This was the final day of the tour for those of us who were not going on to Turkey – which was an optional addition to our tour. We wheeled and carted our bags to the bus after breakfast and were on our way.
Last night we got to meet Madeline, who is the Tour Coordinator/Agent for Bell Wholesale Travel. Madeleine has a larger-than-life personality - and she joined us today for our final day of touring.
The first thing we saw today was the Model of Jerusalem as it would have been in the Second Temple Period. This is an amazing model. It is outside, and there is a path that leads around it. It is absolutely wonderful for seeing what Jerusalem would have looked like at the time Jesus lived. Mark pointed out that Jerusalem would have been much smaller at the time of David – and that though the structures would have been amazing for his day – they wouldn’t have been amazing by a later standard. The Model is next to the Shrine of the Book, which was our 2nd place to visit.
The Shrine of the Book structure is interesting. It looks like an inverted Hershey’s Kiss – but is actually very creatively shaped like the lids of the jars the Qumran scrolls were found in early in 1947. They don’t allow any pictures inside the building – but what is inside are copies of the scrolls presented in very low light – with an elevated area that has an entire 66-foot-long duplicate of the scroll of Isaiah – reconstructed precisely as it was found. There is a lot of info online about the scrolls as well.
One of our surprises for the day was getting to go to the International Christian Embassy. Four of us in the group went to school at Northwest University with a man and his wife who were at The Christian Embassy for several years – so it was special for that reason – but also special because all other embassies are in Tel Aviv, even though Jerusalem is the eternal capitol of Israel.
Our Jewish contacts for the tour seemed to be very moved by the fact that the Christian Embassy stands with them; especially because there have been many Christians over the years who have believed in a replacement theology which states that the church replaced Israel as God’s favored ones. That just isn’t true. We are grafted in– but Israel is – and has always been – at the center of God’s heart. The time of the Gentiles is near its end – and Bible prophecy will be fulfilled demonstrating that reality.
It was a cold and blustery day – so a good day to be inside! Our next stop was another welcome surprise – a visit to the Knesset, the parliament building for the State of Israel. We were given a very nice tour. The artwork in Chagall Hall, which is used for State receptions was all designed by renowned artist Marc Chagall, who was Jewish. There are 12 floor mosaics, one wall mosaic and three enormous tapestries – which are all part of a whole – but each complete as individual pieces. I didn’t know Chagall was Jewish. That was a delightful bit of information.
We weren’t allowed to have cameras inside. Consequently we didn’t have cameras with us to get a picture in front of the beautiful menorah across the street from the Knesset. I know that disappointed Madeleine – but it would have been another ‘walk’ that we knew some people wouldn’t want to do – because of the distance of the walk – and also because of the weather…. I had pictures of the menorah from my trip 5 years earlier, so it wasn’t a loss to me – but I know people would have loved seeing it under other circumstances.
We had lunch at a Kibbutz Restaurant. I failed to write down the name – but they had a very interesting focal point in their landscaping – barrel cacti growing out of a form that looked like a large barrel cactus. It was intriguing.
As we headed for Tel Aviv, Mark pointed out the area where David met Goliath, and Anita suggested we sing the children’s song, “Only a Boy Named David.” It was another of those wonderful moments sealed in my memory – a readily retrievable mental image of the very valley where David stood up to and conquered Goliath.
Once in Tel Aviv we dropped off luggage for those on the Turkey leg. Yep – that’s what we called it – the Turkey leg. It was not my invention – but I liked it!
After they deposited their bags, we got down to the waterfront area just as the sun was setting. Unfortunately, we didn’t have an opportunity to get good pics of the sunset, though several of us tried from the moving bus….
After we stopped we got a few night pics along the waterfront and from a little knoll that had an interesting arch at the summit.
We went to Maganda – a Yemenite Restaurant – for dinner. Coincidentally, it was the same restaurant I had my farewell dinner at 5 years earlier. It must be very popular with the Tour crowd!
Dinner was delicious, but a bit rushed. We didn’t have time to sing the songs I had hoped to end our tour with – but that’s O K. We dropped off the 8 Turkey Tour folks, then the rest of us headed for Ben Gurion International Airport to begin our journey home.
It was wonderful of Mark to stick with us and make sure we were on our way! He truly was a wonderful tour guide – and one of the amazing reasons the tour was such an excellent tour.
We boarded the plane for a 11:55 p m departure. Fortunately, it was not full – so many of us were able to have 2 seats so we could stretch out a bit. Alice had a whole row of 4 seats.
I'll save the journey home for the final day - which was an all-travel day, and then the writing about the journey will be finished!
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