Israel and Jordan part 1

Waiting in the airport

Sunrise on the Sea of Gallilee


On the Sea of Gallilee


my feet in the Mediterranean Sea



At the Jordan River

Here's some stories from my trip to Israel and Jordan. There are so many pics and stories, I have to divide them up. Stay tuned for more...

We left Sunday from LAX. I left my house at 4:15am to pick up Stacy and go to my parents house and from there we headed to the airport. I didnt sleep at all the night before hoping to sleep on the airplane. We landed in NYC at 4pm NY time and had to lug all our million pounds of luggage to a whole different terminal where we had to check in for our international flight. Once there we had a 7 hour layover. I still hadn't slept at all. We got on our plane to Amman and 2 hours into the flight I took some Ambien. AHHH the wonders of Ambien. I woke up an hour before we landed. We landed at 5:00 in the afternoon monday.

Once there we got on a bus for a 3 hour ride to Tiberias, Isreal. About half way there we had to cross the border. We had to scan our luggage and go through customs to get out of Jordan then we had to put all our luggage back on the bus and drive 100 feet to the Isreal side of the border where we had to scan our luggage again. We got back on the bus and sat there for almost 2 hours just because they could make us wait. While there our adventures started. While making a bathroom run, we realized that the toilets were turkish. Meaning that they were basically holes in the ground. There were spots for your feet and then you had to squat and aim for the whole. (Hence the nickname squattie pottie.) We finally got to the hotel ate dinner and called it a night around 11pm.

Tuesday started bright and early at the Sea of Gallilee. We had a 6am wake up call, ate breakfast, and headed to our boat for a trip across the Sea of Gallilee. I was actually surprised at how big the Sea of Gallilee was. I was expecting just a small lake but it was quite large. So you can imagine how large it must have seemed in Jesus' time. Once across the sea we went to a museum and then boarded our busses to Capernaum. Capernaum was a city that Jesus frequented. There are remains of a synagogue that was most certainly visited by Jesus. There are also the remains of Peter's house.

Wednesday we got up early and headed for the remains of the ancient city of Cesarea. Cesarea was a city built by King Herod located on the shores of the Mediterranean sea. I really don't know much about this city because instead of listening to the lecture Stacy and I climbed over the fence and down the rocks to take pictures of our feet in the Mediterranean Sea. So all I know is that there was a big amphitheathre and there was a stadium thing where they had chariot races. I do however have great pics of my feet in the water. :) After Ceserea we went to Megiddo. Megiddo is an ancient city that is known for its aquaducts. the only source of water was outside their fort so they dug a tunnel down and under the walls and out to get water. We climbed down into the aquaduct and walked them. From Megiddo we headed to Nazareth, Jesus' boyhood home. Nazareth was kind of dissappointing. It is a modern bustling city with no real remnants of Jesus time.

After this we headed to the Jordan River. While not the actual site that Jesus was baptized it is very close. Some members of our group were baptized in the river, while Stacy and I took more pictures of our feet in the water. Then we shopped :)