Crown Plaza Hotel
Givat Ram
Jerusalem, Israel 91130
I woke up early this morning in the Casear Hotel so I could take a picture of the sunrise.
We started out the day by going to the Mount of Beatitudes. It was a beautiful drizzly morning. We sat in the rose garden while Pastor preached on Matthew Five. It was beautiful.
Next we went to the ruins of Capernaum and saw Peter’s house and the synagogue. We got caught in a rain storm and stood under a big leafy tree while Hezzie taught us.
We then drove. We went from Galilee to Jordan to Jerusalem. Jordan is mostly a baren dessert, and in the center we stopped at an oasis. The Arabs man that I bought my water and Magnum ice-cream bar from tried to give me my change back in shekels, when I had paid him in dollars. Hezzie stepped in and saved the day. I got my change back in dollars.
We drove into Jerusalem in the early afternoon. Hezzie had to leave us before we went into Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a Palestinian territory and it is not safe for Israelis. Our bus driver is Jordanian so he was able to go with us. We had a Palestinian Catholic name Ibrahim guide us through the Church of Bethlehem. The Church is divided between Greek and Armenian Orthodoxs. It was a dark cathedral that had ornamental lamps hanging from the ceilings. There was a faint haze from the incents burning. We waited an hour to file into the room underneath the church that supposedly where Christ was born. Once I finally made it into the small underground room I had not even 30 seconds to kneel down at the silver star that was in this little fireplace-looking structure. The silver star was placed there by the Crusaders and says in Latin, “This is where Christ was born.” People where kissing the star and praying.
Bethlehem was so completely different that what I expected. It is hardly the quiet hamlet that Christ was born in 2,000 years ago. It is now ripped apart by war. Going into the town we went through two checkpoints. Palestinian guards with machine guns were everywhere, some getting on to the tourist buses. We passed the tomb of Rachel, which is a special place for Jews, but it was closed by the Palestinians for whatever reason and has caused a lot of anger. The tall cement walls hiding Rachel’s tomb are completely covered in graffiti.
The food is so fantastic here. A lot of cold salads and vegetables, fresh fruit and amazing breads and desserts. They have this dairy free ice cream that is amazing!
The Crown Plaza is a very nice hotel, and the view from our room is amazing. I took a picture when we first got to the hotel this afternoon and then right before bed. I love Jerusalem.
No comments:
Post a Comment