3rd day of Field Study - Masada and the Dead Sea! pics and videos

Are you ready for another adventure? First of all, understand it sometimes takes me several days to upload and post pics, because of the very slow internet. Tonight it is finally working, and I'm going to show you pics from my trip last weekend...enjoy!!

 So here is another big hill I am about to climb...Masada, a fortress in the desert built by Herod the Great, next to the Dead Sea. The 3 tiers you see on the left end were 3 floors of Herod's palace. Here hundreds of zealot Jews withstood the Romans, back in 73 AD, until the Romans built a ramp up and breached their walls, only to find they had all killed each other to avoid being taken captive. It doesn't matter that there is a cable car available to take up, we of course have to hike it up there!!

 Starting the climb....the good news is its a beautiful day, no rain, lots of sun, and not cold and windy!!

 Looking across some of the ruins (these were store rooms for all their food), and you can see the Dead sea beyond.

 This is the lower floor of Herod's 3 tiered palace.

 Looking from the top, down to the desert floor, the square you see is the remains of a Roman camp when they were laying seige to Masada.

OK, you caught me, I found a McDonalds, which is only good for one thing...an ice cream cone as a reward for all my hard work climbing that mountain!!  And another reward....we don't have to hike down, he let us take the cable car, and you can watch this video and come with me:)

We stopped for lunch at a park next to the Dead sea..check out this beach - its made of salt rocks that really hurt your feet.  Did you know the Dead sea is 38% salt and minerals??

Here, watch this video of the students in the water...I didn't get in,cuz I offered to hold cameras and take pics of the kids in the water...I literally had 8 cameras hanging on my arm.  I'm waiting for when Michael comes in with me.  I did go in it last time I was in Israel, but it was a much calmer day, and a much nicer beach with sand....ok, so I'm spoiled already.

 So check this out...we were on our way back home, stopped at an abandoned restaurant for one last view of the Dead Sea.  And out this hole in the wall we see our bus, trying to turn around to come back and pick us up, and it was totally stuck down an embankment!!

 Before the bus got stuck, we stopped at EnGedi..where David hid from Saul, and then cut off the corner of Saul's robe unbeknownst to him, etc.  This is an oasis in the desert because of natural springs.

 Caves up on the hillside...hmmm, do you think this is the one David was in?

 Nearby is Qumran, and this is the cave where the the shepherd boy threw in a rock, heard something shatter, and discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Pic I took at the abandoned restaurant while the bus was stuck...and don't worry, there just happened to be a bulldozer driving by, which hooked up a chain and hauled the bus right back up to the road, and we were on our way  (Thank you Jesus for bulldozers in Israel:)