Bethlehem

Enroute to our final stop of Thursday 11 November 2010. Bethlehem.  I will just say that this was one of the "Adventures" of the trip. More of that later. Keep in mind that Bethlehem is in the Palestinian area, which means that Jewish guides and bus drivers cannot work there. The "Blue Bus" had both a Jewish driver and a Jewish guide. Hence the beginning of the "Adventure."

This is a picture of the freeway as we were driving south to Jerusalem. Just for an idea of what modern day Israel is like. Much like any where else in the world, I would say.

I can't remember if this is Jerusalem or not, but I do know it is a ciy that we could see from the freeway, and thought it would be interesting to see how things are laid out. Just to give one the lay of the land.

A look at the landscape of the area near Jerusalem. Too bad I don't know really where this was taken. It does give an idea of how things are. I do believe there is a wall being built up to the top left.  Very hilly and rocky, much different geography than what we know in North America.

I think this is very interesting landscape.  This is somewhere near Jerusalem, as I know that is where we are headed on the "Blue Bus"!  So much history here, I wonder what stories the rocks have to tell??

So we are getting closer to Bethlehem, which is about 7 miles south of Jerusalem.  Like I mentioned before, Bethlehem is in the Palestinian area so it was like entering another country. Because they want to keep the tourists coming, we had to meet another bus that had an Arab driver and guide. It was like we came in the back door, changed from our Blue Bus to their Arab bus and went to the sites. Just leaving the Jewish controlled area to the Arab controlled area was very much like driving from Cardston to Moses Lake.

First stop of course is always the stores.  Need to support the Christian Arabs, and yes this store had some great stuff. Super neat Olive Wood carvings of all shapes and sizes.  I think this shop probably had the best selection and workmanship of all the Olive Wood stores I saw.  Too bad I'm not independantly wealthy, there would have been a few things sent home to Canada.

Just a sample of some of the olive wood available.  I just loved the attention to detail and how shiney they were.

So cool. Kelly and Mike bought a very nice olive wood of Fishermen in a boat pulling in a big load of fish. I know I know, it would have been a good idea to have a picture of that, but I don't, so there ya go!!

Do you think Mary and Joseph had to stop at the Olive Wood  store before they could carry on? Perhaps not eh?

A view of Bethlehem.  I wonder what it was really like when Mary and Joseph came to the City of David to be taxed?

Did they see something like this? Probably weren't using english signs huh? Or Arabic?

This is the entrance to the Church of the Nativity. Umm, do you think Mary passed by that blue sign up there on her donkey, in her ninth month? Just a note about the donkey, it is said that if seated far back on the hips of a donkey, his feet go clipping along under him while his hips scarcely move. Such a ride on a donkey has been compared to sitting in a comfortable rocker at home.

Oh, read this sign! It makes me grin. Don't think one would ever see such instructions anywhere in North America or in Europe.   Oh do tell, which instruction makes you grin?

This is the entrance into the Church of the Nativity.  If you notice some of the rock work, there are some indication of older entrances that date back 1000's of years. (I can't remember everything that was said about those details.)  A little over 300 yrs after the Saviors birth, Saint Helena, Constantine's mother made a pilgrimage to Bethlehem to locate the place of the nativity.

This is a mosaic of the church built at the direction of Constantine's mother. It is located underneath the present floor.  Constantine built a church over one of the grottos that his mother selected as the likely site of Chirst's birth. The present church was built by Justinian in the 530's

One of the grottos where many believe Christ to have been born. There were so many people everywhere it was squishy. Felt like a packed sardine all through this part of the tour. Very ornate and cluttered up by the various churches placing their claim on history.  We sang a few christmas carols, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, and Silent Night. The singing was cool, it made the millions go away and a peace came that I really enjoyed for a brief moment. I have to admit that those carols will always take me back there and I think that is cool.

Just another shot of the cave like stable where thousands of people visit day after day! Just so you know there is a cave like stable coming up on one of the other visits that we do, that I like better than this. It gives a better feeling, not the real stable, but one that gives a better feel for the birth of the Savior, not so ornate.

Ok now for the adventure, it is getting dark after we finish at this site. Remember we had to change busses!
So now we have to walk through a back alley, which was rather dirty and felt so much like a back alley one would find in the slimy part of town behind a bar!  We walked through a narrow passage way that was fenced of pretty good, and then we had to go through security, show our passports and put our thing on the conveyor belt, it was beeping the whole time but they didn't care.  I saw a guard running round above us with a machine gun, I guess he wasn't worried about the American tourists!!  I really wish I could convey how it really felt to go through the back alley, the narrow fence and the security, I really didn't like the experience at all. To top it off, Mrs Lund was our only connection to our tour and she was alone at the back of the line, I thought it wouldn't take much to take out a 70 yr old lady in the dark in the Palestianian territory.  We made it through, found our "Blue Bus" Jewish guide and driver and made it safely to our hotel in Jerusalem.  I really like the Jewish area of Israel, I feel safer there somehow!!

Well, truly finished Thursday 11 November 2010. I had a few moments of doubt about actually finishing the day safely. It was just fleeting, ever so fleeting, and I'm glad to report that all is well. I guess some adventure is fun, right?

Tomorrow, I get to wake up in Jerusalem!