Hey, Old guys...

I have been trying to catch up on blogs but still find myself two days behind. So instead of telling you what I did today I need to tell you what I did yesterday. Trouble is we have long busy days and I find myself increasingly tired. By lunch time I am yawning so much I think I might have swallowed half of Israel by now. So I can hardly think let alone write. Which of course means that I can about one and a half(if I am lucky) entries in per day and thus I am still behind. Hopefully however you still find the entries useful. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is reading the blog when I see the comments standing at zero. But at the very least I get to make a record of my exploits and it helps me to remember what I did. Sometimes however I need more help. In preparation for this entry I was going over in my mind what we did yesterday. I remembered Nazereth and Zippori but where on earth had I been in the morning. Couldn't remember. So I pulled out my camera and started to look through the pictures. When I got there it was obvious. Kfar Nahum or Capernaum. Today we had a later start time. 9am. This meant we could sleep till 6 am Cape Town time! Yay! Then we were off to the ruin that was Capernaum.

The trouble with starting later of course is that you hit all the other tourists that started later as well. The early bird catches the worm and all that. But we made it there and it wasn't too bad :) It is interesting how the guide's can differ on the details. The last one was convinced that an earthquake had swallow the town in fullfillment of the curse Jesus spoke over it. Our current guide was not so confident. I suspect the first guide was right in this case. Unfortunately I say that because I am biased towards the first story. It sounds better. More research is required here. The synagogue ruin is not from the time of Jesus but is built on a previous ruin that possibly dates from the time of Jesus. People over the centuries were forever demolishing things and little has changed today. So in my photo's you will see many ruins. What fun!


Other than that we had another Bible reading from Mark I think and another teaching. And just like that we were off again. For some odd reason I wanted to take a picture of the Peter statue again. Had to wait because there were a ton of other people who had the same idea. Terri, if I take you to such a place I will not be taking a picture of you posing at some statue or artifact. Just so you know up front:) I do not understand peoples preoccupation with such things...

On to Zippori. Why? Cos it's there... Well I guess that would be one reason. Another is that this was where the Mishna was codified. The Mishna is part of the Talmud and explains how Torah should be applied in practice. Again this gives you insight into the Jewish mind. Something here that was startling for me was that in the mosaic on the floor of the synagogue there was a pattern of the signs of the zodiac and other Greek mythology. It was weird to see how they had incorporated paganism into their worship. But is this not the story of Israel from the beginning. "This is Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt" they said of the golden calf. At Zippori we also looked at an amazing water storage system. I am asounded at what the ancients were able to do without the tools we take for granted today. Sorry, no pictures here, all on the main camera!

Last stop for the day, Nazereth. And where do we go? That abomination called the church of the annunciation. I really dislike that church. We took a walk through a market to get to it. It felt like Jerusalem :) I took no pictures. Went in and came out as quickly as possible. Waited for everyone else to ooh and ahhh over the place.

Some people like to spend money on things one can get cheaper at home which is just as good so we made a stop at a nougat shop. No comment. Then we went to a shop of a friend of the bus drivers. Best shop in Nazereth, we were informed. I hope not. The place was full of useless trinkets. Would never buy there. Didn't even have a book section.

On the way out of town we went to the place where supposedly the people of Nazereth tried to throw Jesus off the cliff. Had a great view of the Jezreel valley from the other side. Using the iPhone I could locate Mt Carmel and Megiddo. That was fun! We had a reading from Luke 7. The story of the widow of Nain. Jesus raised her son from the dead. It is interesting that Nain is very close to Shumen where Elijah did a similar miracle.


Next stop, home. Well at least the hotel. And it's been quite the day for walking...

More tomorrow!
-- Post From My iPhone