Masada and the Dead Sea

On our second full day in Israel, we rented a car and went for a drive. There were nine of us, so we rented a nice, boxy van that fit us all. And off we went!

Our first view of the Dead Sea. It was a rich blue color! And deliciously warm for those of us who had recently been in Alaska and Russia. 

The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth, being about 1300 feet BELOW sea level. WOW. 

Masada was our first destination. It is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel, on top of an isolated rock plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. Herod the Great built palaces for himself on top of this mountain between 37 and 31 BC.  If you look close you can see a trail going up the mountain, zig zag. 

 Brian and Brian ran up, the rest of us took the tram. It was a smooth ride!!!

There was a lot to see at the top, we spent about two hours looking through the ruins and enjoying the view. 

Herod had some fancy stuff up here, including a few bathhouses, a church, synagogue  a place to house doves (used for food and fertilizer). They also had storehouses and a few different palaces on the mountain top. Many places to have parties and receptions. 

The view from Masada.

Remains of a Byzantine Church. Fun to see the tiles and mosaics! So very old and still in good shape. 

The ruins were found in 1842 and excavated in 1963-1965, so much of this was untouched for a few thousand years.

A lot of history in this place. If you want to know more, look it up on Google. :)

Church vs Garden

Day one in Jerusalem was spent doing a lot of walking around and seeing many of the highlights. We decided to see both sights that claim to be the location where Jesus was crucified and buried. The first location is the more traditional site, established in the early 4th century, at the time of Emperor Constantine.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The stone of anointing.  This stone is believed to be where Jesus' body was laid after he was crucified. Although Wikipedia tells me that this tradition didn't start until crusader era. It was an interesting experience being in this church. Many, many people here, kissing the stone, taking pictures, weeping, rubbing clothes or pictures of loved ones on the rock. It has the traditional smell of an Orthodox church, candles and incense.  

A closer view of the stone with a priest swinging some smoke around the church. 

This is called The Edicule. It has two rooms, one which holds a piece of stone that is believed to have sealed the tomb that held Jesus. The second room holds the tomb itself. We didn't stand in line to go inside. I have to admit, it felt a bit to iconic for me. This church is home to Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Roman Catholicism. 

Garden Tomb and Golgotha

This location is right next to a bus station, but is thought to be the place where Jesus was crucified at. It was also an old stone quarry. Jesus was thought to be crucified outside the city and at a place of the skull. There is a place on the rock wall that has a slight resemblance to a human skull. 

The tomb. A pleasant, quite, and peaceful place. Much like what I would picture in my mind. This whole garden had a totally different feel. It had flowers, green shrubs, places where groups can gather and relax to sing or listen to a speaker.

This tomb was unearthed in 1867. the entrance was damaged, that is why there is stone blocks beside the door. 

Here are some facts about the garden tomb. (Copied from the brochure.)

-It is cut out of solid rock and was not a natural cave (Matthew 27:60)

-It was sealed by a large rolling stone, as indicated by the channel outside the front wall (Matthew 27:60)

-Inside there would have been space for several mourners to stand inside the large chamber (Luke 24:1-3, 10)

The Bible also says that "at the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no-one had ever been laid." (John 19:41) 

There are a few features around the tomb that possibly give evidence that this was a garden long ago. There is a large rain water cistern, and a large preserved wine press. (See two pictures down). 

Old wine press, discovered in 1924. Whether this is the real location or not, it was a beautiful place, and as the brochure from the garden says, "the actual site is of less importance than the spiritual significance of what really happened. Jesus went willingly to His death on the cross. It was all part of God's loving plan to bring us forgiveness."

Praise the Lord! 

A Day in the Holy City

Wandering the streets of the Old City. Brian and I, along with our friends and a great guide with a lot of knowledge went to a few sites on our second day in Jerusalem. The first was outside the walls and along the Eastern Wall. A Muslim cemetery is along the wall with the hopes of preventing the Messiah from coming back through the Eastern Gate, also known as the Golden Gate.

Below is  the Mount of Olives. A place mentioned many times in the Bible as a place Jesus taught his disciples, wept, prayed and spent a lot of time at. He also went there the night he was betrayed, and ascended to heaven as recorded in Acts 1:9-12.

The Mt of Olives has had a Jewish cemetery on it for 3,000 years and holds about 150,000 graves. 

Below is the East Gate (Golden Gate). It was sealed in 1541, possibly to prevent Jesus, the Messiah from returning and entering through this gate. Luckily it won't prevent the real Jesus from coming!

 Here is a little Russian in Israel. Brian and I with a lovely Russian Orthodox church in the background.

My mom will enjoy this picture. :)

More of the city and a statue of David.

Brian and I just watched this movie and really wanted to go see Oskar Schindler's grave. 

Schindler's List is a great movie for those of you who haven't seen it.

Tasty treats! One of the best things about travelling is the food and snacks! My watermelon popsicle.

And our delicious dinner. Hummus and pita bread being our favorite!

Jerusalem-Day 1

Finally! A trip out of Russia! Brian and I were blessed with a trip to Jerusalem to see the city and hang out with some special Alaska friends. During the beginning of the school year, we weren't sure if our school would allow us the time off, but the trip did happen! So, April 12th, we took a bus, train, metro, bus, plane and bus from Nizhny to Jerusalem, Israel. Our first sighting of the Old City. Here we are walking in to meet our friends from Alaska.

We arrived on a Friday afternoon and it was the beginning of the Sabbath for most of the city. So, a lot of things were closed. Here is a picture of the narrow streets/walkways inside the Old City. Normally bustling with people and vendors selling their many tourist gifts and memorabilia. 

The Western Wall or The Wailing Wall

One of the most surprising facts I learned about Jerusalem is how deep some things are buried. Roads that were around in Jesus' time are now under feet or meters or dirt, or other roads that were laid on top of them.  Just this wall alone has different layers that were added with different rulers or nations of people that conquered Jerusalem. This section of the wall is one of the most sacred site recognized by the Jews. This wall was not part of the holy temple, but more a retaining wall built by Herod the Great in the 1st Century BC. Only the bottom seven layers are from Herod's time, they are a bigger brick with an indented border. 

The next four layers up date from the Byzantine era, the next section is from the 7th century and then the top section was added in the 19th century. 

There is a large section on the left for men and a smaller section for women.  

On the woman side, there are two white doves who come and sleep every night in the same niches. Pretty amazing. Guess it shows women are special. :) 

Holy Rock Cafe. Fun. We didn't try it out though, we stuck to the more "hole in the wall" joints that served the best falafel, hummus, and pita bread. 

I loved the narrow walkways, sidewalks and streets. I took more than my share of pictures. Sometimes the camera just doesn't cut it though. Here we are wandering the streets. (A preview of day 2)

More to follow! Can't show you all the good pictures in one blog!

Random Happenings

We have just one more day before we fly to Jerusalem to meet our good friends there from Alaska! So, I am catching up with a few pictures before we go. On our date night we were able to use a gift card Brian received for a restaurant here close to our apartment. It was good Russian food, basic but good. 

After dinner picture. I told Brian to act normal and here is what we both decided to do for the picture.

Easter dinner was a lot of fun this year. We went to our Pastor's house for dinner and an American family of five came, along with a German couple. Since Russia doesn't celebrate Easter until May 5th, it was all foreigners! And what delicious food we had too. Here is our starting course, a little bunny, similar to a sugar cookie, that Franzisca made for us all. 

For the last four months my friend, Masha, has come over about every week to speak English with me and drink some tea. We have both really enjoyed our time together, not just for her to practice her English, but for each other's company. Last week she helped me make Blini. Basically a Russian style pancake, similar to a crepe, but don't ever call it that to a Russian person.  ;) I have watched many people make them before and finally about three weeks ago I tried a recipe I found online. It was a disaster. I even threw it away and tried twice with no luck! So, lucky for me, Masha came over and made some delicious blini and I quickly wrote down the recipe so I can make it when we come back to America. Thanks Masha!

Blini can be eaten with such a wide variety of things, ground beef and onion, sweetened condensed milk and sour cream are all very popular ways to eat them here in Russia. Also good with jams or honey. 

So, one more day of work...(thank goodness) and then we fly to some warm weather, new sights to see and the best of friends. We are blessed to have gotten the time off from work; at first we weren't sure if it was possible. But God made it possible!

Fly to Israel for five days, then head back to Moscow to meet Brian's mom who will be flying in just a few hours before we do. Perfect timing! More pictures will be coming your way for sure after our trip. I'll try to blog once or twice using the iPad while we are away. Blessings everyone!