Qumran

This is the site where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Click the pictures of the signs to read more about it. Sorry, I'm being lazy!

 This is a replica of the jars some of the scrolls were found in.  This museum is in Qumran, but the scrolls and jars themselves are all in a museum in Jerusalem

The caves where the scrolls were found are scattered through these mountains.

The actual cave where the shepherd (goatherd?) boy found scrolls.

The Dead Sea

We traveled down the "road to Jericho," which is the way to the Dead Sea.  

Had to stop for a photo op.

Can't say I've ever done that before! 

This is what it looked like on the way there.  There were tons of Bedouin camps just among these hills, although I don't have any pictures of them. 

Someone told me that when Mark Twain visited the Holy Land, he said the goats and sheep must eat rocks because there certainly isn't anything else for them to eat.

Most of my pictures of the Dead Sea are from the bus window...sorry! 

Somehow, we were misinformed and didn't know we were supposed to bring our swimming suits, so we took photos with the older section of our group.  The water was NASTY!  It feels literally like oil.  If you get it in your throat you will suffocate within a matter of minutes.  The salt content is so high, it sucks all the moisture from your throat, which swells closed.  It was so funny to watch people "bathing" in it.  They really could just stand up in the water, though their feet weren't touching anything and they would only be sumbmerged from the waist down.  You can see everyone floating without making any effort at all.  

Ha, HA!

This was on the street in Bethlehem.  One of the friends we met in our group was an attorney and we spent a few minutes discussing possible lawsuits for this.  So funny!

Church of the Nativity-Catholic Side

Overall, it was much easier to imagine the birth of Christ occurring in such a place when we viewed it from the Catholic side.  You will see from the pictures of the lower level that they have attempted to preserve what it originally would have looked like.

This is the Christ Child statue that goes in the processional every year at Christmas time down into the basement and through the door that connects to the Greek Orthodox Church, where the actual (though this, of course, cannot be proved) birth spot is.

Main part of the church  As you can see, this is a much newer, much more modern church.

This is the door on the main level that connects the two churches.

View looking upstairs from the cavernous lower level.

This is the best "panoramic" view of downstairs.  Some of the stone is original, but most of what you can see in this shot is more modern.

Um, not sure what this is...I don't know the PC name.  Altar?  Shrine?

Walkway to the Greek Orthodox Church.

View through the peep-hole into the Greek Orothodox side.

Behind this window and several others you could see original stone "caves" or "huts."  These would have surrounded the "stable" area in the center of the Caravansary.  See link at the end of yesterday's post for explanation.

View from the courtyard.

Another courtyard view.

Church of the Nativity/Bethlehem

Bethlehem is in the West Bank, though it is very close to the Old part of Jerusalem.  The church there is mostly preserved from the Crusader times.

There is a beautiful mosaic under the wooden floor

High ceilings with windows and fresco paintings.

 It's a Greek Othodox Church now, which means it has lots of...decoration.

This is the front of the main area.  The priests (I think that's what they call them in this faith) go behind that ornate golden screen to perform the Eucharist.

Downstairs, because--of course--the church is built over the holy site, is the birthplace of Christ.  It is impossible to see it.  See that hole in the center of the photo?  That his how much of the "natural stone" is left  to see.  It is covered in ornaments and it is cramped and dark.  They burn incense and candles all the time which is why...

The walls and things get all black and gross--you can see this in the above photo.

This church is connected above and below ground to the Catholic Church of the Nativity (although it may have a different technical name) and I will show pictures and talk about that tomorrow.

If you want to know more about why it would have been a stone "cave" where Christ was born and not a wooden barn like we Americans all imagine, read this.

BYU Jerusalem Center

We were so glad for the BYU Center!  It was still pouring rain.  We were soaked to the skin and we hadn't seen a clean bathroom all day, letalone one with hot water to warm our freezing hands.  We watched a short film that talks about what the BYU Jerusalem center is and then we took a tour of the public portions of the center.  They don't allow the general public to tour the student housing and classrooms as it would be too disruptive.

View from in the chapel. 

 Zoomed in you can see the Dome of the Rock in the background.  We also attended church here on Sunday.  I will NEVER sit in another church with a better view than this.  It was AMAZING!!!

 The organ.  It is the largest in the Middle East.  The group you see is a Russian tour group.  They had their own organist who was allowed to play and we sat and listened to her.  It was gorgeous sounding and the acoustics were amazing!

 I have no good pictures of the Center, so I borrowed these next two from the internet.  

It is on the Mount of Olives in a very prominent location.  Hearing the stories of all the opposition and all the miracles of getting it built just affirm for me that the hand of the Lord was definitely involved.  Our tour guide was the director of the center for 3 years and has taken many, many trips to Israel.  When I googled for images of the Center, his photo popped up too.  Funny!