Jerusalem my destiny

Today we reached Jerusalem, but we started this morning at Bet She'an on the western shore of Galilee.  There were really nice Roman ruins from the city of Scythopolis, and on top of the hill the Romans built around (our last Tel) are the ruins of an Egyptian garrison from the middle bronze age.

The Roman city center from the Tel

On our way down, we stopped on the Israeli side of the Jordan River, which wasn't the side that the baptism of the Lord took place on (it was on the east side, which is now the country of Jordan).

Of course the river is so narrow that if it wasn't for silly things
 like international borders, which bank would be irrelevant

Then we arrived in Jerusalem!

The first thing we did was to walk the Via Delarosa  and pray the stations of the cross, with a pause for adoring the rock of the crucifixion and ending with adoring the slab in the empty tomb (though the line to enter the Cenacle was really long and interrupted by the Catholic procession for the stations of the cross at 3). On our way out, we saw the  one of the eastern patriarch as he led the Orthodox procession for their version of the stations.

Golgotha 

The Cenacle and its dome while waiting in line.

Our final stop for the day was mass at the Notre Dame complex just outside the old city (we are staying just inside, near the Latin patriarch).  We were surprised because the presider was Archbishop Patrick Kelly from Liverpool.  In his homily he alluded to a stained glass window that we had seen last year at Maryvale  while in Birmingham, which just shows how interconnected the Catholic Church really is.   Tomorrow we get up very early to have mass at the Cenacle, but we only are allowed 30 minutes, so we are going to have to really move through mass.   Then we have a free day, and in particular I want to window shop at the many icon stores we passed.  We still have 9 days scheduled in Jerusalem, so I had better keep it to just window shopping.