Old City Adventures

Second to last day of the dig! As much as I love this and being a real archeologist, it wears me out! I have a lot of respect for people who do this as their career!

It was another pretty uneventful day on the dig which is definitely not a bad thing. It was not nearly as hot so people were pretty stable all day. We had some people come take a tour of the site and other new helpers today too. I did a little sifting today and found this really cool blue gemstone that they used to grind up to make seals for letters. Also, we found part of a stone vessel from the time of Jesus which is super rare. 

Rafi explaining the stone vessel find

Dr. Gibson wasn't here today so we got out a little earlier than normal. After lunch and a shower of course, we set out on a new adventure!

We walked across the top of the old city wall. Yep. You know that wall that surrounds the old city of Jerusalem? I walked on it. It was so cool!!

Map of the wall

On top of Damascus Gate

Where we walk every day

My crazy friend Brad from Alabama jumped down off of the wall to play basketball with some kids and soccer with another group! They loved it and we were praying he didn't get in trouble!

There was some kind of crazy smoke cloud over the city. It freaked us out so I looked it up and the news said it was a brush fire. I'm going to choose to believe that instead of speculating that it might be something scary. 

The walk spit us out in the Muslim quarter so we made our way over to the Western Wall. I took some pictures up close so that you can see what it's like up there. Of course I also put my prayer in the wall again this year. 

We did some shopping on our way home and stopped at a local place for dinner. I had a dish called foul (pronounced like fool) that is deliciously filled with garlic and tomatoes. We could also watch the World Cup on the big screen. 

Foul: looks gross but tastes incredible

And what's the best way to end a ridiculously long day in Israel?

With ice cream cones of course.

We had a fantastic day and I'm glad we got to do some new things!

Kevin Doing Nothing:

Taking a selfie with me almost counts as something...

Dig Week 2 Day 3

Good morning everyone!

It's early afternoon here and I'm all clean and laid up resting because I am beat! All of this walking and digging is wearing me out!

Today was fairly uneventful which really isn't a bad thing. I did take one person back to the hotel early in the day but that let me have a nice peaceful walk back to the dig. 

No one in Jerusalem wants to get up early like us

Basically there was a lot of moving dirt, pick axing and sifting going on without too much to show which makes for a long hard day. We have filled up tons of bags of dirt so far and Dr. Tabor made himself at home doing work since nothing exciting was happening. 

Bags of dirt

We had a fantastic lunch like usual at the hotel and now we're cleaned up and resting. Tonight is another lecture and I don't think I'm doing anymore walking today! This trip is wrapping up fast!!

Kevin Doing Nothing:

Kitty Visitor!

So I guess I probably shouldn't have told you that is was chilly here the last couple of days...today we got the heat back...

Our walk to the dig was wonderful and we made a new friend! We always have a kitty welcoming committee outside of the Zion Gate in the mornings but this guy decided to keep coming with us

We talked with him and played as he followed us and we thought he moved on after we went in the fence but no! Mr. Kitty decided to join us on the dig today! He slept on the rocks and played as we got going. It was super fun!

I had to take someone who was sick back to the hotel so I did some extra walking today but the man bringing us breakfast was nice enough to drive me back to the dig so I didn't have to walk it again. Lots of people were struggling with the heat today so I definitely had my hands full. 

Others were just plain silly. 

The rest of the day went pretty smooth at the dig and then we left for the day. Yayy!!

Then was the highlight of my day. No my entire trip. 

Harry

Harry is the Armenian pottery man that we met last year. We stopped by his shop and got to see him today. He remembered me and was so kind and funny. I had so much fun catching up with him and buying pottery of course! He makes me so happy and I am so thrilled I got to see him again. 

Guess what we spent this evening doing...

Shopping! Duhh!

Now we're all beat and going to bed! This week is going so fast!!!

Kevin Doing Nothing:

Back to the Grind

4am came mighty early again today. The couple extra hours of sleep we had the last few days really made a huge difference! We got back on the digging schedule again today. Lots of people didn't come because they were so exhausted. 

It was significantly cooler today which was a nice break but it was almost chilly after so many days of burning up. The high was only about 75 degrees and we've been near 100 since we got here. 

There's nothing really that happened on the dig today that was super exciting. Dr. Gibson did some digging which was surprising and no one got hurt or injured. The alpha males on the dig rolled a huge rock from the top structure to the ground which was pretty cool! I posted a video on Facebook so you can see it but I was quite impressed. I spend most of the day catching up with old friends from the dig last year and hanging out with Muhhamed. 

Dr. Gibson digging

Discussing what to do with the big rock

Selfie with Muhhamed

We had a male from an orthodox group lurking around so we had to lock the gate to the dig site. Apparently he would pretend to be an archaeologist and then get inside and not leave while he yelled at you for digging. Luckily we didn't see him today. 

Tonight was a lecture from Dr. Tabor that was very interesting about the tombs he's found including the tomb of the shroud that I went inside last year. I plan on being in bed early tonight since we are digging and touring tomorrow but first, we're going for dinner at the same place we've gone for the last two nights!

Kevin Doing Nothing:

Judean Desert

Remember how I said it's been hot this week in Jerusalem? 

I take it all back. We went to the Judean Desert in the West Bank today and that is the hottest I've ever been in my entire life. Except for maybe last year when we went. The heat on top of Masada is what I would imagine hell would feel like. 

We set out early this morning for a tour around the desert and started with Masada. Masada is a giant desert mountain with the ruins of King Herod's palace on too. When the Romans took over Jerusalem, 950 Jews fled here for refuge and eventually committed suicide instead of being captured. I posted many pictures on my Dead Sea day post last year but here's just a few from today:

Tabor teaching in the ancient synagogue

Ruins of the Roman camp below

Dr. Tabor and I at the top of Masada. Clearly he was thrilled to take a picture...

We left from the blazing hot top of Masada and headed to the Dead Sea for a couple of hours. This is such a cool experience and we had so much fun on the beach. 

Our group in the water

We left the Dead Sea and headed to Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. Dr. Tabor pretended to be a dead Esscene and raise from the dead when the Messiah (Butch) came. 

The gift shop at Qumran was fantastic so we spent a good amount of time there shopping before heading back to the city.  This was a picture of what our shoes did to our feet after a day of touring the desert. 

We finished the day with a fantastic dinner with Dr. Tabor at a restaurant around the corner from our hotel. This is really one of my favorite days of the entire trip because we learn so much and get to do so many cool things. 

Kevin Doing Nothing:

2 classes and an alum of the Levine Program on the beach at the Dead Sea!

Final Days of Jesus

Today is one of my favorite days of this trip. This is the day that Dr. Tabor takes us on a tour of where Jesus would have gone in his final days. And naturally we go backwards. Dr. Tabor is an incredible tour guide and the sites we see just give me goosebumps to my toes. 

We started the day at the top of the Mount of Olives. 

The view here is absolutely stunning. There is nothing quite like looking down across the Kidron Valley at the entire city of Jerusalem. It's a fantastic place to take pictures and there's even a camel up there that you can ride but we didn't have enough time today to do that. This is such a significant place as it is and Dr. Tabor will argue that it is even the place where Jesus is crucified. I'd love to get into that but it'll take all night. Check out his book for an explanation: The Final Days of Jesus!

Too close for comfort Mr. Camel

Dr. Tabor read passages out of the Bible to us as we took in the view of the city and he explaine the Biblical significance of the sight in relation to Jesus' last days. I so appreciate it when Dr. Tabor breaks out his Bible and makes the sight and stories come to life. 

We walked down the Mount of Olives following the path that Jesus would have ridden the donkey to the city on and walked when he visited. Of course we stopped at the Garden of Gethsemane again. I always underestimate how moving of a place this is until I am there. It's like if you close your eyes and be silent, you can almost feel what it was like the night Jesus came to pray and was arrested. I felt so moved as I laid my hands on the ancient bedrock inside the church. 

We crossed the Kidron Valley and went to the City of David to do Hezekiahs Tunnel again. For those of you who may not have seen this in my blog last year, Hezekiahs Tunnel is an underground water shaft that Jerusalem got their water from in the ancient times. When King David was running from his son Absalom, he states that he longs for a sip of this water. I walked through that again. This year, I came much more prepared and had a flashlight so I didn't slam my head against the walls the entire time like last time. Check out my older posts to see pictures from last year too. 

Going into the tunnel:

Jamie and me inside the tunnel. 

We had lunch in the Jewish quarter and moved on to see the room of the last supper and King David's Tomb. Our last stop of the day was at the Praetorium of Pontius Pilate. This is the location where Jesus would have stood and received his judgement and death sentence from Pilate and the people. It's incredible to stand on the bedrock that Jesus stood on when he was sentenced to death. To imagine what it must have been like to have been there stopped all of us in our tracks. Jesus spent his final days before crucifixion at that spot. There are even thorn bushes that would have been used to make the crown of thorns. 

Thorns

Even though I saw this place last year, I was still profoundly moved by the imagery. I can't believe I can actually stand there. 

That was the last stop on our tour and since it's the Sabbath here, we're pretty much in for the night. I'm writing this from the rooftop terrace and enjoying my view of the very quiet city. 

Shabbat Shalom everyone

Kevin Doing Nothing: