Jerusalem

January 28, 2013Daryl L. L. Houston Leave a comment

I visited Jerusalem on a recent trip with coworkers. Although I’m not religious, it was still a neat experience. Lots of history. My photos follow.

One of the first things I saw in old Jerusalem, a statue of King David (whose reputed tomb I also saw).

When the Muslims rebuilt the upper room, they added this inset, which has a formal name that I forget.

Some recent Pope donated this for placement in the upper room of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Some Arabic lettering in the rebuilt upper room in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

A pillar in the upper room of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In the distance you can see many many graves.

A marker showing one of the stations of the cross. This is probably one of the ones where Jesus is supposed to have stumbled.

One of the stations of the cross. I forget which one and what it says.

Another station. There were too many stations. I forget what each one was.

Another station of the cross. This is the hand of Jesus where he touched the wall as he made his ignominious progress through the streets of Jerusalem.

I may have it wrong, but I’m thinking this is Pontius Pilate’s tower.

This is the Greek Orthodox corner of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. People kneel down in the middle and kiss the area where the blood of Jesus is supposed to have dripped down.

The ceiling above the tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Another shot of the tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Pillars in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in the room surrounding the tomb.

One of many altars in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

This is supposedly the tomb in which Jesus was buried/found, with a building erected around it inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Dead Sea

January 28, 2013Daryl L. L. Houston 1 Comment

Some coworkers and I went to the Dead Sea while on a team meetup in Israel. My lower body’s too dense to float under normal circumstances (my legs just sink… like… stones), but I was assured I’d float here. And I did! It was such a funny sensation to wade out, squat, and feel my body rotate backwards as my legs sprang involuntarily up to the surface of the water.

The floor of the sea is covered with really goopy, dark greenish mud, and people actually rub the mud on their skin for (I presume) restorative purposes. I opted not to and didn’t think to get a photo. I did sink into the muck nearly up to my knee at one point.

As I was walking (more like stumbling) out of the water, I found a rock that had a bunch of salt crystals growing like gems on its surface. I also neglected to get a picture of this.

Luckily, I had no major flesh wounds on our visit, but I’m told the water really stings even minor cuts. I did have one little spot on my neck that burned just a tad, and although you’re discouraged from drinking the water or even getting it on your face, I ventured to lick my finger and found that the water burned my tongue.

Once we had our little swim (more of a bob), we showered off a little (an outside shower, no soap, just a rinse), but my skin felt horrible all the way home, as if I had gone for a week at the beach with no shower.

It was a really neat experience, definitely worth it if you’re in the neighborhood. It took us around two hours to drive back to our villa in Herzliya (near Tel Aviv), which is on the other side of the country from the Dead Sea. While in the sea, we could see Jordan across the way. I suppose we might have swum over for a visit, but the caretakers of the beach we went to had cordoned off an area for swimming, and I don’t imagine we could have gone under the thing to swim outside it (seriously).

We’re driving from Jerusalem east to the Dead Sea.

A view of the desert we drove through to get to the Dead Sea.

Sometimes the layers of terrain in the desert bend.

We saw several camels parked by the side of the road. Whether these were for hire or were owned by Bedouins I’m not sure.

There are milestone markers as you near and go below sea level. The Dead Sea is around 440 meters below sea level, and we’re getting really close here.

Jaffa

January 27, 2013Daryl L. L. Houston Leave a comment

This week on a trip to Israel for my job, I went with my coworkers to the port of Jaffa. You may recognize the name as the city from which Jonah is supposed to have left on his fateful voyage. It’s also the city in which Andromeda was chained to a rock in sacrifice to a sea monster only to be rescued by Perseus. It was a neat place to visit.