Come go up to theThe Mount of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane!

Hey, I was tired of studying, it was a beautiful sunny gorgeous day, and Chelsea and Liz asked me to go with them to the Mount of Olives this afternoon....what would you say??  Right...I said "I'm in!"

 We took an Arab bus for 5 shekels (about $1.25) to the top of the Mount of Olives, and went to a place called Augusta Victoria, which is a Christian church with a tower (in pic), an Arabic hospital, and a coffee shop.  The tower was closed, or we would have climbed it for an even greater view.

 We can't climb the tower, but we can surely go to the coffee shop!

Iced coffee....mmmmm, so good on a sunny day on the Mount of Olives:)

View of the Northern end of the Mount of Olives

 Looking the other direction, to the southeast...I know it's hard to see, but thats the Dead Sea in the far distance!

After the coffee, we went for a walk along the streets.The Mount of Olives is almost entirely Palestinian (Arabs), since it is East Jerusalem.  (West Jerusalem is mostly Jewish.)

Saw this little girl playing on her balcony as we walked past.

Some graffitti, with a Palestinian flag spray painted on the wall.

 
 Surprisingly, we saw this Israeli flag just around the corner.

 Finally, this is what we were trying to find, the Lookout with the awesome view of the Old City of Jerusalem.

I could never get tired of this view.  We are looking at the Eastern wall of the Old City, directly onto the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock. You see the Golden or Eastern Gate to the right of the Dome, an elevation in the wall. In the foreground is the Jewish cemetary. The Jews are buried on the Mount of Olives, and Muslims buried on the opposite side of the Kidron Valley, next to the city walls.

 Started to walk down the Mount of Olives on the Palm Sunday Road, we got behind lots of Japanese tourists.

 Now we're alone on the same road, that's Liz and Chelsea ahead of me, taking pictures of some flowers on the wall.

 And there they are.....pretty!!

 At the base of the Mount of Olives, is what is called the Garden of Gethsemane.  Of course we don't know exactly where Jesus was praying with His disciples when He got arrested, but it was definitely near here. Gethsemane means 'Olive Press', so it was a place with lots of Olive trees and a press. This tree here is very very old, they just seem to get thicker as they get older.

The whiter shorter thing you see here is what's left of a very ancient Olive Tree which probably did exist in Jesus' day.

 Here's what the entry to the Church of All Nations looks like, which is the church at the Garden of Gethsemane.

 We walked inside the church and they were having a service in there. The white-appearing floor you see in front of the Priest is a huge rock, that many believe may have been the rock that Jesus leaned on when He was in travail and prayer in the garden, while His disciples slept nearby.

More Olive trees in the garden. There's a timeless beauty about these trees that produce a fruit which has been so central to Israel's economy and sustenance for millenia

 The Church of All Nations exterior.

Speaking of olive trees, they are everywhere!! Here amidst a muslim cemetary, beneath the Old City walls.

Across the street from the church, we are looking down into the Kidron valley at hundreds of olive trees. The Eastern Gate (Golden Gate) is above us, a well-recognized landmark on the eastern wall of the Old City of Jerusalem. This is the gate (which has been closed for centuries) that Jesus, the Messiah,will enter the city through when He returns, as He begins His Millenial reign in Jerusalem.

 The Kidron Valley which runs right between the Mount of Olives (left) and the Temple Mount/Old City (right).  The conical structure you see in the center is a huge old tomb, called Absalom's pillar, but it really has nothing to do with Absalom and is dated from way after he lived.

Walking back up the hill to return to school, we see a small flock of goats grazing right next to the Old City Wall. Some things never change.  My next post will include pictures of the Temple Mount...I finally had a chance to go up there and see the Dome of the Rock, see the other side of the Eastern Gate, and see the place where the Temple once stood...so as soon as I can get to it:)

Jordan Day 4

Our last day in Jordan, the land of Ammon, Moab and Edom...this is a pic of a Crusader Castle that we stopped the bus to look at, similar to the the castle in Karak, where we spent our last night in Jordan.

This is our hotel in Karak, and it's right next door to the Crusader Castle.  That's our bus parked out front. The Karak Rest House was not a place I would ordinarily stay at....noisy parties, no hot water, very minimal amenities, did I say no hot water?? etc...but according to Dr. Wright, if we want to see the Castle, this is the only option of a decent place to stay in order to work it into our itinerary. It did have some character...

This is the lovely lobby of the hotel...notice King Abdullah II's pic...I told you his picture is EVERYWHERE!! I feel like he's a buddy of mine by now.

Here's the view down into the valley from the Castle. In 1 Sam. 22:3 it talks about how David brought his family to Moab (that's where we are) to keep them safe while Saul is chasing him. It says he came to 'Mizpeh of Moab' which means 'lookout', then he went to the Stronghold, which is Masada.  It's very possible the place we were standing was the lookout, because on a clear day, you can actually see Masada. So David was in this vicinity before he became King. After he became King, he actually came back and conquered Moab for Israel.

Here's a picture of the kitchen of the castle.  I can't figure out what they were baking here...

This is a small replica of a catapult.. Because it's made of wood, you don't find these remains, so this shows you what it looks like, and...

These are the actual carved round stone boulders that were flung by the catapult..these are as big as bowling balls....made me think of Fred Flintstone.

Here's an 'arrow slit'...with this little windows you can see your target to shoot the arrow at them, but they can't see you.

Well, we are leaving Karak, and King Abdullah II is smiling at us all the way!!

Hmmm..the view was nice..I don't know about best choice, but it was our ONLY choice.

A few pics out the bus window...Here's a couple Jordanian men, now look whose picture is hanging outside the shop....yup, the King!!

 Most Muslim women don't cover their faces, but some stricter sects do.. This woman only has her eyes exposed.

 I don't want to gross you out, but you can't believe how you see meat hanging all over the place in the markets, with flies buzzing all around it. We were passing this truck, and I noticed an upside down cow's head in it (sorry, but I'm trying to give you a cultural experience:)

 So for something a little more beautiful...This is the national flower of Jordan - the Black Iris.  It only blooms for a couple weeks in the spring, and only blooms in a small area near the Arnon Gorge, which we are about to see.  When Dr. Wright saw them beside the road, he stopped the bus so we could all take a picture of these flowers which few people get to see.

 So here we are at the Arnon Gorge...a huge canyon cut by a river. This is a dammed up portion of it.  Moses camped near here with all 2+ million Israelites on their way up north past the Dead Sea...up to where they (Joshua, etc)  crossed into the promised land, over the Jordan River.  It was hard to imagine this as a good camping place, very desert-like, but at least they had water.

 Posing with some of my girls at the Arnon Gorge.  Our bus literally had to go down to the bottom of that gorge and then all the way back up to the plateau on the other side.  Lots of switch-back roads, believe me. It was quite a sight going down and then back up.

 We are up on the plateau on the other side, at the ancient site of Dibon which is on the Medeba Plateau, just north of Moab. Moses conquered this area and gave it to Reuben, but they couldn't hold on to it.  Mesha was the King of Moab who fought and lost against King Ahab (you know - Jezebel's husband). He paid big taxes to Ahab to leave him alone, but as soon as Ahab died in battle, Mesha took control of the Medeba Plateau again. Anyway, Dibon was Mesha's capital...and these sheep don't even care.

 Now we are at the city of Madaba...there's a very famous ancient mosaic map of the middle east.that was found here. This is a poster of the entire map that was found. It gives alot of information of place names and roads, etc, in the ancient world. A Greek Orthodox church was built over the map in the 1800's

 Here's the class looking at the mosaic map on the floor of the church.

 I know it's hard to see, but the big blob at the top is the Dead Sea, you will see a boat in it, and see the Jordan River coming out of the top (left) of it. The sort of oval you see is Jerusalem, the long street is the Cardo, it actually has the gates of the city on it, etc. It is hard to get the idea, but this map is full of information about many places in the time of Jesus.

 Walking to the church of the Map, we see the King of course, but you haven't seen his wife yet...doesn't she look like the princess in whatever that princess movie is called??

 The Church of the Map...class waiting outside for everyone to get done looking at it.

Lunchtime...Clara and I have matching shirts on today....Someone said I was mustard and she was ketchup.

 I know you aren't tired of seeing pictures of King Abdullah II (right?!)  He's the one in the middle. Notice it says 'Nuts shop' on the sign.

 Our final stop for the day...up on Mount Nebo!  It's not really a mountain, but it is high lookout point. And this is where Moses came to peer into the Promised Land and was told he wouldn't be going there.  It was a hazy day, couldn't see too far. Dr. Wright preached a great mini-sermon here about how we all see our promised land, and it may look hazy, not sure what's over there, and yet we still cross over, etc. Was a great end to our tour of Jordan.

Well, this is the last pic of me in Jordan.  I am so ready to go back to Israel now.  It seems Jordan is a really nice place to visit, but Israel feels like home.