Tuesday the boat didn't arrive in Limassol, Cyprus until 1:00pm. So, we spent the morning hanging out by the pool and we played in a ping pong tournament. Ping Pong in the wind is tricky. I even beat a really good player because the wind was so bad. The person standing on one side of the table won every game. It was fun though.
When we got to cyprus we wanted to go snorkeling again. So, we asked around where the best beach was and people told us about one a few miles out of town. So we took a cab there and I guess it was an ok beach, not for snorkeling though. The water was really murky, so no visibility. So, instead we all took a nice long nap and read books. Then headed back to the boat. I didn't do very good taking pictures that day. There wasn't really anything to take pictures of.
Thursday morning at 6:00am we arrived in Haiffa, Israel. We had arranged previously to have a guide Moshe pick us up at the port to take us to Jerusalem for a tour. He was there when we got off the boat at 6:30 and drove us to Jerusalem. Our first stop was the Garden Tomb. For a long time the tomb where Jesus Christ was laid was believed to be at another location, the Holy Sepulcher Then this place was discovered. So, they say this could be the possible place of the crucifixion and resurrection. The rocks in the cliff look as though they could be a skull, hence the name Golgotha. Our guide couldn't "guide" us in here because they have their own guides. So our guide took our little group, us 3 and another couple to a place where we could see the cliff. He talked about how it looks like a skull in the cliff. Then he talked about how it doesn't matter if this is the place or the Holy Sepulcher is the place it doesn't matter. What matters is that Christ lived and died for us and that he lives again. It was a very touching testimony.
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| Picture of their picture of the cliff looking like a skull. |
He them took us down by the tomb and let us go inside of it. It was really little and very interesting to hear about tombs and the burial process.
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| love this sign! |
This is similar to a rock that would have been in front of the tomb. There were tracks where the rock would be rolled in front of the opening, or to the side for access to the tomb.
I loved how peaceful the Garden Tomb was. It may not be where Jesus Christ was resurrected, but you could feel the spirit here. The guides do a great job of making it a peaceful place for contemplation.
After the Garden tomb we went to the top of the Mount across from the old city of Jerusalem. The wall around the city is huge. It was a good place to get a good view.
After that we drove to the Garden of Gethsemane. This is where they believe that Christ performed the atonement. There were olive trees everywhere. Everywhere something significant is believed to have happened a church is built. So, there was a church here too.
After we walked through the "Garden of Gethsemane" we followed the advice of one of Eric's friends and walked back up the road a ways and followed a path and found the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden. The church owns this olive grove/garden. We sat in here and walked around and just thought about Christ and his life and death. You could feel the spirit here and it was amazing to just think we were walking where Jesus Christ had walked.
After the Garden Moshe drove us to the city and parked. We walked through the Zion gate and the Jewish Quarter. It was fun to see the Jewish kids going to Torah and all the Jewish families(with all their kids.) Made us miss all our kids. We actually would have maybe fit in here:) We waited in line and got to go on top of the Temple Mount. It was amazing to see how big it was. From the Mountain across the valley it just looked like the top of a wall, but it was really big. It is considered very sacred and they even asked me to cover my shoulders(I had on a short sleeved shirt), so I used Kelsi's blanket as a shaul.
After Temple Mount we walked through the Gate of the Cotton Merchants and down a street that would have been a market. It is still a market. There are people selling everything!
Then we went to see the Western Wall, Jewish people come here to pray. They separate and men go to one side and Women the other. The Western Wall is an ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard. It was considered to be closes to the holy of holies, so it is beneficial to pray there. So, we separated and I covered my head and went to the area where the women were praying. Some were seated in desks reciting prayers quietly, or reading in a book reciting prayers, some were writing their prayers and putting them in the crevices of the wall. Kelsi was being a little noisy, so I didn't stay long. I felt like I was intruding on something very sacred to them and Kelsi was very distracting. It was interesting to watch the Jewish people though. It was something that they took very seriously. Many of them would not turn their back on the wall. They would walk backwards until they were a long ways from the wall before they turned around to walk away. The boys also had to cover their heads with a Kippuh. They wrote their prayers and put them in the cracks.
After the Western wall we walked down the Via Dolorosa. This is the path Jesus was believed to have walked carrying the cross. They have numbers(and churches of course) at all the places where something happened. 14 of them. Where He fell, or where He encountered Mary, his mother, or where he fell again, or where someone carried the cross for him. We went in a few of the churches. One of them was where Jesus encountered Mary. There was a picture and I wish I would have taken a picture of it, but it made me realized how hard it must have been for Mary to see her son carrying his own cross that he would be crucified on. I have thought about it before, but to be there, where it happened.
We went up onto the top of a building and could see the different parts of the old city. It was a great view.
Then we continued our walk up the Via Dolorosa. It was very interesting and commercialized. There are people everywhere selling olive oil, thorn crowns, Nativities and anything else that might be sold as a souvenir. We went into the church that was where Mary was believed to see Jesus as he was carrying the cross.
The last few stations were inside a church. In the church the had the Holy Sepulcher, and the rock where Christ's body was believed to have been laid in the tomb. It was interesting to see so many people there. They would wait in line for hours to see inside the Holy Sepulcher. Many people were kneeling next to the rock and touching it, or praying, or crying and touching all their souvenirs to it. Our guide explained that many of them had saved and dreamed of coming on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and it was a very moving, touching experience for them. I thought every thing was amazing and very interesting. It was very moving to be where Christ was, but I am so glad for the knowledge I have that I don't have to go back to Jerusalem to be baptized, or being there isn't going to bring me more blessings than someplace else. I am glad I have been taught to worship Jesus Christ and try to live more like him. Not that I am perfect, or even close to living like Jesus Christ did, but I love the knowledge I have that I can keep trying. That I can pray to my loving Heavenly Father wherever, whether it is in Jerusalem, in the Garden of Gethsemane, wherever and know that my prayers are answered. I love that I can go to the temple and feel the Spirit and Love of my Heavenly Father and learn how to live more like Jesus Christ. These things are what really matter to me.
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| Holy Sepulcher |
After walking the Via Delarosa we went to eat some Falaffel. It was interesting to see the people in uniform everywhere. There was a big ceremony happening that night that they were setting up for. It was for all the boys who were just joining the army. Our guide said they were marching like 50 miles and they would have the ceremony that night. At one point we saw a group of about 100 of them running through the city. It would have been a little scary if we didn't have our guide and know what was going on. Just 100 boys with guns running down the road.
The falaffel was yummy. The little balls are falaffel. We go it in a pita with hummus, french fries, onions and lettuce.
Blake wanted to talk with some of the people in the army.
After Falaffel we went to the BYU Jerusalem center, but it was closed. It would have been the perfect place to watch the sun set. Because it was closed our guide agreed to take us to the dead sea. The drive was crazy. I haven't ever seen anything like it. When they say desert, they mean desert. There were big mountains of just desert. Nothing but sand.
At the dead sea they were just closing, but they knew our guide so they let us in for free as long as we didn't go swimming. There were people still in the water. It was crazy to watch, they would just lay on their backs and float. It looked like they were sitting on the bottom of the sea, with their arms and feet up out of the water. They were floating though. Not sitting. It was really muddy too. Some people had a hard time walking out of the water because it was so muddy, others were smearing the mud all over them. I guess it has medicinal purposes. Hard to believe because it smelled really bad like the yucky black mud. The salt is supposed to be great too. They sell all kinds of dead sea products there.
After the dead sea we went back to the boat to sleep. It was a LONG drive. Kelsi screamed and screamed and wouldn't stop. So a drive that was supposed to be 2 hours took about 3 and a half. We tried to stop and calm her down a few times and she would stop for a little while, then we would get in the car and she would scream again. Feeding didn't help, pooping helped a little, eventually she fell asleep, but it was a hard drive with a screaming baby. We loved our tour of Jerusalem and were so glad we had a guide to drive us and show us all the important places and worry about the driving and parking aspect of things.
The next day we went to where Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, and to the where he taught the sermon on the mount. Both places were very peaceful and it was so nice to just contemplate the life of Jesus Christ and his teachings.
After these we headed to the River Jordan, where it is believed to be where Christ was baptized. The place is very commercialized and they let you rent clothing so you can swim or be baptized. It was a beautiful place. I don't think I ever pictured it like that. The water was so clear and blue though. I pulled up my dress and the boys pulled up their pants and we waded in. There were all these little tiny fish that would come nibble on your legs and feet. They boys were kinda freaked out and wouldn't stand still in the water without screaming. I thought it was more like one of the fish pedicures, for free:) It was fun to stand and watch everyone's reaction when they got in the water and the fish started nibbling on them.
Then our cab driver took us to the top of a mountain so we could see a long ways. He explained where jerusalem was, and all the surrounding countries.
On the way back we were tired. 2 days of getting up at 6 wiped us out. It was totally worth it though. We saw so much in only a day and a half. When we got back we enjoyed the sun, the pool, shuffle board, miniature golf, reading, cards and the hot tub with Armen and Maya, and their mom, our German friends.
The next day we got off the boat ready to spend the day at the beach in Zakynthos, Greece, with Armen, Maya and their mom. We had a cab driver take us to where he thought it would be a good place to snorkel. It was a decent beach, but not really for snorkeling. We were disappointed because we had been teaching Armen and Maya how to snorkel in the pool. Blake went for a walk to see if he could find someplace different and came back with a guy saying he would take us out on his boat to a little island that is known for sea turtle nesting. So we jumped in his van and he took us to his boat. We got about 100 yards from shore and his boat stopped. I was a little nervous and Armen and Maya's mom was really nervous. She was worried we would miss the boat. Eventually the boat started again and we made it to the island. Blake and I went snorkeling first, then Eric, Armen and Maya. We were the only people on the island so it was very quiet. We didn't see any sea turtles, but we had fun exploring for a couple hours, then headed back to the main island to take a cab to the port.
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| We saw this awesome beach as we were pulling away from the main Island. If we would have known about this we would have just set up camp here! |
That night we went around taking pictures of all our friends we had made. There was the german family we shared a cab with to go to Taormina, then Armen and Maya's family(also German) These 2 happened to be assigned to the same table at dinner, then the family who sat by us at dinner(also German). Blake also made friends with this older lady who was Italian and had a house in Italy, one in Germany and one in Portugal. She spoke Italian, Portuguese and German and was pretty good at Spanish, which is how her and Blake communicated. She loved him and Kelsi. She even invited us to come stay at her house in Portugal. We tried emailing her, but the email she gave us wouldn't work. We were so bummed. Eric made some friends from England too.
After dinner we went to the show. Every night before the show they would have people doing funny thing for entertainment. This night they wanted me and Blake to help them. So they had us walk down the aisle holding hands and just talking and trying to find a seat. When we walked in front of the stage and were in the middle we turned around and noticed the 2 guys following us and copying everything we did.(they had been following random people and copying them). We turned around and noticed them, then hugged and started to kiss. The audience thought it was hilarious the way to guys following us reacted. One of them(who was gay) was really excited and all for still copying us, the other one was horrified. It was pretty funny.
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| One of Kelsi's many admirers. |
The last day on the boat was at sea and we just spent the day relaxing, playing games and reading.
There are so many things we did on the boat, but I don't have pictures and don't remember which days we did them. One night we got a group together and played the sign game. There were 8 of us playing and it was pretty fun. It was entertaining though because we were the only ones who spoke english as our first language. The rest of them spoke German. So when they thought something was funny, or were explaining something it was all in German.
We would also play 500, sometimes go to dance lessons, or watch other people do dance lessons or competitions. We loved having food available any time. We would enjoy a good breakfast, then snack on pizza throughout the day and have lunch and then in the afternoon they would have salads and desert. Then after dinner we would sometimes head back upstairs to the buffet for more dessert or to get pizza before bed. We got to be good friends with the people in the restaurant, buffet and pizza area. I don't think they were used to passengers talking to them and paying attention to them. It was fun to hear where they were all from and how long they had been on the boat.
Our waiter at dinner was funny. He was older and seemed very stern. We never figured out if he really didn't like us, or if his personality was just very serious. He thought our eating habits were funny. We didn't ever drink alcohol or anything besides water. Sometimes Blake would just order off the menu they had every day, plain not fancy things, then ask for all the kinds of gelato. He learned Eric liked dessert and would just bring him one of every dessert. One of the nights they served a cake that was on fire. All the waiters walked out with these cakes and marched around with them. Our waiter cut us these huge peaces, because he knew we loved dessert. It looked like a chocolate ice cream cake. We were so excited. We took huge bites and realized it was coffee flavored. Yuck! We tried to swallow as much as we could. Then when we were done and walking around taking pictures of our friends we realized they had so many different flavors of cake. There was chocolate, strawberry, mint, pistaccio. We just happened to get coffee. Bummer:(
Overall we loved going on a cruise. I think it is a fairly inexpensive and stress free way to see lots of different places. I think the most stressful part of traveling is figuring out how to get from place to place, where to stay and where to eat. These things are all done for you and all you have to do is relax and get off the boat to tour when it stops. PERFECT!!!
