I mean, knowing the Talmud, the Quran, and thousands of years of Israeli and Palestinian history would have been great too, but just going there and learning was a blast. The weather was fantastic!
DeleteBryce! Why didn't I catch up on your blog before seeing you in Utah! It would have been fun to hear more about your adventures. It looks like a very memorable trip.
ReplyDeletewell then i'll just have to visit you guys i guess
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