Holy Land Day 1

Good Evening...

I decided to try to chronicle each day of my trip to Israel to share with you. If you have questions, email me and I will try to find answers. One thing I do not know, when you will receive this email! I had hoped to have wireless internet in my room. But, far from it. We can pay to use the services in the hotel. Hopefully, I can find a cafe or wifi hotspot within a block or two of here in the next day or so.

So.... It is Saturday, 4:30p. We are + 7 hours from EDT. It is just 9:30am Sat morning at home.

We left the church yesterday morning, at 2:30a on a bus to Orlando. We arrived Orlando airport around 4:30am and our flight left at 7:20a. The joy of Southwest Airlines - we stopped in Raleigh, Baltimore, and finally landed at Islip (Long Island). From there, we took a bus to Ny-JFK. We flew out on Israir Airlines, leaving almost two hours late after waiting for some other groups to come into JFK. Israeli security questioned (interrogated) each passenger before we got to the ticket counter. It made TSA look like nothing! But, it was a big topic of conversation amongst all of us.

The flight was interesting. All of our instructions were given in Hebrew first, then English. It was a long night, 10 hours on the plane and a 7 hour time change - putting us into Tel-Aviv at 11:30a this morning. After getting our luggage and gathering, we headed out on hour bus.

We left the airport headed for Jerusalem. The first place we stopped was Emmaus Nicopolis - one of the sites of a church of antiquity believed to be built by the Byzantines on the road to Emmaus. From there, we traveled the road to Jerusalem and tried to stop at another church, but it was not open. However, the journey through the local Palestinian village of Abu-Ghosh was picturesque and helped me get a feel for how the local people live. Next, we came into Jerusalem and traveled up to Hebrew University so we could look down on the ancient city and get oriented. In this photo, you will see the Dome of the Rock and the walls of the city.

Lastly, we made it to our hotel. Whew! A few things and thoughts:
- Tel-Aviv was a very modern appearing city. The airport is brand new and the city looked like anywhere in California. Since today is the Sammath, there was no one, and I mean no one, at the airport. The roads were desolate.
- In Abu-Ghosh I noted that all of the houses have their water on their roofs. This seems to be true everywhere. But, they also have a solar holding tank (black), solar panels, and their hot water tank.
- The hotel is equivalent to a days inn or comfort inn as far as size and amenities. But, it is very elegant in the lobby and very nice. The elevator 'speaks' and says "shalom" as we exit.
- Charlie (my room mate -- oh yeah, I am the youngest person in our group by 20 years or so) - and I walked around the block to a deli. We muddled our way through the process with locals and managed to order two subs and two cokes. I now have some sheckels in my pocket.
- My blackberry works and I called LeeAnn - our connection was better than it sounds at home when we are in the same town. But, at $2/min it is pricey to talk.

Tomorrow will be much more about the Holy Land and the purpose of this trip. We start with a visit to Bethlehem and to where Jesus was born.

JOHN