... and a few more

Day 7 of the tour began with a stop in the town of Bethany, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, particularly at the House of Mary and Martha where we celebrated Mass in a little chapel which provided its own sense of warmth and welcome.

After the relative tranquility of Bethany, we moved onto the heat of the desert, specifically the hilltop fortress of Masada where there is lots of sun and lots of heat but very little shade.  In fact, one of my favorite pictures has been nicknamed 'Goat shade' because it depicts our tour guide in the smallest amount of shade possible, somehow trying to recover from the ravages of the sun:

To cool off from the scorching heat, we stopped for a dip into the Dead Sea.  Actually it's physically impossible to 'dip' into the Dead Sea.  Rather, one must float in the Sea because the salt level is 10 times that of the ocean.  Honestly, there are even directions to tell swimmers how to 'swim' in this Sea. (Read the post for Day 7)

The adventure continued on the other side of the border: the Israel-Jordan border.  Crossing this border was a very different experience from crossing the Canada-US border, but then again, we in Canada don't have the same appreciation for borders as the Israelis do.  Having accomplished this crossing, we continued our journey to the fabled spot from which Moses saw the promised land.  Millenia later, Pope John Paul II also stood here and prayed, even though the desert he (and we) see today was once a lush land of green and promise. (Read the post for Day 8)

The next day took us south to the ancient city of Petra.  From far and wide, people come today to visit this UNESCO site.  The pink rocks and towering cliffs make the pedestrian pilgrims dwarf in our sense of importance. (Read the post for Day 9)

Back in the Northern part of Jordan, we were told that we could not return to Israel by the same route by which we had arrived.  Instead, we needed to travel a bit more to the North of Aman before crossing the border once again.  On the way, we had a chance to visit the ancient Roman city of Jerash.  Although it now lies in relative tatters, it was once the site of great power exerted from afar on the people of this land.  (Read the post for Day 10)

It's truly a rare occurrence but as it turns out, this pilgrimage was prolonged by a day, thanks to the fact that the airline had re-scheduled our flight home.  The result, we got 24 extra hours to tour in Jerusalem on our own.  Many of us began the day together, but before long, some went one way while others went another, but then that's what happens when 22 tourists are set free in Jerusalem and told that they have a day to see all they can.

From the Wailing Wall to the Shrine of the Book, and even (I believe) to Yad Vashem, Canadian tourists were to be found on this day. (Read the post for Day 11)

The last day of our tour was a very long day indeed, but before we bid farewell to the biblical land, we had one more stop to make, in the town of Ein Karem, the birthplace of John the Baptist.  This was indeed a very hurried visit, for we had been warned severely that we could not be late arriving at the airport, but we did manage to recite Morning Prayer in the Church of the Baptist:

Finally, we did arrive at the airport in Tel Aviv, and yes, we did make it within the three-hour time limit prior to take off.  Good thing!  It took all three hours, minus about 15 minutes to get from the first lineup to the boarding gate, where we even managed to entice an innocent passerby to snap a picture of the group before they welcomed us aboard.

Eleven hours and some minutes later, we arrived in Toronto, and the voyage came to its close.  Now we must wait for the next adventure. (Read the post for Day 12)