My Pilgrimage: June 19

Ah travel day.  Hurry up and wait.  Hurry up and wait.

The majority of the group headed back to the States early this morning, so I woke up to see them off at 7:00.  I was awake anyways, so it wasn’t a big deal.  Then it was time for a little breakfast and rest before I had to vacate the room at 9:00.  But at least I was able to hang around at the guest house until the two of us travelling to the airport together left at 10:30.  We had a taxi scheduled to pick us up at Notre Dame Hotel (where we had waited on Friday) at 11:45.  That gave up plenty of time to make the walk, which is uphill the whole way (we were happy about going downhill Friday, not so much today).  We then had a nice lunch at their café (a pretty good chicken, mushroom, and onion sandwich with lemonade) before we had to wait for the van to pick us up.  When the guy pulled over to pick us up, he says “Jennifer?”  Um, no, Michael.  Oh well, get in to the airport.

We arrived at the airport around 1:00 because my friend’s flight was at 4:30.  I am not allowed to go through security until 3:30 for my 6:30 flight, so I have some time to wait in the main lobby.  I actually went through the first line of security to get to the counter, hoping I could get on the earlier flight to Vienna, but they said “no, you must wait.”  At least it’s a clean airport and there’s a decent amount of seating around a coffee kiosk.

So it took me about an hour to get through security.  There are essentially three levels of it.  The first weird part was when I went up to the ticket counter three hours before the flight (3:30).  There were about two dozen people waiting in line, and four people behind desks, but none of them were helping anyone.  Someone else asked about the flight to Vienna, and the guy behind the desk said “not until three hours before.”  The questioner replied, “that’s now,” which garnered a response of a shake of the head but no help.  About five minutes later, they reluctantly said “ok, Vienna.”

Once I got my ticket, it was our normal security.  Except that when they saw my laptop, the girl said “follow that man,” and a guy took back around to the front to a special area where I guess they check electronics.  It wasn’t bad, it was just a little annoying that they didn’t say anything about why I was there.  Anywho, I got through, passport check was easy, and now I’m waiting in the food court thinking about getting dinner before the flight.  It’s an interesting setup here.  A main area in the middle with spokes coming off it with different series of gates.  One spoke is the food court, so all restaurants are in the same place.  Also, even though there are two or three “free WiFi” connections, all of them do not work.  I guess that means I need to read for a little bit before dinner.  A feel a hamburger calling me soon.

It’s funny how, though I don’t eat hamburgers often, after three weeks I was really craving one.  And even a mediocre one, like I just had, is good enough.  The fries though.  In general, they are just not good in Israel.  Then again, I’m not a huge fan to begin with.

It’s always interesting to fly on a new national airline.  Austrian Airlines certainly is different.  First, they didn’t call group numbers for boarding, it was a free-for-all.  And chaos ensued.  When you entered the aircraft, you immediately noticed something else different: Mozart playing.  Overall, the flight was just fine.  It was only about 1/3 full, so there was plenty of room for everybody.  Also, apparently I didn’t need to get dinner beforehand because they served dinner (a pretty good pasta in cheese with chicken and tomatoes; I couldn’t eat it all due to the hamburger).  We arrived about a half hour earlier than expected, which was good because I’m tired.  I’m looking forward to some sleep before a busy day in Vienna!

My Pilgrimage: June 18

Our last full day in Israel – Corpus Christi Sunday – started with Mass in the Basilica at Ecce Homo, and nice, intimate Mass at the end of which Monsignor blessed the articles we had purchased in the Holy Land.  Then we walked on down to the Zion Gate and hopped on a van to Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Museum.

Through the Jewish Center at our seminary, we had set up a tour with one of the bigwigs at the center.  Usually he only gives tours to heads of state, so that was a great honor.  Oh, and you are not allowed to take pictures inside, so no pics here.

The new museum was completed just over five years ago, and he was able to give an insiders’ tour of the thought process behind the museum.  That actually was a blessing, and a curse.  While the tour was interesting, I feel like we missed out on a lot, and so on the whole I would say I preferred the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

So the building itself has a made throughway that is built with slanted walls to the top, making it quite dark and somewhat claustrophobic, but with “light at the end”.  There are eleven rooms you wind your way through, and they have built it in such a way that you are forced to go through the entire museum, you cannot just cut through the middle.  While we were there, there were many Israeli Defense Force members touring as well.  We were told that during their training they visit at least once in order to remind them of their history.  A really good idea, in my humble opinion.

The museum is laid out chronologically, starting with a brief wall of images from the interwar period showing normal Jewish people living normal lives “so as to avoid playing the victim card.”  From what I could tell, it does a fairly good job of showing the Holocaust from the Jewish perspective – their focus – without much on the Nazi or any other perspective.  Again, that’s what they are going for, so it works well.  I will say, as a historian, the history is a bit slanted, but that’s to be expected.

What is interesting is that, once you hit 1943, the focus shifts to a thematic approach, covering topics like resistance, Hungary, and non-Jewish heroes.  It then finishes with the inevitably difficult movement through the last years of the war, the extermination camps, a little on the soldiers who found the camps, and life afterward.  It ends with a pretty powerful display of names and faces of some of the 6 million+ Jews who died.  Overall, it is a worthwhile tour, though at three hours it is a considerable length of time.

Schindler Tree

The original plan was to have lunch at the center afterwards, but they had a sign that the cafeteria was reservation only, so back to Jerusalem!  We found a simply restaurant near Ecce Homo, with a pretty good chicken shawarama and a really good drink of lemon slush with mint.  After that we were on our own.

At that point, I lead a group to Mount Zion for a couple of last minute stops.  Somehow, those who were interested went from a half dozen yesterday to three today.  Oh well, that meant we could move faster!  Which is a good thing, because it was all the way on the other side of the city.  In fact, it’s only a couple of hundred feet from where we stayed when we were first in Jerusalem.  If only someone had told us.

What is to see on Mount Zion?  Our first stop was David’s Tomb, which was not what I expected.  First, it’s hard to find.  Second, when you enter it’s like a mini Western Wall (men on one side, women on the other, head covering required, people praying).  I was able to silently pray for only a couple of seconds before a man there started talking to me, asking me where I was from and giving me a piece of paper for a prayer intention (for my dad, David, on Father’s Day).  I thought it was all nice and everything until the guy asked for money.  Ugh.  $20?  Yeah, right!  I reluctantly gave him a smaller bill, since he did say a prayer for me and my intention.  On the way out, another man asked me.  He started asking if I was Jewish.  No.  Do you have Jewish blood?  Maybe.  Can you find out?  Um, maybe.  Well if it’s on your mother’s side then you are Jewish.  In fact it might be on my mother’s side.  So do you know?  I just said maybe.  Okay, well you should really look into it.  And here’s a card for more information on …. No thanks.

With that done, we made our way to the main points of going there.  Next was the Cenacle, the Upper Room of the Last Supper.  In a tour book, they said it was simply an empty room in which it is difficult to imagine Da Vinci’s painting.  Well, the tour book was right.  After a moment of being underwhelmed, I was able to pause and reflect on the importance.  And wish that they had a chapel there, especially today (Corpus Christi!).

Then, it was next door to the Church of the Dormition.  This is where Mary is said to have lived after the death of Jesus, where she fell asleep (Dormition) and was Assumed into Heaven.  The upper church is nice and simple.  The lower crypt has a beautiful statue of Mary lying asleep and there are many Marian images from around the world.  Again, it was nice to pause there for a moment and pray for Mary’s intercession.

Finally, there was my fourth hopeful stop in the area: the grave of Oscar Schindler.  The man at the museum had said he would give us the name of someone to contact to open the gate for us, but he never did.  As a result, all we could do was walk up to a gate with a sign over it reading Oscar Schindler’s Grave, and peer in to see a number of graves.  So close, but so far.  It was time to head back to Ecce Homo.

On the way back, I made a slight detour into the Jewish Quarter for my final, small purchase in Jerusalem: a mezuzah.  It is a container placed on the doorpost with a scroll of scripture from Deuteronomy.  This is where I really showed my expensive taste.  I went into a store and talked to a man about some of them.  There was one that I particularly liked, and when I asked for the price, he said it is silver so it depends on the weight.  This one, he said, was one of the most expensive ones.  Over $100.  Oh, and if you want the parchment, it is separate.  A kosher parchment is $36.  I told him I would think about it, and decided to shop at other places.  After going in a few other stores, I realized that I didn’t want to spend who knows how long finding the right one, so I went back to the original store.  I decided to go with a new plan: a set price of $25 (so no kosher parchment).  They pointed to a few other ones, and I decided on a nice pewter one for about $15.  Sometimes you have to realize that budget is more important than wishes.

So with that, we finish out our stay in Jerusalem.  Most of the group leaves early in the morning for their flights around noon.  My flight is at 6:30, but I am going a little early to share a ride with another guy, so we head to the airport around noon.  I will have about two hours at the airport before I can go through security, but that’s ok.  In some ways, it will be just as sad to part with the group as it will be to leave Israel.  We’ve almost grown into a (dysfunctional) family.  We’ve had a lot of laughs, and some pain, but overall it’s been a very good experience.  Oh, and speaking of pain, please keep a member of our group in your prayers.  She may have broken a toe a few days ago, and her foot is quite swollen (but she is remaining a trooper, only sitting out yesterday’s venture).  We pray for safe travels for all of us as we head our separate ways tomorrow.

My Pilgrimage: June 17

Let me start by saying today made up for the frustrations of yesterday.  We were able to sleep in a little bit, at least theoretically.  I only slept in spurts last night due to Ramadan calls for prayer and the general noise coming from the street below our window. 

At 8:00, we met downstairs in Ecce Homo to start our tour for the day with the area below the convent.  It is located on part of one of the palaces used by Pilate, which was traditionally the spot of the condemnation of Jesus (and hence the first couple of stops on the Via Dolorosa are in the area.  In the area below the convent, they have preserved scratchings made by Roman soldiers for dice games, as well as some of the original Roman street that Jesus would have walked on.  Pretty fascinating.

Roman street

We then walked down to one of the gates and hopped on a van up to the top of the Mount of Olives.  There we visited the church of Pater Noster, which includes the Grotto of the Teaching where Jesus was said to have given us the Our Father (hence, the name).  In the church, which was largely empty, we prayed the Our Father in English, Spanish, Latin, and a Nigerian language.  Then, despite various groups from a certain area of the world taking up more space then they need to sing the Our Father in their native language, we were able to squeeze in and quickly look at the grotto. 

We then made a slight detour.  The Church of the Ascension, including a stone with a footprint made my Jesus, was just a few minutes walk away.  On the calendar, we were going to take a taxi here tomorrow to keep in the sequence of events for Jesus’ life.  Instead, we agreed to go there now to save the time and money.  A mosque has been built around it, but the stone itself is still intact.  It was great to have a little time there to reflect on the importance (as a side note, there are about five other Ascension churches claimed by various other Christian denominations).

We then started our walk down the Mount of Olives.  We had some stunning views of Jerusalem from the Mount, and it was great to be able to stand up there and visualize the path of Jesus in His last few days.  As someone who learns by seeing, this trip, and this stop in particular, has been very helpful in understanding the Passion.

Our next stop was Dominus Flevit, a church built with a dome in the shape of a teardrop where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem (again, hence the name).  It is the newest church in Jerusalem, and somewhat lackluster, but again the view is amazing.  As the tour guide pointed out, it is on the same plane as the Temple Mount.

We then continued out tour down the Mount of Olives with Gethsemane, the Garden of Agony (again, there are a few different sites for different denominations).  In the garden, there are a few olive trees over 2000 years old, meaning, as Monsignor pointed out, they were witnesses to Jesus’ Agony.  We were originally supposed to have Mass there in one of the garden altars across the street, but since we were almost an hour early, we were able to get in and have Mass at the main altar!  What an amazing and unexpected treat!  I will not go into detail, but I can say that this was the most profound Mass for me in the Holy Land so far.  Just in front of the altar is some stone which can be venerated that may have been the site where Jesus gave the witness to us all to say “not my will, but Your Will be done.”

Following Mass, we walked around the garden a little and then across the street to get a better view of the façade of the church.  We also were able to see from there more of the Jewish cemetery which takes up much of the Mount of Olives, including the tomb of Absalom, son of David (we did not walk down to see it up close).  We then trekked up the hill to re-enter Old Jerusalem to begin the Via Dolorosa.

I won’t go into our praying the Way of the Cross in detail, but it was a very good experience.  A couple of the stations were open that many times are not, so that was nice.  It ends at the Holy Sepulchre, and while it was much more crowded (and thus chaotic) then when we had Mass a couple of weeks ago, it noticed that I came with different eyes.  It was also neat that the tour guide brought us down to the Helena Chapel, a place Monsignor did not even know about.  This is where Constantine’s mother in the 4^th century found pieces of the True Cross.  The other very interesting part was the area below the area of the Crucifixion where the rock was split by the earthquake.  It’s still hard for me to process that one church includes the area of the Crucifixion, the area where Jesus’ body was dressed, and His tomb.  Again, I did not know that when we first visited, so that accounts for my “different eyes.”

The cracked stone

The place of the True Cross

After that, we were free for the afternoon.  A group of us walked over to the Christian Quarter and had a pretty good lunch.  I wanted to walk over to Mount Zion and the Upper Room, but when I went to pick up a map of Jerusalem I asked the people there for a schedule and found it was closed on Saturdays.  So, we plan on going there in our free time tomorrow afternoon.  I also hope to talk them into visiting Oscar Schindler’s tomb in the area.  So since that was closed, we just walked through the shopping area, stopping in a few stores.  I made my last purchase in Jerusalem.  It was a big debate for me, but it was pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

In my previous trip to Europe, I had regretted passing up opportunities to purchase paintings of some of the great cities I had visited (I did have a friend bring me back a painting from Paris).  Here, we visited a shop of a nice English woman a couple of the guys had been in before.  She sells beautiful prints (and originals) from various painters.  The one I had my eye on was a print from a British painter in the 19^th century.  As I told her, I didn’t want something too modern, but the price was a little more than I wanted to pay.  Well, after thinking about it, and a bit of encouragement from the owner and my friends in the group, I decided to go for it.  It’s a very nice print, and as she pointed out it is on canvas and not paper, so it is more durable.  Now, I just have to decide how I want to frame it when I get home.

We had our celebratory dinner tonight, and it was good, though the restaurant gave us some problems.  They said we had reserved for 17.  We are only 12.  It became an issue, but we got our food and it was tasty.  A bunch of different dips (hummus, eggplant, yogurt and lemon, and something with parsley and garlic that was quite good) with pita bread; an “Arabic salad” (cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions); french fries and a mixed grill of chicken and I think beef with tomatoes, peppers, and onions; and a slice of watermelon for dessert.  By the way, the melons in Israel are fantastic.  They have the best, juiciest cantaloupe I’ve ever had.

So overall it was a very good day.  I like Jerusalem, but it is a bit too crowded, and the streets can be confusing.  One last full day here before we pack up and head our separate ways on Monday.

My Pilgrimage: June 16

Well, we made it to Jerusalem.  Today was the day we really earned our “pilgrim” stripes.

It started as the regular dig day (5:15 MP, 5:30 taxi to dig, etc.)  We were only going to work until second breakfast at 10:00 so that we could get to Jerusalem before the craziness of after dark Ramadan (HA!).  I started for a few minutes where I had been digging yesterday, until they asked for a volunteer to work in the cistern since our fearless leader had to depart back to the States this morning for a wedding.  Since no one else wanted to, I figured I’d give it a shot.

I thought to get down there it would be relatively easy (a ladder or something).  I was wrong.  “Just step along these walls, down to that ledge, step over to that ledge, then brace yourself down to the dig site.”  Oh, and never mind that on either side is a fall to death (or so it seemed to me).  Well, I got down there ok, so I went for it.  This is where they keep finding lots of cool stuff, so I wanted to be part of it.  After a few minutes I found a fairly big pottery handle (the size of my hand).  When I said something to the other guy, who has been digging down there all week, he said, “eh, we’ve found a lot bigger.”  Well phooie on you.  I was down there for a good hour, finding a lot of small pieces of glass and pottery handles and whatnot, when I needed to get out for some water and dump my excess dirt (and to get away from his terrible music).  Now came the fun part.

I hoisted myself up to the first ledge, and then I basically froze.  I couldn’t figure out how to cross the gap to the other ledge without falling to my death.  “It’s easy, just stand up and walk over.”  Yeah, right.  After I struggled for what seemed at least 10 minutes, my “partner” decided to help me get out.  Somehow he scrambled up around me, I got pushed myself to the other ledge, and he helped me to stand up and get the heck out of there.  With tail between my legs, I told the archeologist that I was done down there.

Our dig site

My original dig site

My “reward” was to take over a hole someone else had been working in but who had stayed at the hotel today because his back was hurting (he’s 60 years old).  I had to help square it off and level it off (it was in pretty bad shape, literally, bad shape, as in not even close to straight lines).  To prove myself, or something, I did about as much work in the remaining 90 minutes as he had in four days (that’s an exaggeration, but not much).  They charitably called for us to finish up around 9:30.  We said goodbyes, were given t-shirts, and took a group picture (wearing our sweaty clothes, with our nice and tight t-shirts over them).  We had our second breakfast, and were ready to go for the van to pick us up at 10:30.

Except the van wasn’t there.  This was the same driver who had taken us from Nazareth to Tiberias, and had skipped our third stop because he wasn’t listening.  He didn’t listen again, and was at the hotel to pick us up.  A phone call and 15 minutes later, and we were ready to go.  Quick showers at the hotel, last minute packing, in the van around 11:30.

It was about a 3 hour drive through the West Bank to Jerusalem.  Along the way, there were many discussions about how we were going to get to our rooms at Ecce Homo, which is a convent in the Muslim Quarter.  We knew the gates were closed to traffic due to Friday Ramadan.  We found out that all the roads anywhere close were closed as well.  Through some negotiating, and lots of frustrating turn arounds, we finally made it to Notre Dame Jerusalem Hotel (just outside the gates) around 3:00.  This hotel is run by the same people as run Magdala (Legionnaires), so they were kind enough to let us rest up as we waited out the crowds.

One mojito later, we were antsy to get going.  We had discussed different plans, including leaving our luggage and coming in taxis at 11:00 tonight to pick them up, but eventually settled on “let’s all drag our luggage the half mile to Ecce Homo.”  Easy on paper and the map, much harder when trying to negotiate crowded Jerusalem streets.

It only took us a half hour to get here.  But the fun wasn’t finished yet!  The lady who was supposed to meet us at the front desk had walked away just before we got there and was nowhere to be found!  So we each tried to find out way to our rooms, only to realize that the rooms were laid out by someone the opposite of an engineer.  Rooms in the 100s are on the second floor, 20s-50s on the third floor, 70s on some other unknown floor, oh and if you want to find your rooms on the second floor, you have to walk through five corridors to get there.  Easy peasy! 

View from our balcony, you can see the Dome of the Rock.  Also, this minaret is very loud during the call for prayer.

But now I’m ready to head down for Mass before dinner, and hopefully sleep on these wooden slab beds.  In the middle of crazy Ramadan town.  But I’m not upset at all J

Ok, so that was what I’m calling “angry blogging.”  I’ve since gone to Mass and had dinner.  I’m a little calmer now, and more ok with everything.  I should just be happy that we all made it safe and we’re in Jerusalem for a couple of more days.  Tomorrow I believe we will be at the Mount of Olives and the Via de la Rosa.  It should be good.

My Pilgrimage: June 15

I found a coin!  Hold on, let me go back and tell this story right.

Normal day: Morning Prayer at 5:15, leave hotel 5:30, breakfast 6:00, digging at 6:30.  I had to finish the area I was working on, which took me almost until second breakfast (10:00).  I was scared that they were going to tell me to dig down “10 more centimeters,” but instead the lead archeologist came up to me and said, “I have good news!  I am going to move you to the east (where someone else was digging but was out sick today).  This is good news?”  Of course I beamed and said, “YES!”

So the new area was the top layer of the dig, so a lot of pottery shards.  My first “big” find was a pottery handle, about the size of two full fingers (someone else took pictures all day so I have to add them later).  Then, just before second breakfast, I found a tiny piece of green glass.  It was very small, nearly irrelevant, but at that point I was taking anything I could get.

10:30 we got back to work.  About half an hour later, I was sifting through some dirt, and something with a green tint stood out.  I picked it out, and there was no doubt: a coin!  It didn’t look like much, smaller than a pinkie fingerprint, mostly rusted over, some green showing on the edges, but it was definitely a coin.  I did my coin dance, they took measurements and pictures, I was happy, and I got back to work. 

It was getting very hot, and we were looking forward to finishing our last full day.  There were some guys going around the site, taking measurements and ground-penetrating radar readings.  One guy was setting up to do an interview with the lead archeologist.  I was working through some of the dirt, and…what is this…more green?!?!  Yes!  I found a second coin!  It was actually in worse shape than the first, but again no doubt about it.  Just then, the guy filming the interview called for quiet, so we had to do an almost comical silent measurement of the second coin.  I was happy, and within thirty minutes the bell rang for Mass.

We have a busy late afternoon/night.  Final class on the Gospel of Matthew at 5:00, Evening Prayer at 6:30, dinner at 7:00.  Somewhere in there, I have to pack since we’re heading to Jerusalem after digging in the morning, and we all have to make our bag lunches for the bus trip.  Guess I should get started on that!

My Pilgrimage: June 14

The third and longest day at Magdala has been the less successful and most frustrating so far.  I literally found nothing today, save a tiny piece of pottery not worth anything.  I just dug up dirt and moved it to the discard pile all day.  Meanwhile, everyone else in our group has found something.  Numerous coins, some glass, ritual purity limestone, a cutting instrument, etc.  I’m beginning to think I wronged someone and they placed me there on purpose to not find anything.  I try to make it interesting: “I’m excavating the moon!” (the clay is very grey).  “In one week, I’ll be in Vienna!”  Unfortunately, they only work for a little while.  I was so frustrated that I did not even remember to pray the rosary while I was working.

But, we move on.  It was a similar schedule to yesterday (leave at 5:30, etc.), with something added.  After Mass and lunch, we hung around for another two hours to clean pottery.  This is pottery from last year that is in storage.  It actually made me more depressed, because the bag I was working on had beautiful, large pieces of pottery including many jar handles and tops.  On the one hand, it was cool to handle them, on the other, all I could think was “why can’t I find something like this?!?!”

Tomorrow is our last full day at the dig site.  At this point, I have no expectation of finding anything.  Perhaps, as one person in our group said, the trick is to not look for something, then you find it!

My Pilgrimage: June 13

Indiana Johnson’s second day of digging was…lots of work with no payoff.

We had to get up at 4:30ish so that we could have Morning Prayer at 5:15 and leave for the dig at 5:30.  That’s entirely too early.  As I mentioned to others, to show how early that was, the Astros were in the sixth inning…of yesterday’s game.  None of us were too excited about being there.  When we arrived, we had “first breakfast” which was basically coffee (not for me), cereal, and fruit.  Then, we got to work.  Today, I wore my knee pads hoping that would allow me to be more comfortable in the various positions.  It ended up being a bad decision.  The reason we start so early is so that we can get as much work in as possible before the heat of the day.  So we worked straight until “second breakfast” (we’re hobbits) at 10:00.  At that point, I was nearly finished leveling the area I was working on.  After breakfast, I asked the archeologist how I was doing and what I should do next.  She said it was pretty good, I just needed to clean up around the wall I’m working next to.  Oh, and dig down “10 more centimeters” (it’s one of our favorite phrases on the trip since we hear it so much, along with “only 5 sheckels” and “just one more thing”).  She saw I was not too happy about the prospect of digging more in that area.  I said, “that’s all I’ve found,” pointing to a couple of tiny pieces of pottery.  Her response: “the absence of evidence is still evidence.”  I told her, “that’s almost convincing.”  That being said, it does kind of work for the Resurrection.

So for the next couple of hours I started working further down.  I did find a possible piece of flint, which is kind of cool.  Meanwhile, other people were finding coins, including four in one site.  I have come to accept that everyone in our group will find something this week…except me.  We finally broke for Mass and lunch at 12:45.  So all told, that’s almost six hours of digging today.

Oh, and about my knee pads.  Twice when I got up to dump out my dirt, I could not feel my right leg.  It was only after the second time that I realized, the knee pads were not only making me hotter, they were cutting off the circulation in my legs.  I walked over to the area where we eat and took them off as quickly as I could (difficult with boots on).  I immediately felt better, and could more easily sit while working.  I will not make that mistake again.

My Pilgrimage: June 12

Since today was our first day of digging, they let us off easy.  We didn’t have to show up until 8:00, at which point we were given an introduction to the site, archeology, and what we are looking for.  We were then each given a spot and an assignment.  Mine was to “clean up” a wall area, and when I was done with that to level off a certain area.  What’s funny is that, driving to the site, I was talking about my aspirations when I was younger to be an archeologist or a paleontologist.  Shortly into the work, I was bemoaning how much the movies lied to us.

Truthfully, it’s uncomfortable (how many different ways do I have to contort my body?), hot, monotonous work.  At the beginning, I was being very careful with my pick, trying not to break any potential important find.  Within an hour I was hacking away.  What is there to find?  Dirt.  Mud.  Rocks.  Tiny parts of pottery that are not valuable (discard anything less than the size of two thumbs).  Once you fill up your bucket with dirt, throw it through the sifter, grab some water, and repeat. 

Maybe I’m just bitter because the best thing I found was a piece of pottery the size of my palm.  I thought I had something when I unearthed a substantial piece of wood (1^st century wood!  Maybe part of a boat!), but was immediately dashed when I was told it was merely “biological,” i.e. nothing.  Others in my group were finding pottery handles.  One did find a coin, which is about as great as it’s going to get (it’s corroded to the point you can’t tell what it is, but it was a coin at one point). 

We had a “breakfast” break at 10:00, back to the dig around 10:45, Mass at 12:45, lunch at 1:30, and then we were done for the day.  Again, they took it light on us the first day.  It’s too hot to dig in the afternoon, so on other days we will do “pottery reading,” which simply means another mind numbing job of washing pottery.  But today we simply went back to the hotel, showered, and presumably most took naps or at least rested.  Even that little bit of manual labor we were not used to.  For some of us, we go back to class tonight after dinner, continuing to go over the Gospel of Matthew.  Tomorrow, we have a more “normal” day, which means we have to leave the hotel by 5:30.

My Pilgrimage: June 11

The only group event today was Mass on Mt. Tabor, site of the Transfiguration.  It was about a 45 minute drive there, up a steep winding road with one lane but for two lanes of traffic.  Always fun driving here.  I cannot remember if I mentioned this before, but at the official Holy Sites the Franciscans (how have custody of them) have their own Mass particular for each site.  That made today an interesting case, since it is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and typically you are obliged to say the Mass of the Day for any Solemnity.  Well apparently the Franciscan said that we could celebrate either (Transfiguration or Trinity), so Monsignor celebrated the Mass of the site while also remembering the Trinity. 

The site itself is beautiful.  The final drive way up is lined by tall trees (poplars?).  They have some rather nice gardens (which unfortunately were not opened to us).  There are some great views of everywhere from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee.  The church itself is somewhat simple, which the main church for large groups (another American group was there the same time as us) and two side chapels for Moses and Elijah (we were in the Elijah chapel).  After Mass we came back to the hotel, had a pizza lunch, and we are free the rest of the day.  Some people went down to the beach, some who have been sick went to Capernaum, some are just relaxing at the hotel.  It’s meant to be a day of rest before we start digging tomorrow.  I said there’s no way in heck I’m driving on my day of rest (outside of to and from Mass) so I’m taking it easy at the hotel.

Elijah Chapel

Moses Chapel

Speaking of taking it easy, I finished the latest Michael Crichton book Dragon Teeth, my novel for the trip.  It was written in the 70s, so before Jurassic Park, but he never published it so the transcript was found and published posthumously about a month ago.  The story is somewhat appropriate for my trip: a snobby undergrad from Yale is dared to go West on a paleontological dig in 1876 and gets caught up in the Bone Wars between paleontologists Marsh and Cope.  The main character is fictional, but the rest of the story is loosely based on real events.  It was a fun, though quick read.  I imagine Crichton would have liked to flesh it out more (no pun intended) since it’s fairly basic.  Overall, I’d put it on the lower end of his novels.  Someday I’ll have to make my definitive list ranking his novels (I think I’ve read all but one or two).

My Pilgrimage: June 10

Today was a fairly easy day: only 2.5 stops.  After Mass and breakfast, we drove south and east.

Our first stop was unexpectedly amazing.  We stopped at Beit She’an, one of the cities of the Decapolis.  It was huge!  There was an ancient Tel on the top of a mountain, but we did not hike up there.  Instead, we focused on the remains of the Roman polis.  We first went through the sprawling bathhouse complex.  Then we made our way through the streets which would have been lined by shops.  A number of columns still lay as they did when an earthquake struck, damaging the streets.  There also remains a large theatre.  Just before the theatre is the highlight of the trip: public toilets.  We of course all had to have our pictures taken “using” them.  They were pretty ingenious: you sat on two stones and water rushed in a trough below them to push away the waste.

Dramatic earthquake damage

Toilets along wall

Enjoying myself

A take on my favorite shirt I've seen in Israel

The second stop today was “my” stop: the Crusader fortress of Belvoir.  It is the most intact Crusader fortress in Israel.  It was strategically placed on the road from Syria to Jerusalem so that it would stand in the way of any invading Muslim army.  It did its job, withstanding a siege by Saladin in 1182.  He learned his lesson and five years later the defenders could only watch as his 12,000 mounted archers rode by one their way to destroy the Crusader army at the Horns of Hattin.  After Saladin wrestled away Jerusalem, he turned once again on Belvoir.  They held on for nearly two years, but eventually retreated in 1191.  It was destroyed and abandoned by the Muslims shortly thereafter.

View north toward Sea of Galilee (hazy today)

Dining room

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a “baptism” site on the Jordan River so that those of us who wanted to could stand in the river.  I did, and it was disgusting.  The water was an almost fake green, and very dirty.  We then all piled back in to the hotel for lunch. 

This is a good time to mention how amazing it is to see an entire city, and almost an entire country, shut down once a week on the Sabbath.  I can imagine it is similar to the old Blue Laws when America closed down on Sundays.  While it can be inconvenient for travelers (finding a place for lunch was annoying), and sometimes the streets feel like creepy ghost towns, I think it’s a beautiful testament to the power of faith.  I honestly wish we in America could return to an honoring of the (Sunday) Sabbath instead of scheduling more events, sports, shopping, etc.

My Pilgrimage: June 9

This report is going to be quick because I’m tired, and it works because we are not allowed to write about part of our day.  I will start by saying that my ankle was nearly back to normal when I woke up, so I had no problems walking around today.  Yeah!  So it was an introduction to archeology day, where we visited Magdala, our site for excavation next week.  They have uncovered a 1^st Century Synagogue there, with a one of a kind find.  In it was a large stone carved to represent the Temple.  Speculation is it may have served as a secondary Temple site.  They have a substantial chapel there, which I have mixed feelings about.  Two things, specifically.  They have icons for the twelve apostles, including Judas.  Now, they say “it’s not an icon,” and he does not have a halo, but the background is still gold, which does represent heaven (“we are not going to condemn him”).  I’m not a fan of that.  If you want to represent him, maybe a green background or something, but not gold!  Second, the altar is a boat.  It’s tacky and not really appropriate.  But I digress.  It should be a good place to dig.  Also, I met an Aggie there on a separate pilgrimage.  He’s a senior, so quite young, but still nice to talk with another Aggie (we’re everywhere).

Recreation of the Temple stone

Frescoes on the Synagogue walls

The objectionable Judas is the second closest image

We came back to the hotel for a picnic lunch and a tiny break before heading back out.  In the afternoon, we visited the 1^st Century boat uncovered in the Sea of Galilee.  It’s pretty cool to think that, while there is no way to connect it directly with Jesus, it’s probably similar to what they would have used.  We then took a short ride out on the Sea of Galilee on a boat.  It was neat to see some of the sites from a new perspective, while imagining the number of times Jesus and the apostles would have sailed on those same waters.

Our boat

Mount of Beatitudes

Arbel Cliff on left

We then had Mass at a Crusader church called St. Peter’s.  It’s very close to our hotel down on the seashore.  It’s a nice little church, and continues to have daily Mass.  We even noticed they have a Mass on Sunday in Russian.  Some of the details were pretty cool, including windows behind the altar that are keys.

My Pilgrimage: June 8

Today was an early day: Mass at the Primacy of Peter at 8:00.  This is a site, next door to Tabgha, where the Resurrected Jesus appeared to the Apostles as they were fishing, and three times asks Peter if he loves Him.  It’s a nice location, right on the Sea of Galilee, though I’m still not used to Mass outdoors.  After a quick stay, we packed in the cars and headed north, about as north as you can get in Israel.

Our first stop was Tel Dan.  This was an unusual stop because we went not for the ancient ruins but to get a sense of the nature.  It was quite unexpected.  The Dan River (which flows into the Jordan) runs through this area and creates a lush forest, almost jungle-like.  I have to say this was the most beautiful (natural) place we have been in Israel.  Again it was supposed to be a quick stop, but on the map I saw something I had to seek out: “Pooh Bear’s Tree.”  So while the other were enjoying a wading pool, I detoured to find this tree.  Along the way, I briefly stopped at an overlook and saw a trench system used by the Israeli forces in 1967.  Then I found it: a large tree with a sign in front of it of Winnie the Pooh.  The tree itself was neat, but not necessarily worth the extra hike.  Oh well.  On the way back, I got caught in a large tourist group with Southern accents.  I asked where they were from: Virginia.  After some good-natured ribbing about our SEC schools (Tennessee fans) I pushed my way through them and made it back to the rest of our group.  On to the next stop!

Pooh Bear's Tree (notice the sign)

Even further north and east was Banias and Caesarea Philippi.  Banias was the site of an ancient temple to the god Pan, where water used to gush out of the cliff and formed another tributary for the Jordan.  It is also mentioned in the Gospel when Jesus asks “who do you say that I am?”  The context brings fuller meaning, as you stand below a cliff face full of monuments to pagan gods.

This was also the site of Caesarea Philippi, a city built up by Herod Agrippa with a substantial palace.  We could have hiked up another trail to see the Crusader fortress of Nimrod, but did not due to a) the heat and b) my other Crusaders partner is still sick at the hotel.  So we settled for another picnic lunch.  We thought about stopping off for a dip in the Jordan River on the way back, but decided against it for today because a) the heat and b) this afternoon three Jewish families have agreed to host us (in three groups) for dinner and to see what their lives are like.  It should be a good experience.

Agrippa's Palace

Well, I’m back.  I was wrong, it wasn’t for dinner, but it was simply supposed to be a two hour visit (4:00-6:00) with maybe some appetizers.  Our family was a bit out of the city, so it took about 20 minutes to get there.  The lady who was there was very nice, and had a lot of food for us.  She had no idea about time, so we were there well past 6:00.  We actually left some time after 7:00, and she decided to take the scenic route back (with a nice view for a picture), so we got back around 8:00.  Again, they were very nice, and we talked about life here as well as the big question of why would someone want to be a priest?  They also made a very good tea with fresh herbs crushed in it.  I think the only reason why we eventually left is that she saw some of us were getting tired.  Speaking of which, I think I need to get to bed soon.  The heat (and driving) really takes it out of you.

Oh, one more thing.  At our last stop, I slipped on the trail and slightly rolled my ankle.  It hurt a little bit, but the pain basically went away as we walked and even as I drove back (my right ankle, so driving foot).  After I got back, did some laundry, and showered, I sat down on the bed to write the blog.  When I got up to go down for our meeting, it started to hurt.  I’m hoping it’s nothing big, but I have some ice on it and I took some ibuprofen.  Praying I’ll be good to go tomorrow.