Emilia’s trip to Israel. :)

By: Emilia Frost

Israel is not what I expected. I expected miles and miles of bland, dry, hot desert. Israel is the opposite of that.
We arrived to Israel around 8pm on March 1st. From the airport, we got on a tour bus with about 36 other tourists and went to our hotel.
On the first day we woke up early in the morning and got on our bus. As we drove, I looked out the window and was amazed! On one side there was a big white city (most of the buildings in Israel are made of sandstone) and on the other side there were big luscious palm trees swaying in the wind and on the ground soft, green grass, with a big blue ocean reaching out as far as the eye could see. We arrived to our destination at an old Roman theatre and some other ruins. We saw a 2,000 year old mosaic by the ocean and a huge ancient hippodrome. After that we saw some churches.

The next day my big brother puked. I felt a bit sick as well so both of us stayed in our hotel room as all of the other people in our tourist group got to go see the ruins. I felt better so I left my brother to suffer in his tremendously hot hotel room. We climbed up a beautiful yet dangerously windy mountain. At the top there was a cliff going straight down about 700 feet. We had the privilege to get baptized in the Jordan river where Jesus got baptized by John the Baptist. Then, we went sailing on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus walked on water.
The day after, we went to an ancient Roman city. Right in the middle of all of the ruins there was a beautiful green hill that we hiked up. At the top there was an old temple of Zeus with an amazing view of the whole ancient city as you looked down from the hill. After that, we went to an interesting city called Bethany. Bethany doesn’t have any police so people just do whatever. There was garbage all over the streets and cars were parked on the sidewalks and sometimes parked close to the middle of the street. On the bright side, we got to see the Tomb of Lazarus where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Then, to the Valley of the Shadow of Death which has a breathtaking view when you look down from the high mountains.
Lastly, today on March 5 we went to Bethlehem. Our first stop was a little souvenir store mostly for tourists. The shop was mostly filled with things made of olive wood such as magnets, Christmas ornaments, jewelry, coins and a lot of other useless things. My family probably bought all of the magnets and Christmas ornaments from that store. We then went to a church where people think Jesus was born. Lastly, we went to a beautiful garden with a tomb of where Jesus was possibly laid.