Alright, here all of my details will be getting very sketchy because I wasn't able to write anything down. Actually, I'm not sure if I have any details. I know that we went to a few more churches, which weren't terrible interesting. I would have been fine going to a few churches throughout the course of the trip, but because we visited something like 3 a day it really made all of them very uninteresting.
We also went to Memphis and that was nice. There were some statue and a sphinx. Not the Sphinx, but a sphinx. I also met some tourist police behind a statue of Ramses II who wanted money. I took a picture with them and then walked away before they could ask. There was another guy who grabbed Shannon and wanted to take a picture with her so I took one. Then he wanted to take a picture of us but we just walked away before he could ask us for money. This was a bit of a trend in Egypt.
We also saw the Step Pyramid in Memphis. That was cool. It was a nice little break in the day.
We then went to see some people make rugs. They asked us for money.
We also took a boat ride on the Nile, which was a lot of fun.
We rode on the sleeper train to Luxor that night. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't sleep very well. I got some good rest, but I woke up quite a few times.
In Luxor we saw a few ancient temples and went for a sailboat ride on the Nile. It was a good day. We had church in one of the temples, which was a little awkward considering how many people were there, but it was still good.
We took another late flight back to Athens and I couldn't sleep well on the plane. We got back to Porto Rafti and the Artemis around 7 and I slept from 7:30 to about 12:30. Then I started working on updating my blog and pictures and now it's 11 and I'm almost done.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
i don't love her, she kicked me in the face!
Today started with a trip to the mosque of Mohammad Ali (not the boxer). It was very ok. Then we went to the Egyptian Museum, which was pretty good. That's where all of King Tut's stuff is. We also had the opportunity to pay to see some mummies, which was definitely the creepiest part of my day. I don't really think I need to explain why. People were tiny back then, though. I'm confident that I could have taken any one of them should they come back to life.
We spent some time in an Egyptian market to try to find some clothes for the night's activities. We also lost Blake and Cabot here. They didn't make it back to the bus in time. Tim had to wait for them.
We then made our way over to the Pharaonic Village where we saw some replicas of many of the items we had just seen at the museum. It was very silly. Blake and Cabot were reunited with us here.
The night ended with us going on a nice little dinner cruise. We were dressed in Egyptian garb and all looked quite silly. It was fun, though.
We spent some time in an Egyptian market to try to find some clothes for the night's activities. We also lost Blake and Cabot here. They didn't make it back to the bus in time. Tim had to wait for them.
We then made our way over to the Pharaonic Village where we saw some replicas of many of the items we had just seen at the museum. It was very silly. Blake and Cabot were reunited with us here.
The night ended with us going on a nice little dinner cruise. We were dressed in Egyptian garb and all looked quite silly. It was fun, though.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
and there was much rejoicing
Who knew that Egypt's two most famous tourist attractions were within a quarter mile of each other? Probably a lot of people. I didn't, though.
Today we went to see the Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. We got to touch the first pyramid, go into the second one, and laugh at the smallest one (but not really). Perhaps the greatest memory I will have is when Caitlin and I were harassed by a man who wanted money outside the first pyramid. "Harassed" may not be the best word for it but he certainly wanted money very badly. I gave him a euro that I had in my pocket so he would leave us alone. He didn't.
The second pyramid was cool, though. the passage was about one meter by one meter and very hot. We got down to the tomb and saw a stone coffin thing. Cabot got in.
We also saw the Solar Boat but I don't really know anything about it. Apparently it carried Pharaohs into the afterlife or something. We had to wear these bags over out feet to protect the wood floors. That's what I'm guessing.
We got to the Sphinx about the time it was closing. Most of the pictures that I got were with the police blowing their whistles in my ear to get us to leave.
We also saw how ancient Egyptians made paper.
The lamest part of the day was the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids and Sphinx. The first word that I would use to describe it would be "lame". The second word would be "hilarious". The best part of it was when they were telling a story about something (I wasn't listening) and the story ended with the phrase "and there was much rejoicing."
Not even kidding.
Today we went to see the Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. We got to touch the first pyramid, go into the second one, and laugh at the smallest one (but not really). Perhaps the greatest memory I will have is when Caitlin and I were harassed by a man who wanted money outside the first pyramid. "Harassed" may not be the best word for it but he certainly wanted money very badly. I gave him a euro that I had in my pocket so he would leave us alone. He didn't.
The second pyramid was cool, though. the passage was about one meter by one meter and very hot. We got down to the tomb and saw a stone coffin thing. Cabot got in.
We also saw the Solar Boat but I don't really know anything about it. Apparently it carried Pharaohs into the afterlife or something. We had to wear these bags over out feet to protect the wood floors. That's what I'm guessing.
We got to the Sphinx about the time it was closing. Most of the pictures that I got were with the police blowing their whistles in my ear to get us to leave.
We also saw how ancient Egyptians made paper.
The lamest part of the day was the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids and Sphinx. The first word that I would use to describe it would be "lame". The second word would be "hilarious". The best part of it was when they were telling a story about something (I wasn't listening) and the story ended with the phrase "and there was much rejoicing."
Not even kidding.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
should i believe that this is the oldest bush in the world?
Today was a pretty boring day until we got to our hotel and even then it was still kinda boring.
We had our wake up cal at 5:30 so we could pack our bags, load the bus, eat breakfast, and leave by 7. Roman woke me up at 6:34.
The bus ride to the Egyptian border only lasted about 20 minutes. Then we said our sad farewells to Waleed and Rashad (our driver). We loved them. It took about an hour to get checked into Egypt and then we hopped on our new bus to head to Cairo.
I don't like our new driver, mostly because he isn't Rashad, but also because he hasn't shown any personality. I'm not sure if he knows any English at all. Rashad at least knew broken English. Our new guide, while likable, has a LOT of work to do to match Waleed. I'll give him a shot but it's a long shot.
We stopped at Sinai and St. Katherine's monastery for about an hour and a half, including lunch. It was cool to be there but the monastery was boring and I felt like the claim for them having the actual burning bush was lame.
Then we rode the bus for like 8 more hours and arrived at the hotel at 9 pm. Bear in mind that we left at 7 this morning. The hotel is super nice. 5 stars.
Very nice.
We had our wake up cal at 5:30 so we could pack our bags, load the bus, eat breakfast, and leave by 7. Roman woke me up at 6:34.
The bus ride to the Egyptian border only lasted about 20 minutes. Then we said our sad farewells to Waleed and Rashad (our driver). We loved them. It took about an hour to get checked into Egypt and then we hopped on our new bus to head to Cairo.
I don't like our new driver, mostly because he isn't Rashad, but also because he hasn't shown any personality. I'm not sure if he knows any English at all. Rashad at least knew broken English. Our new guide, while likable, has a LOT of work to do to match Waleed. I'll give him a shot but it's a long shot.
We stopped at Sinai and St. Katherine's monastery for about an hour and a half, including lunch. It was cool to be there but the monastery was boring and I felt like the claim for them having the actual burning bush was lame.
Then we rode the bus for like 8 more hours and arrived at the hotel at 9 pm. Bear in mind that we left at 7 this morning. The hotel is super nice. 5 stars.
Very nice.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
a dead sea focus
It's hard to rank the days on this trip but if I did then today would definitely be near the top. It's not that anything we did today was the best thing we've done, just that I really liked everything we did, which actually wasn't a whole lot.
We started off early this morning going to Qumran to see some reconstruction of the Essene community there and see where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
Then we headed on to see the place where David hid when Saul was chasing him. It was a really beautiful place. I was with Shannon and Caitlin the whole time and we didn't have time to make it to the top but it was still a really good experience.
After that we got to go swim in the Dead Sea, which was just awesome. It's impossible to drown in that water if you don't want to. It's very hard to swim because your feet are pretty much out of the water when you go horizontal. You also don't want to put your head under. I didn't, but some people did. They regretted it.
We're in Eilat now, which is the most fully modern city we've been in yet. There are a lot of stores and stuff.
Tomorrow is mostly a free day so it will probably be a very short entry. I can probably tell you now what it will say: "We rode camels today. It was awesome."
We started off early this morning going to Qumran to see some reconstruction of the Essene community there and see where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
Then we headed on to see the place where David hid when Saul was chasing him. It was a really beautiful place. I was with Shannon and Caitlin the whole time and we didn't have time to make it to the top but it was still a really good experience.
After that we got to go swim in the Dead Sea, which was just awesome. It's impossible to drown in that water if you don't want to. It's very hard to swim because your feet are pretty much out of the water when you go horizontal. You also don't want to put your head under. I didn't, but some people did. They regretted it.
We're in Eilat now, which is the most fully modern city we've been in yet. There are a lot of stores and stuff.
Tomorrow is mostly a free day so it will probably be a very short entry. I can probably tell you now what it will say: "We rode camels today. It was awesome."
Sunday, February 8, 2009
at the wailing wall
I'll say that today was another good day, even though all of them have been pretty good up to this point. We spent all day in Jerusalem looking at some pretty cool sites.
We started off this morning going to the Western Wall. It's also called the Wailing Wall but I don't like that name. It makes sense though because there were a lot of Jews there praying on the wall and it looked a lot like wailing. I just thought it was cool to actually be there and be able to touch it. I don't mean any offense by the wailing Jews comment, I'm just stating what I saw.
After that we went to the Temple Mount and saw the Dome of the Rock. We didn't get to go in but I did hear a lot of information from our guide that I didn't really listen to.
The coolest part of the day was going to St. Anne's church. It was empty when we got there so we just went in and sat on the pews and started singing. I saw a few people come and and sit down to listen to us while we were singing. We only sang 2 songs and then got up to leave. We turned around to find that about 50 people had come in and were listening to us. They started applauding as we left and I wasn't sure how I felt about that but it was still really nice to know that we made an impression, even if it was on fellow Christians.
After some more churches, we went to see a museum for the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was way better than I thought it would be. There was a lot of information about the Essene community at Qumran (where we go tomorrow).
We also went to Hezekiah's tunnel, which was by far the most fun I've ever had while walking hunched over for thirty minutes in a three foot wide tunnel with water flowing hallway up my legs, getting my pants wet. That's actually a truthful statement, though. It was pretty cool.
We went back to St. Anne's for our own church service after that. I didn't know you could do that but apparently all you have to do is ask.
We started off this morning going to the Western Wall. It's also called the Wailing Wall but I don't like that name. It makes sense though because there were a lot of Jews there praying on the wall and it looked a lot like wailing. I just thought it was cool to actually be there and be able to touch it. I don't mean any offense by the wailing Jews comment, I'm just stating what I saw.
After that we went to the Temple Mount and saw the Dome of the Rock. We didn't get to go in but I did hear a lot of information from our guide that I didn't really listen to.
The coolest part of the day was going to St. Anne's church. It was empty when we got there so we just went in and sat on the pews and started singing. I saw a few people come and and sit down to listen to us while we were singing. We only sang 2 songs and then got up to leave. We turned around to find that about 50 people had come in and were listening to us. They started applauding as we left and I wasn't sure how I felt about that but it was still really nice to know that we made an impression, even if it was on fellow Christians.
After some more churches, we went to see a museum for the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was way better than I thought it would be. There was a lot of information about the Essene community at Qumran (where we go tomorrow).
We also went to Hezekiah's tunnel, which was by far the most fun I've ever had while walking hunched over for thirty minutes in a three foot wide tunnel with water flowing hallway up my legs, getting my pants wet. That's actually a truthful statement, though. It was pretty cool.
We went back to St. Anne's for our own church service after that. I didn't know you could do that but apparently all you have to do is ask.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
what are we doing, rashad?!
Today was really our first day in Jerusalem. We stayed here last night but it was our first time to see the city.
We started out this morning going to the Mount of Olives. We got a pretty good view of the city from up there. It was kind of weird to see some of the old city mixed in with the newer parts.
One of the best parts of the trip up to this point was going to the Garden Tomb. It as really nice because it was a private area that you had to make an appointment to get into so there weren't a lot of crowds. They also give you a guide so Waleed didn't get to guide us, but some awesome British guy named Peter did. It was also good because they made a strong case for their site being the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus but also acknowledged that it is impossible to know for sure.
We also visited sites like Gethsemane, Bethlehem, and the Mount of Ascension. It's a little frustrating going to places like these to see the beautiful orthodox churches that have been built over them. It's even more frustrating to see the gift shops inside of the churches. It brings to mind a little table-turning incident I heard about once.
it's interesting to note that Waleed could not legally guide us while we were in Bethlehem because it is a Palestinian area and the Israelis do not allow Israeli guides in Palestine. We acted like Tim was our guide when we went in and then we had to stop at a gift shop on the way out so Waleed could be "smuggled" out by a friend. Walled the citizen is allowed. Waleed the guide is not.
We started out this morning going to the Mount of Olives. We got a pretty good view of the city from up there. It was kind of weird to see some of the old city mixed in with the newer parts.
One of the best parts of the trip up to this point was going to the Garden Tomb. It as really nice because it was a private area that you had to make an appointment to get into so there weren't a lot of crowds. They also give you a guide so Waleed didn't get to guide us, but some awesome British guy named Peter did. It was also good because they made a strong case for their site being the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus but also acknowledged that it is impossible to know for sure.
We also visited sites like Gethsemane, Bethlehem, and the Mount of Ascension. It's a little frustrating going to places like these to see the beautiful orthodox churches that have been built over them. It's even more frustrating to see the gift shops inside of the churches. It brings to mind a little table-turning incident I heard about once.
it's interesting to note that Waleed could not legally guide us while we were in Bethlehem because it is a Palestinian area and the Israelis do not allow Israeli guides in Palestine. We acted like Tim was our guide when we went in and then we had to stop at a gift shop on the way out so Waleed could be "smuggled" out by a friend. Walled the citizen is allowed. Waleed the guide is not.
Friday, February 6, 2009
on jordan's stormy banks
Most of today was spent driving. Not that it's bad. It brought us to some pretty cool places.
We left Tiberius early this morning after staying there for two nights. We stopped for a little bit in Dan and took some pictures f a stone arch that was around in Abraham's day. That was interesting. Then we went on to Caesarea Philippi to walk around some. A lot of this was more interesting than I make it sound.
We also went to see the Hermon Springs, which was really beautiful. I got some good pictures there.
We are lunch on the Jordan River. Well, next to it. A lot of us wanted to put our feet in the water, so we did. The mud was slippery, and a lot of people slipped. One person fell. Not me.
The last thing we did today was go to the West Bank to see Jericho. The West Bank is a lot closer to what I had always imagined Israel to be. Very sandy. There wasn't much to see in Jericho but it was still nice to be there. I did see some peacocks.
The hotel we're at in Jerusalem is super nice. I think it's a 4 star. The dinner we had tonight was outrageously good, mostly because tomorrow is the Sabbath. I had a full plate of meat, bread, and potatoes and then 2 plates of dessert. Very good.
Very good.
We left Tiberius early this morning after staying there for two nights. We stopped for a little bit in Dan and took some pictures f a stone arch that was around in Abraham's day. That was interesting. Then we went on to Caesarea Philippi to walk around some. A lot of this was more interesting than I make it sound.
We also went to see the Hermon Springs, which was really beautiful. I got some good pictures there.
We are lunch on the Jordan River. Well, next to it. A lot of us wanted to put our feet in the water, so we did. The mud was slippery, and a lot of people slipped. One person fell. Not me.
The last thing we did today was go to the West Bank to see Jericho. The West Bank is a lot closer to what I had always imagined Israel to be. Very sandy. There wasn't much to see in Jericho but it was still nice to be there. I did see some peacocks.
The hotel we're at in Jerusalem is super nice. I think it's a 4 star. The dinner we had tonight was outrageously good, mostly because tomorrow is the Sabbath. I had a full plate of meat, bread, and potatoes and then 2 plates of dessert. Very good.
Very good.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
there's a sea of galilee..
I don't know if I said that yesterday was a good day. If I did then I was lying a little bit if you compare it to today.
They gave us a wake up call at 7 this morning so I rolled out of bed at 7:35 and went downstairs for breakfast. At 8 we left the hotel to hop on a boat to go out on the Sea of Galilee. There's not really much I can say about the boat ride but it was just awesome being on there on the same sea where Jesus walked on water and calmed the storms. It one of the only places that the Catholics can't build a church over.
Then we went on to the Mount of the Beatitudes, which is supposedly where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount. Again, there's not really much to say other than it being awesome to see some of the same things that Jesus and the apostles saw. It was a beautiful view of the sea, though. Israel is much different than I expected. Much greener.
Later, we moved on the Capernaum, which was kind of like Jesus' second home town. This was really cool because some of the town hasn't been touched in centuries. Part of the town has been preserved by the Franciscans for quite some time.
My favorite part of the day (although Galilee was the most meaningful) was when we hiked up a mountain.We got to explore some caves and and do some actual rock climbing, which I like a lot more than just hiking. When we got to the top there was another great view of the Sea of Galilee.
When we got back to Tiberius (where we're staying), I went with Shannon, Calea, Cody, and Eric to get some how chocolate from some coffee shop. Then I went again after dinner with Mark, Molly, Tillie, and LaRell because it was delicious.
They gave us a wake up call at 7 this morning so I rolled out of bed at 7:35 and went downstairs for breakfast. At 8 we left the hotel to hop on a boat to go out on the Sea of Galilee. There's not really much I can say about the boat ride but it was just awesome being on there on the same sea where Jesus walked on water and calmed the storms. It one of the only places that the Catholics can't build a church over.
Then we went on to the Mount of the Beatitudes, which is supposedly where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount. Again, there's not really much to say other than it being awesome to see some of the same things that Jesus and the apostles saw. It was a beautiful view of the sea, though. Israel is much different than I expected. Much greener.
Later, we moved on the Capernaum, which was kind of like Jesus' second home town. This was really cool because some of the town hasn't been touched in centuries. Part of the town has been preserved by the Franciscans for quite some time.
My favorite part of the day (although Galilee was the most meaningful) was when we hiked up a mountain.We got to explore some caves and and do some actual rock climbing, which I like a lot more than just hiking. When we got to the top there was another great view of the Sea of Galilee.
When we got back to Tiberius (where we're staying), I went with Shannon, Calea, Cody, and Eric to get some how chocolate from some coffee shop. Then I went again after dinner with Mark, Molly, Tillie, and LaRell because it was delicious.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
we're here, o israel.
Today was a pretty extreme day. We left last night at 11 o'clock to head to the airport. Our flight left at like 1:30 so we had some time to walk around and get some food. None of that is important.
I tried to sleep on the plane but was unsuccessful. Then I tried to sleep on the bus but was unsuccessful. By the time we got to the aqueducts I was completely out of it. I didn't even realize that we were getting off the bus until over half the people had gotten off. It was pretty cool to see something that old that was such an amazing engineering feat for its time.
We went to breakfast at some small place that was pretty decent. The cereal was good.
We also saw a Roman theater, a Hippodrome, Herod's castle, a Crusader's castle, and some beaches, but I can't remember if that was before or after breakfast. It was such a long day. This all happened in Caeserea.
One of the coolest parts of the day for me was going up to Mount Caramel. It was awesome to be able to see places where all of these great biblical events happened. It's starting to hit me now just how special an experience like this really is.
After Mount Caramel we went to Nazareth. We took a tour of the Nazareth Village, which is supposed to be a representation of what it was like in Jesus' time. It was alright. A little boring.
It's 8:30pm and I'm about to go to bed and end one of the longest days of my life.
Goodnight.
I tried to sleep on the plane but was unsuccessful. Then I tried to sleep on the bus but was unsuccessful. By the time we got to the aqueducts I was completely out of it. I didn't even realize that we were getting off the bus until over half the people had gotten off. It was pretty cool to see something that old that was such an amazing engineering feat for its time.
We went to breakfast at some small place that was pretty decent. The cereal was good.
We also saw a Roman theater, a Hippodrome, Herod's castle, a Crusader's castle, and some beaches, but I can't remember if that was before or after breakfast. It was such a long day. This all happened in Caeserea.
One of the coolest parts of the day for me was going up to Mount Caramel. It was awesome to be able to see places where all of these great biblical events happened. It's starting to hit me now just how special an experience like this really is.
After Mount Caramel we went to Nazareth. We took a tour of the Nazareth Village, which is supposed to be a representation of what it was like in Jesus' time. It was alright. A little boring.
It's 8:30pm and I'm about to go to bed and end one of the longest days of my life.
Goodnight.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
aek, se agapo!
I've started a bit of a Tips phenomenon here at the Artemis. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's just a basketball game. I'm not going to explain it now. We can play when I get back. We play all the time here, though. It's a lot of fun. I jammed my thumb real bad playing a few days ago and it's still a little sore but I'll get over it.
We went to church in Athens again on Sunday. I can't say with any honesty that the service was good because my whisper set broke again so I didn't get any of the translation. I'm sure it was great, though.
After church we went over to the National Archeology Museum for a tour. I'll just say it wasn't the best part of the day. It would have been great if they had just given us a few hours to walk around and look at things and take notes at our own leisure but instead they gave us a tour guide to tell us things we were perfectly capable of reading for ourselves. There were a few cool things but they were things that were really only cool to see, not talk about.
We had a few hours after the museum to do whatever until the football game (there is no soccer here) so most of us rode the metro (train, not bus) down to the Plaka to do some shopping. I bought an AEK shirt that I wore to the game, which was a lot better than last week. There's something to be said about having a crowd at a sporting event. AEK lost this week 1-0 to Olympiacos, who is kind of a cross town rival, but the crowd being excited made up for the loss. I don't think I ever mentioned that they won last week 3-0, but that's what happened.
We leave tonight around 11 to head to Israel. We'll be there for about a week and then go to Egypt for a week. This is the part of the semester that really draws people to HUG so I'm getting excited. Anyone that knows me knows what it looks like when I get excited. If you don't then just picture me normal and that's pretty close. I'm excited in my head, though.
I don't know if I'm going to be taking my computer on this trip. I have room in my bag but since so many people are asking me if I'm taking it I might not. I will be making a few posts when I'm gone but they probably won't show up until I get back, especially if I don't have a computer to submit them.
I don't have anything clever to go out on. Sorry.
We went to church in Athens again on Sunday. I can't say with any honesty that the service was good because my whisper set broke again so I didn't get any of the translation. I'm sure it was great, though.
After church we went over to the National Archeology Museum for a tour. I'll just say it wasn't the best part of the day. It would have been great if they had just given us a few hours to walk around and look at things and take notes at our own leisure but instead they gave us a tour guide to tell us things we were perfectly capable of reading for ourselves. There were a few cool things but they were things that were really only cool to see, not talk about.
We had a few hours after the museum to do whatever until the football game (there is no soccer here) so most of us rode the metro (train, not bus) down to the Plaka to do some shopping. I bought an AEK shirt that I wore to the game, which was a lot better than last week. There's something to be said about having a crowd at a sporting event. AEK lost this week 1-0 to Olympiacos, who is kind of a cross town rival, but the crowd being excited made up for the loss. I don't think I ever mentioned that they won last week 3-0, but that's what happened.
We leave tonight around 11 to head to Israel. We'll be there for about a week and then go to Egypt for a week. This is the part of the semester that really draws people to HUG so I'm getting excited. Anyone that knows me knows what it looks like when I get excited. If you don't then just picture me normal and that's pretty close. I'm excited in my head, though.
I don't know if I'm going to be taking my computer on this trip. I have room in my bag but since so many people are asking me if I'm taking it I might not. I will be making a few posts when I'm gone but they probably won't show up until I get back, especially if I don't have a computer to submit them.
I don't have anything clever to go out on. Sorry.
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