Hi All!

Yesterday, we completed the Israel part of our trip, and a portion of our group headed back to the US while the rest of us headed to Egypt. We took the long route (due to unrest in Gaza, which even in Biblical times was the faster and easier way). We headed down the Jordan river to the place where the Gulf of Aqaba (the eastern arm of the Red Sea) meets up with Jordan, Israel and Egypt. There, we crossed the border into Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula. Along the way to Mount Sinai, we got to see quite a bit of the desert.

We got to the hotel, but four of us didn't get much of a chance to sleep there, since we got up at 1 am to go to climb Mount Sinai and be there for sunrise. (While we got great shots, I didn't personnally care if we got there later, but we needed to be done before breakfast so we could get on the road for our next day of travel.) The trip takes about 3 hours up and about 2 1/2 hours back. On the way up, we road camels in the dark for the first 2 hours, and then climbed the ancient stairs cut into the rocks by the monks at St. Catherine's monastery many centuries ago. It was a great experience, but it left me really sleep deprived today! After we got back to the hotel and had breakfast, we headed back to St. Catherine's, where we got a private tour from Fr. Justin, one of only 23 monks at the monastery (and the only American in the bunch). We then headed for Cairo, crossing the Suez Canal by using the new tunnel under the canal. And having done that, I arrived on the continent of Africa for the first time in my life.

Tomorrow, we're scheduled to head to the Pyramids, so hopefully I'll have some more great pix soon! In the meantime, there are pictures from the Sinai trip and also pictures from our last day in Jerusalem, which include more pictures from the Church of the Holy Sepulchur (where some of us went again at 5:30 am the day before yesterday), the Garden Tomb, which is sometimes suggested as another possible site of Jesus' crucifixtion and burial (although for several very good historical, biblical and archaeological reasons, this is highly unlikely), the Israel Museum, which now houses an incredible model of 1st century Jersualem, and Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial.

I'll have only periodic internet for the next several days, so I may not post every day, but be looking for more pictures soon!