Day 17

SATURDAY 26th DECEMBER
Synopsis of day: Sepphoris and Nazareth while Blergh.

Spiritual Sites visited: Nazareth.

Biblical Connections: Sepphoris was the largest city in the Galilee in the time of Christ, and it is possible Joseph or even Jesus found work there. Nazareth kind of speaks for itself.

Highlight of the day: Like Kerri, the mosaics in the house at Sepphoris were standout. However, I really also did feel true joy when I made it to a bathroom in Nazareth.

Lowlight of the day: Feeling blergh for most of the day, and that 'broken calf' is becoming more troublesome.

Favourite quote/word: “SHHHHHH... Silence .... SHHHHHHHHHH” from the loudspeaker at the Church of the Annunciation, one of the guards was periodically trying to remind pilgrims that silence was required. It seemed many forgot every few seconds.

Favourite photo:

Mosaic of a woman at Sepphoris

Cultural-shock moment: We went into the largest supermarket we'd seen in Israel. It was really crowded but kind of fun, and we found the gluten free section! Kerri bought what looked like a chocolate yoghurt and ended up being a diet soy pudding which neither of us could stomach. The breads were all in baskets and you could just grab them with your hand to put in paper. There were so many products that we'd never seen before, and there were a lot of things we recognised as American products. Most probably for the expatriates.
New food consumed: A mixed berry fruit compote and yoghurt which was great, and a spoonful of Kerri's ick pudding.
Favourite purchase: Entry to the toilet.

The thing I lost today: Nothing, I just kept * finding * things that I needed to pack.

Random act of crazy: I punched myself in the head accidentally and my one of my reading glasses' lens fell out.

What Arthur did next: We can't remember.

Something I want to remember: Those mosaics were cool.

 I wasn't feeling well today in various places, needed to visit toilets far too often and was generally feeling bad, This meant that I wasn't nearly as excited by Sepphoris and Nazareth as I could have been, I really would have preferred to be back at the Pilgerhaus reading a book. But I figure you can't come to Israel on a Holy Land study tour and not see Nazareth. Thankfully the Church of the Annunciation there was much nicer than the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem but there were less ownership issues. We were confronted by some large banners from the local Moslems which were strongly worded and directed at Christians.

View of the modern city. Towards the centre is a black dome, the Church of the Annunciation.

Inside the dome.

Nifty lights.

Stained glass window.

A statue of Mary where *she* is bruising the serpent with her heel.

Part of an explanation for the exterior. Is this a word?

 In Nazareth we also got to go into the Sisters of Nazareth convent which was an enormous change from the busyness of the Church of the Annunciation.

We got to go underground and see the remains of a C1 tomb, which was far more like what Joseph of Arimathea's tomb would have looked like.

Earlier in the day we went to Sepphoris, which was the largest city in the Galilee region at the time of Christ. There was an important synagogue there which had zodiac signs in it, and further uphill, a Crusader outpost which had significant connections to a loss to Saladin. The most interesting things in Sepphoris were the multitude of mosaics, especially one in a wealthy Jewish house near the top of the hill.

It was largely devoted to Dionysian depictions, but also had a beautiful female face on it. Gila said the blush on the woman's face had 17 different shades and I know it was Kerri's highlight, and it was just lovely. There were more mosaics down in the business district area of the city, including one about Egypt which was large and topical for some of us.

 As this was our last evening in Israel we had some packing to do, and my bag has reached seriously heavy levels once more.

Day 16 - Christmas Day

FRIDAY 25th DECEMBER



Synopsis of day: Christmas!

Highlight of the day: Sleeping in and not having to walk up a billion stairs. Also getting to watch some Arabic TV.

Lowlight of the day: Missing out on the cheese bread and other traditions with family at home.

Favourite quote/word: “Can we have some more hommous?”

Favourite photo:

Kerri, Mary and myself at lunch. Ros is looking on.

 Cultural-shock moment: Christmas Day. Was not a public holiday. The restaurant owner asked us if we were having a party when we turned up for lunch. (However, it was the start of the Sabbath, so part way through the day, the town died and almost everything shut. Honestly, Sabbath is not a time for doing anything money related!)

New food consumed: A Middle Eastern Christmas lunch of different salads, shish kebabs, pita and a very liberal amount of wine. Eggplant is really good round here.

Favourite purchase: Lunch.

The thing I lost today: The traditions of a Christmas at home.

Random act of crazy: The group's festive cheer with a bunch of them acting out the words of Christmas carols (Tricia's interpretations were hysterical). Also Mary, Mary and Tricia's attempt at dancing Hava na gila, the Hebrew song we've been making very poor attempts at learning on the bus.

What Arthur did next: Didn't turn up to our Christmas gathering. So he ended up getting his own KK present.

Something I want to remember: the Christmas mass in German.



The Tabgha Pilgerhaus where we have been staying in Galilee seems to be connected to the Benedictine Monastery of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes. They are about a ten minute walk apart from each other, and each has a distinctly German feel. Consequently the late service that we went to was conducted mostly in German. It was not nearly as cold outside at night as I was expecting but we arrived rugged up, to the sound of a bagpipe playing (Kerri says this is traditional but it struck me as being a bit strange with the German thing). It was really cool though to hear it through the night as we got closer to the church. Within the church there was an enormous pine tree decked in fairy lights, and some smaller ones too. These lights were not flashing and tacky like other ones we had encountered. There was a huge iron circle raised above the altar with candles on it but all of the other places were lighted artificially despite the space for candles being there too. The church itself was a lot like the crusader church of St. Anne in Jerusalem which was my favourite to date, because there was no ornamentation on the walls, just the stone. It was much smaller though, and to the right was an organ with a very talented baritone Benedictine man playing. I could have listened to him for a long time, and he led a lot of the Latin songs so he soloed often. Yay. He played as well, but added to some of the familiar tunes so that made them a bit harder to sing to at times. Kerri was bothered by this more than me.



We all had access to the German prayerbooks and order of service and some of the carols were in a combination of German and English verses. Silent Night in mostly German verses (it was originally German anyway) was rather a highlight. I enjoyed making up the sounds for the German to sing along. It was much easier to do this with the familiar tunes, in some that we didn't know, rather than following in the hymn book we just listened. There were altar kids with incense all over the place, nuns and deacons up the front and a priest who did about 95% of the service in German or Latin (we were welcomed and farewelled in English). I was not expecting it to go for as long as it did, and with the lateness of the hour and the aroma of the incense, staying awake past one o'clock was formidable, and the service finished around half past one, two hours later. Afterwards I went to the front and took some photographs of the famous mosaic in the church, which we have seen images of all around Israel.



We awoke earlier than we would have liked and were very disappointed that there was no special effort in the meals at the Pilgerhaus. Because I really enjoy watching foreign tv we went to the tv room and watched some tv for the first time in over a fortnight. There were over 400 channels (no, seriously) and we had quite a few giggles at some of the acting,and identified a number of different languages. The music videos and soapies seemed to be the most bizarre of the shows and we had fun flicking through and trying to work out what was going on. We settled after a bit by watching a German telemovie about Briar Rose (knowing the storyline helps you understand a lot!). We had to leave it early because of the timing for our lift to Tiberias.



The group of thirteen who went in all decided to go out for lunch together and we had a lively time. There were so many spreads of different foods and the wine was very convivial (I'm used to soft drinks and water at dinner but there has been so much wine on this trip!). We were there a few hours and because it was the Sabbath, by the time we left, most of the shops were closed. We did walk through part of the shopping district but apart from some tacky rings and hair clips we only bought drinks before catching a taxi back. Kerri slept while watching a dvd on Muhammed and I read a trashy British magazine we'd bought the day before as a treat before our 6pm group gathering for the KK presents and singing and food. Clearly there had been a liberal amount of alcohol amongst the group because there was far too much giddiness and lack of inhibition in the Christmas Carol re-enactments and Jewish dancing. I received a wall plaque which said Jerusalem as my gift which I was pretty content with. After dinner we did our usual journalling and internet above the reception before heading off for bed. All in all, a very different Christmas from what I have been accustomed to.

Day 15

THURSDAY 24th DECEMBER
Synopsis of day: Stuff around Galilee
Spiritual Sites visited: Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Church of the Primacy of Peter, Bethsaida,

Biblical Connections:Sermon on the Mount, Capernaum, Traditional site of the breakfast by Galilee, Bethsaida, a 2000 year old fishing boat.

Highlight of the day: The boat ride we took on Galilee to Tiberias at twilight.

Lowlight of the day: LUNCH.

Favourite quote/word: “There was mild to moderate rejoicing”

Favourite photo:

Cultural-shock moment: Gila warned us at the site at Bethsaida not to stray at all from the paths because there were unidentified land mines all around. New food consumed: LUNCH

Favourite purchase: The Bethlehem Herald newspapers I'd read about in the SMH.

The thing I lost today: My memory card – but I knew that I had just left it in Jules from the night before. All photos therefore come courtesy of Kerri's camera.

Random act of crazy: LUNCH. Also the Nigerians who wanted photos of Kerri and the nun who wanted her phone number.

What Arthur did next: Thought the price of a prayer shawl at the Galilee Boat museum was a good price (Kerri and I had got some much cheaper in Jerusalem). The evening before, we had a meeting and I think Arthur was trying to be troublesome because he was asking the sort of questions someone who has not grappled with studies of religion before (and he also was unaware of any secondary evidence for the existence of Christ outside the Bible – honestly, at Masters level theology this should be pre-requisite knowledge! - there were a number of gaping expressions from others when he spoke). Later in the evening he was talking for hours with people about how he thought the lecturers were being heretical. He is such a teapot stirrer.

Something I want to remember: I ate a fish! Also the church at Capernaum is cool.



We started off our morning at a lovely site which formed a natural amphitheatre and therefore is a likely spot for the location of the Sermon on the Mount. In the early brisk morning mist it was a charming place to look down the hills towards Galilee. The environment is quite a contrast from the buildings of Jerusalem, and many people have been commenting on how they enjoy it more here. I feel a little more torn because I think I had such a positive response to Jerusalem, but admittedly I shouldn't like to live there for an extended period.

 A church had been built there more recently and it had a rotunda like design and peephole type windows which opened out onto the view. Inside the church was a bit busy because a busload of Nigerians had arrived. Our attention was of course drawn to the nativity scene in the church, because a woman was decorating the manger with sparkling fairy lights (the amount of tacky in this nation is high).

Jesus with sparkly.

As we were departing from the church a group of Nigerians accosted Kerri and wanted to have their photos taken with her. It got especially bemusing when they kept taking photos including different people too (such as the person who had taken the original pictures). As we were walking out the woman who had been part of the photos asked Kerri for her number. We were a bit reluctant but ended up giving an email address.

The serenity here was lovely.

Our next location, Capernaum (which at the gate was labelled as Capharnaum) surprised me because I was excpecting something smaller and less interesting. The site itself is divided between the Greek Orthodox church and the Franciscans but the property of the latter was what we saw. It was one of the towns cursed by Jesus (Matthew 11) because of its disbelief. It was discovered in 1838 by Edward Robinson (who discovered a number of Holy Land sites) but not conclusively proven to be this township until the 1960s. We read the account in Mark 2 of the opening of the roof for the lowering of the paralytic man (makes more sense when you envisage a mud brick roof) and also saw the building that was the house of Peter's mother-in-law (I missed the explanation for why this was definitely the site). The church constructed to commemorate this was different from earlier ones in that it had a far more modern design (I think Kerri got pics of that) and was built on stilts. The most interesting thing about this church was that when inside it,, there was a glass platform in the centre that the rest of the church was built around. The glass gave a view of the architectural remains and the church itself because of the colour scheme and prevalence of glass felt like a very open and inviting building.

We were really impressed with it, but I was a bit entertained by the fact that the Jesus in the nativity scene was missing, and Mary and the others were looking adoringly at an empty space. Of course we had to leave the place quickly but we did have the chance to see some native animals (right by the water, a seeming cross between an otter and a seal and a rabbit) and non-native animals (some very cute kittens – there are very few dogs around but you see roaming cats at times, and usually in multiples.

There was a synagogue there which dated from C4 and it was here that Gila explained some things about them. I wasn't aware that they were a development of community gathering probably inspired by the Babylonians, and had just figured them as the local places of worship, frequented by the Pharisees and other worshippers of Judaism, where the laws, esp the Torah, would be read aloud. There was also a seat of Moses within the synagogue, where the law would be read from (we had learned earlier in the day that is was a belief that a person teaching with greater authority would be seated [and that Jesus sat while giving the Sermon on the Mount]). Mary has a couple of themes she has been repeating throughout the course of the tour, and one is that Jesus conducts himself as the New Moses. This information about the synagogues and Jesus' authority represents that.

We also visited a church by the water, the Church of the Primacy of Peter celebrating the events of John 21. It was very small and not that interesting really, but the wrought iron doors were nifty and the colours of the stained glass windows were vibrant (Kerri got pics).

Our visit to Bethsaida encompassed a number of biblical connections, dating between David and Jesus. One of David's wives, Maacah (a princess), lived here, and Absalom retreated here. In the time of Jesus, it was the home of Peter, Andrew and Philip (John 1:44) and many of the houses within the town, which has only been discovered and excavated since 1987, had implements suggesting it was a town of people who worked as fishermen, despite the current location up in the hills quite a distance from the sea. It was one of the other cursed cities.

Walking on some several thousand year old walkways.

Something else was that it was one of the first places we visited that felt entirely like Australia. This was likely due to the number of eucalyptus trees around. These were planted in the last fifty years after the Turks cut down most of the trees in Israel (though some part of me thinks I have these dates a bit off. Some extensive environmental programs have been occurring since then with a variety of plants that can tolerate the soil.

We were looking forward to the rest of our day, which involved seeing a very old boat, and lunch and a boat trip on Galilee. The lunch ended up being on shore, and although we'd heard about the St. Peters' Fish which is quite a specialty in the region, I wasn't expecting to receive a whole fish on my plate. Now those who know me well, or who have swum with me in places that have fish in them know that I'm actually scared of fish which are not in a tank. It was horrifying to see it's eyes staring at me, and I was convinced all the other eyes were staring at me too. Irrational but needed to be acted on in any case. I decided I was going to challenge myself and try to deal with the fish. I also decided that since this fish had died for me and I'd paid for the meal I was going to have a crack at it. It felt wretched to have to pull apart the carcass with my fork and blade. I covered my fish's head and rearranged cups and places etc so that I couldn't see any fish heads near me, or my fish's tail. Because of the amount of work it took to get all the skin and bones away, and the associated trauma, it felt like there wasn't much and while it tasted alright (though others seemed to be ecstacies over it (Kerri of course included – she managed even less than me) I definitely don't want to do something like that again any time soon. Now go ahead and laugh, I can laugh at it too, but I fully acknowledge the wussiness.

Thankfully things were looking up after that. I found the museum about the boat and its 1985 discovery very interesting (as was watching a short documentary which involved some great 80s fashion). The smell of the boat after its nine year program in a preserving liquid was still noticeable.

After looking at the boat Kerri got me a real mocha (when I'm at home, get me to recount the mocha saga to you) and after finishing that in break note speed, we walked down to the jetty and onto our wooden boat, which was deceptively large. The sun was preparing to set and I was really happy with the shots we got of the sky and the water. It was one of the most enjoyable things we have done to date and the time passed very quickly.

We finished up in Tiberias but had decided we were going to go back there as part of our free time at Christmas, which seemed just as well because the time we are allocated to do things is generally a little less than you'd like!


We stayed up and I spent a while on the phone to Shem and family because it was Christmas morning there, and then we headed off to the Christmas Eve Mass.

Day 14

WEDNESDAY 23rd DECEMBER

Synopsis of day: Journeying around nature AND old rocks instead of just old rocks!
Spiritual Sites visited: Hazor, Tel Dan, Banias 

Biblical Connections: Hazor was the largest Canaanite city when it was razed to the ground by Joshua and was later used in the C8/9. Tel Dan was the site where Jeroboam constructed his capital after the division of Israel and Judah. There was a rather impressive Solomonic gate and city entrance as well as the lovely Dan river, a source for the Jordan. Banias/Caesarea Philippi was probably the site where Jesus asked Simon Peter “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16) and Peter is called the rock.

Highlight of the day: We had a hike around part of Tel Dan and that was really nice because it was a break from architectural sites (we encountered some later there!). Along the way there was a little body of water and the trees reflected perfectly in the water and in photographs. Loved that.

Lowlight of the day: Kerri has a 'broken' kneecap, and I swear I've a broken calf.  

Favourite quote/word: “When I look up, I see clouds. They just find me” Guess who that was.
Favourite photo: Tel Dan reflections

Cultural-shock moment: We went up to the Golan Heights, which has a chequered history of conflict between Israel and Syria. From the lookout where we stopped, you could see the Syrian border over the next hills, and before that was a UN compound and some no-mans-land. We were told not to take photographs from the Israeli direction because of the Israeli spy/army concentration further up the hill. (See What Arthur did next for additional info).

The UN site is the white in the front centre, the buildings in the background were Syrian.

Day 13

TUESDAY 22nd DECEMBER.

Synopsis of day: Bus, site, bus, site, bus, Megiddo, bus, Galilee!

Spiritual Sites visited: Caesarea, Mt Carmel, Megiddo!

Biblical Connections: Acts. 1 Kings. The myriad of Megiddo ones.

Highlight of the day: I liked each of the places we visited, and I really liked taking so many beautiful pictures of Caesarea and Megiddo.

Lowlight of the day: What kind of an hour is 5am for a wake up call? Seriously? Also the hideousness that was the unexpected staircase of horror in the Megiddo water tunnel. Ack!

Favourite quote/word: “So maybe Megiddo isn't quite so awesome as it seemed before” : me during the unexpected staircase of horror in the Megiddo water tunnel interlude.

“Jesus must have been sick fit” : Kerri as we traversed even more mountains on the way to Galilee.

Favourite photo: Some of the first views of the Mediterranean at Caesarea and also some of the palm and cloud ones from Megiddo.

 Cultural-shock moment: That Gila didn't think a disclaimer was necessary for the Megiddo water tunnel staircase of doom.

New food consumed: Lentil soup @ Megiddo.

Favourite purchase: Some teaching materials for Megiddo. I really wanted a Megiddo magnet though :(

The thing I lost today: my interest in Megiddo at about the time I was ready for a nanna nap.

Random act of crazy: The fact that I am known among the group as the one with “a thing for Megiddo.”

What Arthur did next: Ran ahead at Caesarea, stayed behind at the amphitheatre, disappeared when we were looking at the aqueducts and ended up on top of them.

Something I want to remember: Caesarea. (Now you were expecting a certain 'M' word, right?)

Number of times I mention Megiddo in this entry: 14, and that's just the preface.

Jerusalem @6am

This morning, our last in Jerusalem, we experienced the pain that was waking well before sunrise. But it was for a worthy cause, for we were going to Megiddo. Now I probably ought to state that I have only recently acquired knowledge concerning the awesomeness that is Megiddo. I was astounded at how many times the site features in biblical accounts, and interested in its archaeological significance as a continuously occupied site for over three thousand years BC. Kerri has found my references to Megiddo over the past few weeks an increasingly grating experience, so I think she was facing today with more dread than anticipation. (Obviously the awful start time for the day did not help matters).
 In fact, the early awakening contributed to our early fizzling , meaning that from about lunch time onwards, life was just that bit more cumbersome. We drove through Jerusalem and onto Tel Aviv very quickly (and I realise it is pathetic but most of my associations with Tel Aviv are Ziva-related so I figured it was far too dangerous a place to go near :p ). By eight o'clock we had reached Caesarea. I really didn't know much about the site before my arrival there, and ended up deciding that it was a highlight of the trip. Perhaps it was the fact it was our first sight of the Mediterranean, and the gorgeous contrast of the white stone and the blue of the ocean and the sky was stunning, and a contrast from our mountainous sojourning.

 Caesarea features considerably in the New Testament after its creation as a sea port (the largest on the western Mediterranean at the time) by Herod and named for Caesar Augustus. An inscription (the only currently in existence) referring to Pontius Pilate exists, for this was likely a residence for him. It was also here that Cornelius and his family, the first Gentile converts, were baptised by Peter (Acts 10-11). A video we watched called Peter the first Pope, but also drew attention to Paul's connection with the place in later decades. He was placed under house arrest and sent to Rome from here (Acts 23:23, 25:1-13) as well as visiting it over time (9:30; 18:22; 21:8). In the time of Peter and Paul Caesarea would have been a heavily Graeco-Roman place, boasting a large theatre, baths, temples and even a rather impressive hippodrome (circus) by the beach. It was more like a hippodrome in current appearance than the Circus maximus in Rome (I remember being bitterly disappointed by that).

The sea breeze and Roman design completely won me over, and I keep reflecting on how much the Roman lifestyle influenced the lifestyles of those within the provinces. I have taught this multiple times but never really appreciated its extent in areas apart from Gaul and Britannia. Gila was also talking on the bus about the lingua francas of the ancient world, which in the Palestine region seem to have been more affected by the Hellenic tongue than the Latin one. We got to see a video showing reconstructions of the ancient port city. From an academic perspective I enjoyed this more than any of the other audio visual we have had to this point. I especially liked hearing how the underwater blocks were orchestrated, using volcanic material from the Vesuvian region (the joys of trade among the empire). We finished by seeing the aqueducts built by Herod (could he BE any more Roman?) and of course Arthur managed to get on top of them and tramp away from the bus (any time there is a chance to go off course he does). The arches of the aqueduct against the sea were aesthetically stunning. Loved it.

We made our way inland once more, and towards the significant Jezreel valley. We climbed to the top of the Carmelite Monastery of St Elijah which had a fabulous panoramic view of the area.

It was almost a 360 degree view, this only encompasses a portion of it.

A number of people nearly fell asleep as Gila recounted the stories connected to Elijah and the region, the most famous of which being the end of the drought through the challenge to the prophets of Ba'al (1 Kings 18). Gila mentioned that Elijah was known as the “troubler of Israel” and amusingly appointed that new role to Arthur, who took it with good grace (Everyone has noticed his individualistic tendencies and most are bemused about it). The roof of the monastery had a compass like map indicating the direction of significant places around, including Megiddo.

 We set off for Megiddo next, but by the time we arrived, I was really starting to feel tired, and it wasn't until I had an iced tea that I even remotely pepped up. The tell of Megiddo was interesting from a stratigraphic perspective, and although I didn't recognise many of the sites since I hadn't seen that many pictures, I found the place a delight to photograph. The colour of the sky was magnetic against the date palms.

 I decided on the whole that it was not as exciting to view as it was to read about, but there is no doubting that the site has numerous biblical references, as well as being a site of supreme archaeological significance. I liked the place but probably because of how much I had enjoyed Caesarea earlier, and my increasing somnolence, it wasn't as thrilling as my other favourite Yadin excavation site, Masada.

Megiddo's favour in my eyes also had a cataclysmic moment when as part of our departure, we followed the steps of the water tunnel of Ahaz. While the first steps were steep I managed them without difficulty. That changed when the style of stairs altered, and instead of concrete we were faced with grated metal stairs. As these were probably still thirty metres from the base of the tunnel, looking down made me feel a bit queasy. Kerri did really well because she is worse with heights than me. Gila is incredibly fit and it seems like we never stop trudging except when she is lecturing, so by the time we had slowly made our way down the steps those in front of us had walked the whole distance of the tunnel to the now tepid springs.

Looking straight down was the awful bit, the rest was okay.

Though the view of water at the bottom was totally not worth it!

The memory of that staircase has somewhat soured my memory of Megiddo, but at least I still have lots of pretty pics!






We journeyed on to Galilee from there and again there were more hills than I had anticipated. Israel is not a land of (goat's) milk and (date) honey for me, instead it is a place of mountains and staircases. We arrived at our new home for the next five days at Pilgerhaus Tabgha, a German (Benedictine I think)? 'pilgrim's house'. It has been delightful so far, and I got to have fresh gluten-free bread for the first time in weeks, while they served poor Kerri-Anne a complete fish (in Kerri's words, “who serves vegetarians fish with their heads on?”) which had a quite a pungent smell. Bed that evening was a welcome relief.

Day 12

MONDAY 21st DECEMBER



Synopsis of day: A final visit in Jerusalem.


Biblical Connections: It was called the citadel of David but that was only because the Jews seemed to be Herod “Baby Killer” the Great haters, and to name something after him because he built it was less de rigeur (Herodium the apparent exception to the rule).

Highlight of the day: The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.

Lowlight of the day: Discovering a section of Jerusalem on Jaffa Rd which was very shop friendly, walking distance and which would have been awesome to find out about much earlier than our last night!
Favourite quote/word: From one of the walls in Yad Vashem. “Under the circumstances, Australia can do no more... as we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one”
Australia's delegate to the Evian Conference, T. W. White, July 1938. This was in response to a call to increase Jewish migration, and I think amply reveals the rose coloured view of Australia's race relations. The irony is enormous.

Favourite photo:

Clouds and old buildings. What's not to like?

Cultural-shock moment: When I studied Germany as a modern history unit, or covered the holocaust as part of “Briar Rose” with 12 Standard, they were from outsider perspectives. The museum was from a Jewish perspective, and while I knew a lot of the information already, this different, and deeply affected viewpoint, made the information even more engaging.

New food consumed: McDonalds thickshake, Israeli style!

Favourite purchase: A guidebook for the Yad Vashem museum. I enjoyed and appreciated the museum too much not to.

The thing I lost today: A sizeable portion of my purchases, which I posted home! Also we found the missing swipe card. KERRI HAD IT!!!!

Random act of crazy: The multiple security checks. Even to go into Maccas!

What Arthur did next: Ignored time schedules and stayed on at the citadel of David.

Something I want to remember: The number of folders in the Room of Remembrance in the Museum. There were close to 5000, each with data about the known victims of the Holocaust. Or the Children's memorial, which was all dark (we had to follow a guide rail so we knew where to step) but had a candle somewhere, and within the room was glass at angles so that the candles reflected 1 500 000 lights in the room, one for each of the children who perished during that time.




This day was more fascinating than I had anticipated. We started off with an overview of where we had been with a panoramic view from the top of the Mount of Olives, this time in daylight, and this time there was a camel there which Mary and one of the few men on the group, Anthony, had a ride on. It was a spectacular day so I felt that we got some great shots, and this time, unlike other visits, we could place so many locations within the city.

Because we were going to the Holocaust museum later, and some people had expressed an interest, we ended up travelling to one of the Catholic cemeteries, where Oskar Schindler is buried. It is part of the Jewish tradition that rocks are placed on the top of a burial spot to prevent animals or other things which might disturb it from accessing it. His grave was littered with rocks, and was clearly more commonly visited than other graves.

After that our bus brought us near the Jaffa Gate which is my favourite of the entrances to the city. Right by it were the remains of the citadel of David, which as I mentioned earlier, was not actually built and used by him, but by Herod. The museum there has some sort of a sound and light program but we just walked through the museum at a cracking pace (I think Gila thinks we are supercharged and don't ever need breaks or time to digest information or reflect). This museum was interesting though because it provided an overview of Israel's history from Canaanite times until the creation of the state in 1948. I really liked seeing the medieval sections and the wing dedicated to the development of modern Israel. Sadly because this wasn't connected much to our coursework, we were raced through that section.

I didn't mind so much later in the afternoon though. Kerri had a headache and so elected to go back to sleep while the rest of us drove out of the old city and towards the memorial museum. It was located on a large block of land in the outer city, and there were many trees around, making it a beautiful sunny afternoon visit. We weren't permitted to enter the museum until a designated time (it was a busy place) so we first went to look at a garden which commemorated the “Righteous Gentiles”, those who at great personal risk saved Jews during the Holocaust. Many of the trees were planted by those people themselves, though obviously not all of them. There was one or two for various branches of European royalty, and I recognised Oskar and Emilie Schindlers', but none of the other names that I saw were recognisable. Apparently there is a tree for Corrie ten Boom and her family too but I couldn't find it.
 We then stepped through the garden and into a different part of the grounds to the Children's memorial. I described that earlier, and it was powerfully affecting. We could then enter the main part of the museum, which was designed to be a chronological approach.

It started with footage of Jewish families in Europe in the 1920s, then into the rise of Nazism, the first racial discriminations, Kristallnacht and then later into migration schemes, the outbreak of war, the ghettos, rebellion movements, underground reporting and lifestyle of Jews, concentration camps, extermination camps, Final Solution, responses from other nations, Victory in Europe and the impact on those involved and the Jewish community. It finished with the enormous room that housed the lists of the known victims of the Holocaust and led into a research centre. The musuem was excellent and I really appreciated the curatorship of it. The rooms were well ordered and there were oral accounts as well as all manner of primary sources. It was the sort of place you could spend a full day in if you were to read everything. We had almost two hours in the museum at our own pace and I really relished it, and appreciated the effort and sensitivity within how it was presented. There was plenty of horrific information and accounts in there – how could there not be – and I did know an awful lot about it, but to see the primary remains, such as the end part of the rail line from Auschwitz, and publications of banned books, spoons and uniforms from concentration camps, confiscated treasures, letters sent from family expressing their concern at people disappearing, the Ghetto monopoly game and photographs of the mass burials (which are even more tragic now that I know more about Jewish beliefs concerning burial rites) etc was something I treasured. I would come back to Israel just to visit this museum again.

After we returned, we headed up to the post office and bundled up a stack of purchases (most of the weight for me was in resources I had obtained). We then walked around one of the street malls in Jaffa St and got security checked so many times it was bemusing. We also walked into our first Israeli McDonalds – while all the writing is usually in Hebrew, everyone speaks English so it's not too hard to get the orders through. Our final dinner was a very convivial one and we then spent the rest of the evening trying to pack our bags in preparation for a ridiculously nasty wake up time of 5am.