Tired, Overwhelmed, and Glad to Be Home

I apologize for not blogging anything the last few days, but I had a lot of difficulty getting online in Jerusalem. So, I will try to condense our last few days in Jerusalem into this post. Oh...we made it home safe and sound today.

Monday's Highlights

• Visited the Temple Mount area (area where the Temple complex once stood, Dome of the Rock, Gate Beautiful). This was a pretty impressive area, just makes you mad what's there now.
  
• Pool of Bethesda - Helped the story that took place here come alive.
  
• Walked down the Via Dolorosa - very small crowded road lined with little shops and vendors.
  
• Wailing Wall - Jews cannot pray on the Temple Mount so this is as close as they can get to where the Temple use to be. Nothing magical about the wall, it's about proximity for them.
  
• Garden Tomb - incredibly moving time here.
  

Tuesday (I took today off from taking pictures. I was burnt out - over 2,000!)

• Holocaust Museum
• Valley where David defeated Goliath
• Saw an underground Olive Oil Press from the 3rd century BC! Being a lover of fine olive oil this was pretty amazing for me.

The trip home was a long one. We started Tuesday morning pretty much as usual with sightseeing. We finished up around 5:30pm and headed for dinner. From dinner we went to the airport for our 11:50pm flight from Tel Aviv to New Jersey. Then from New Jersey we arrived in Fort Myers at 9:45am Wednesday morning (which seemed like 4:45pm Wednesday to us!) Wow. A very long 36 hours of sight-seeing and traveling.

But it's good to be home and in our own house. The trip to Israel exceeded our expectation and is an experience I will cherish forever. I will probably write more about my reflections on the trip later. Too tired and still processing.

Click here for pictures. Most recent are at the bottom.