Israel Tour 2008 - Part 7

Church of the Annunciation

This is Part 7 of my account of our tour to Israel with The National Christian Choir.  This entry begins with our visit to the Church of the Annunciation, then to Beit Shean, Jericho, and finally arriving in Jerusalem with a stopover in Bethlehem.  To start at the beginning, click here.  All my Israel pictures and videos are in the photo gallery under Vacations and Trips, then 2008 Israel.

Day 5 - Church of the Annunciation

We started out the day by visiting the Church of the Annunciation, which is the traditional site where the angel appeared to Mary and announced that she would give birth to Jesus.  I have to say that I was impressed with the churches that they built on many of the traditional sites.  I thought they were beautiful, and they were also great places for our group of 300 to sing in. Since this was where Jesus' name was announced, we sang Holy is His Name by John Michael Talbot - a very nice choral arrangement that sounded fantastic in this church.

Israel Tour 2008 - Part 6

Dad on the Sea of Galilee shore

This is Part 6 of my account of our tour to Israel with The National Christian Choir.  This entry begins with our visit to various sites around the Sea of Galilee, including the Mount of Beatitudes, Tabgha (feeding of the 5,000), Capernaum, and the Jordan River.  To start at the beginning, click here.  All my Israel pictures and videos are in the photo gallery under Vacations and Trips, then 2008 Israel.

Day 4 - Sea of Galilee

We started the day bright and early, as usual.  After breakfast at the hotel in Nazareth, we piled into our six coach buses and headed for the Sea of Galilee.  The trips really were not that long wherever we traveled in the country - it's just not that big.  Probably the longest we sat on the bus was an hour, and that's when we traveled from the northern part of the country to the southern part, by the Dead Sea.  But they obviously didn't have the luxury of vehicles 2,000 years ago, and I have a new understanding of how difficult the various journeys described in the Bible must have been.  The scenery was very pretty - tall hills, deep valleys, covered with green grass and lots of rocks.  Pretty to drive by, but I bet a pain to walk over to get from here to there.

Megiddo videos

In Part 5 of my entries about the Israel trip, I talked about Megiddo.  I forgot, however, to include links to a few brief videos dad took there.  I've updated that entry, but here they are, too, in case you've been following along:

• Megiddo Video 1
• Megiddo Video 2
• Megiddo Video 3

Israel Tour 2008 - Part 5

This is Part 5 of my account of our tour to Israel with The National Christian Choir.  This entry begins with our visit to Mt. Carmel, then continues on page 2 at Megiddo, ending up in Nazareth.  To start at the beginning, click here.  All my Israel pictures and videos are in the photo gallery under Vacations and Trips, then 2008 Israel.

Day 3 - Mount Carmel

From Ceasarea, we headed to the top of Mount Carmel.  I believe Gila told us this was the highest point in Israel.  This is also the place where Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal (I Kings 18).  Harry again gathered all 300 of us on top of Mt. Carmel to tell the story.  The view from the top of the mountain was beautiful, as was the drive up the mountain.

Israel Tour 2008 - Part 4

Amphitheater in Ceasarea

This is Part 4 of my account of our tour to Israel with The National Christian Choir.  This entry begins with our visit to Ceasarea by the Sea.  To start at the beginning, click here.  All my Israel pictures and videos are in the photo gallery under Vacations and Trips, then 2008 Israel.

Day 3 - Ceasarea by the Sea

From Joppa, we drove about 30 minutes (if I remember right) to Ceasarea.  It took Peter a day to make the same trip.  I didn't think I'd be one to be terribly fascinated by ruins, but Ceasarea really captured my imagination.  Today it is in ruins, with portions being reconstructed, but from what was still there, I thought you could get a feeling for what the town must have looked and felt like.  And I think it would have been another town that I wouldn't have minded living in - maybe I'm just a sucker for the ocean (or here, technically, the sea).

Israel Tour 2008 - Part 3

Joppa

This is Part 3 of my account of our tour to Israel with The National Christian Choir.  This entry begins with our visit to Joppa.  To start at the beginning, click here.  All my Israel pictures and videos are in the photo gallery under Vacations and Trips, then 2008 Israel.

Day 2 - Joppa

We have just left the market in Tel Aviv and are headed to Joppa (or Jaffa, as it is also called).  This was one of my favorite spots and is where I think the tour really started to become special for me.  Not just because I had finally gotten a relatively good night's sleep and recovered from the flight, but because we had moved from what I felt was kind of just any other city (Tel Aviv) and into places that really had a lot of history behind them.  Our guide, Gila, really started getting to talk to us about what happened at the places we visited from here on out, and it was neat to hear her read a passage of Scripture then say, "And this is where that took place," or "And this is where he lived."

Israel Tour 2008 - Part 2

Tel Aviv from Joppa

This is Part 2 of my account of our tour to Israel with The National Christian Choir.  This entry begins with our stay in Tel Aviv.  To start at the beginning, click here.  All my Israel pictures and videos are in the photo gallery under Vacations and Trips, then 2008 Israel.

Day 1 - Tel Aviv

We stayed at the Dan Panorama hotel in Tel Aviv.  It was overall a very nice hotel.  When dad and I arrived in our room, we thought it was funny just how small the room was.  It was small.  It barely had enough room to fit the (single!) king bed, a desk, a night stand, and a dresser, and you didn't have much spare room to walk around.

Israel Tour 2008 - Part 1

Well, I've finally gathered enough energy and time to sit down and try to start writing about The National Christian Choir's tour to Israel that dad and I participated in a few weeks ago.  I called this "Part 1" because I'm sure it will take a few entries to talk about the whole trip.  How many parts will there be?  I don't know - depends how much I write and how interrupted I get, I guess.  As many as it takes to tell you about the whole trip.  I'll include pictures with my stories, but remember that all the pictures and videos from the trip are already up in the photo gallery, under Vacations and Trips, 2008 Israel.

If you're wondering what took me so long to start writing, some kind of nasty bug had been making the rounds in our group of 300 the whole trip.  I managed to avoid catching it until literally the very last afternoon, just in time for our short 4-hour night before being awake for over 24 hours as we made our way home.  It took two weeks for me to get over whatever that was.  It was a nasty bug.

Israel pictures are up

I've finished uploading the pictures and videos from the trip to Israel in our photo gallery, under Vacations and Trips, 2008 Israel.  While there are some nice pictures, they don't do justice to the scenery in some places.  The videos dad took may give a little more depth - just know that his camera saves them in AVI format, which means large files - don't try to download them over dialup!

A week after getting back, I'm still sick!  My eyes have even turned scary monster red.  Good news is I'm slowly but surely feeling a little better with each passing day.  Enjoy the pictures.

Back home

Sea of Galilee

Well, we've been back from Israel since Thursday afternoon.  I got sick on the last afternoon of the last day - just in time for the short 4 hour night before getting up at 1am to start the long journey home.  We figured by the time we got home, if we didn't sleep on the plane (and I couldn't), that 4 hours of sleep was all we got in the previous 36 hours or so.  I'm sure that didn't help.  I'm still sick and very tired from not being able to sleep through the night, but I think my sleep schedule is slowly getting back to normal.

I didn't have time until tonight to go through all my pictures.  I merged mine with my dad's pictures and videos and categorized them generally by location. I'll post an announcement when the pictures and videos are finally uploaded, which could take a little while.

In the coming days, as I have time, I will also try to sit down and describe each place we visited and give my impressions.  Overall, the trip was wonderful.  Very busy schedule, and I've never felt like such a tourist, but it was great hearing all the information the guide had to offer at each place, reminding us of the stories that occurred here and there.  The ~80 National Christian Choir members that made the trip were joined by about another 80 or so singers from around the country.  And another group of non-singers toured with us - about 300 people in all.

My overall impression - Israel really is a beautiful country.  I was struck by the diverse terrain.  They had just about every kind of terrain except maybe rainforest and ice.  There are big mountains, small mountains, high cliffs, rolling, rocky hills and fields, valleys, deserts, lush areas, palm trees, the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Galilee, which is really a large lake.  Most of the towns were built on the tops or on the sides of the hills.  Very picturesque.  It was really neat to see all the terrain, so that when the Bible says that so-and-so walked from here to there, I actually will have a mental picture of what that walk must have been like.  And really, the country is so full of hills, valleys, mountains, and deserts, that I can say that walking from one city to another in that region was probably never an easy journey.

The Israeli dad and I sat next to on the flight from Vienna to Tel Aviv said he was happy we were coming and would see that the country isn't what the media portrays.  It really wasn't scary - it was quite peaceful.  People were just living their lives - Muslims, Jews, and Christians.  Children would be running home after school all by themselves.  I really didn't see an unusual number of soldiers everywhere - only on the Temple Mount and at the checkpoints at Israeli/Palestinian borders.  Israeli helicopters and jets did fly over frequently, though, going who knows where.

If I had to pick a couple favorite locations - I really liked Joppa.  It was a quaint little town that still has a Biblical feel to it, and it's right on the Mediterranean.  I could see it being a very relaxing place to live.  I also liked Ceasarea - again right on the Sea, but what I liked was seeing the ruins of King Herod's palace and imagining from the guide's description what a magnificent place that would have been to live.  The waves would have literally been crashing against the palace itself.  Finally, I was very impressed with Masada.  It's a fortress that was built by King Herod on top of an isolated, almost 1,000 foot high plateau in the middle of the Judean Desert by the Dead Sea.  The view was great, and it was amazing to see that they had built and carved a little city way up there.  The story of Masada is quite dramatic, and on the top, you can still see the remnants of the Roman army's camps where they laid seige to Masada, as well as the ramp they built to batter down the walls.  Very impressive.

Well, like I said, as I have time, I will try to go through and describe what we did each day, using some of the pictures I'll be posting soon.  Right now it's time to try to sleep again.  Thanks so much, mom, dad, and Beth, for letting me take this trip.  It was very special.

Bon Voyage

I'm all packed for Israel, and we leave in about 20 minutes.  As I was cleaning out my very fat wallet so I don't bring unnecessary cards, etc., I realized just how fat it really was.  It's like the wallet went on a crazy diet and lost a ton of weight, and all that's left is this stretched out shell of skin - it feels quite empty now.  Plus it's all ratty, torn in places, and cracked.  I found a receipt in there for an oil change in Kankakee, IL, from 1996.  That made me think - I have no idea how long I've had this particular wallet, but I can't remember ever having another one.  Is this my very first wallet?  I just recently tossed a pair of shoes from 7th grade (so, 1988???) that I had been using forever for yard work.

Yes, I think that this trip may be the decommissioning, the bon voyage, the retirement trip for this wallet.  I have a very nice replacement for it that Beth's brother/sister-in-law gave me for Christmas - just haven't made the switch yet.

Leaving tomorrow for Israel

Happy Easter!  I have to make this very quick; dad and I leave tomorrow for the NCC's tour to Israel.  I've just finished writing up all the "just in case" information for Beth, and now I have to start packing.  I told my mom not to panic on my behalf.  Dad is here, and the girls been enjoying playing with him.
Cara is doing just fine - thanks for everyone's prayers and support.  Dad gave us some tips for next time it happens.  She has a lot of energy today, in fact.  Of course, now the tables have turned, and Anna is now feeling crummy with a fever.  I read the warning signs that something must be wrong:

• she told me she's tired
• she told me she wants to take a nap
• she refused an offer of cake
• she refused an offer of jelly beans!

Hopefully it won't last too long.  And hopefully I won't get a turn at this while I'm away.  In case anyone's interested, I've scanned a copy of our itinerary in Israel, so you can see what we'll be doing each day on our trip.  I'm not sure if I'll have the equipment to be able to post pictures each day or not - I'm not bringing my work laptop.

Must go start packing now!

Ready for Israel

Sea of Galilee

Tonight was the last rehearsal before The National Christian Choir travels to Israel.  I've been so busy with work, the kids, listing/fixing the house, getting my car fixed, doing taxes, figuring out health insurance changes, etc., etc., etc., that it didn't really sink in how close the trip was until Harry (the director) said "See you in the Holy Land!" before we went home.  We're all very excited.  We had several additional singers from the region who are singing with us in Israel at our last few rehearsals.  We're expecting around 30 or 40 more singers from around the country to also join us, but we won't be meeting them or rehearsing with them until we get to Tel Aviv next week.  Dad arrives this weekend to stay at our house in Maryland a few days before we depart for Israel. It should be quite an experience - please keep all of us (around 300 in total) in your prayers as we travel!