Galilee

Today we took our first official tour w/ a guide, bus, the whole package. Our group consisted of a variety of nationalities, including people from France, Italy, Brazil, Korea, Australia, The Netherlands, and of course America. It only made our trip that much more exciting.

First stop: Nazareth.

We saw the church of Annuciation (where the angel Gabriel told Mary she would be the mother of Jesus), as well as Joseph's house/work station. The Church of Annunciation had artistic depictions of what many countries thought of Mary all over the walls- inside and out. Perhaps the most interesting part of Nazareth was imagining Jesus as a young child playing in the streets - scraping his knee and running home to mommy. So sweet.

Second stop: Capernaum.
Capernaum is where Christ performed the majority of his teachings and miracles. Some include the Sermon on the Mount and the multiplication of the fish and bread. We saw the house of Peter as well as a synagogue that I forgot the story of. Sorry. Might I add that the view from Capernaum is absolutely breathtaking. You can see the Sea of Galilee, which is MUCH prettier than I ever imagined. The water is perfectly blue with mountains in the background. There are all sorts of tropical trees: mangos, bananas, dates, etc. that only add to the beauty. Ahhh.....I loved that place.

Next stop: Lunch!
We ate St. Peter's fish for lunch. How convenient. Brooke even ate the eyeball. Gross.

Last stop: Tiberius
It is here that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River - which is also beautiful. There are people there getting baptized - quite often. We just stuck our feet in. At least our feet are sin free. It'll have to do for now.

Schedule for tomorrow: Zhikron - or something like that.