Hi All!

We ended our Egypt extension yesterday by taking a one hour sailing trip on the Nile on a traditional sailboat called a faluka (although I have no idea how you really spell that!) We also got to go to the Cairo Museum where we were able to view all of King Tut's tomb treasures, including the solid gold "death mask" which is never allowed to leave the museum. We also took a day trip to Alexandria, which was one of the most important centers of Christianity in the first few centuries.

Early this morning, we all made our way to the airport and Bishop Schneider and the rest of the group headed for Paris and then Dulles. I headed back to Germany, where I am now. I'll catch a flight back to Dulles tomorrow evening. This has been an incredible trip and I look forward to telling you all more about what I've learned and experienced.

I've really enjoyed being away, but I'm glad to be heading home tomorrow. I look forward to seeing many of you on Sunday!

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!

Hi All!

For the past couple of days, we've been touring Jerusalem and taking a couple of day trips. Two days ago, we toured the Old City, which included much of the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulchur and the Pool of Bethsaida. There was a lot to see, and enormous crowds, so we didn't always get to spend as much time as we would have liked at each site. VERY early this morning, several of us, including some who like me hate mornings, left the hotel at 5:30 am to try to get into Jesus' tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchur before breakfast. We did actually make it inside the structure built over the tomb, but got thrown out quickly because apparently they reserve that tiny space for private masses until 8 am. But, we did have some neat experiences in the church before the huge crowds got there.

Yesterday, we toured Masada, the mountain fortress originally built by Herod the Great as a palace. Later, during the Jewish revolt in 67 AD, zealots occupied the palace fortress and held out for 4 years until the Romans built at seige ramp and broke through. Then, we headed down to the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on Earth, to float in the Dead Sea. After that, we stopped at Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947. Those scrolls contained some of the earliest copies of OT manuscripts, as well as other material that gives us some insight into Jewish life from the first century BC through the 1st century AD.

Today, we're heading to the archaelogical museum in Jerusalem, as well as a couple of other sights. Then, tomorrow morning, some of the group will head back to Dulles, while the rest of us will continue on to Egypt. Stay tuned!

Hi All!

Today, we left Tiberias and headed towards Jerusalem. Our first stop was on the Jordan River just south of the Sea of Galilee. Called "Yardeni", it tries to bill itself as the traditional site of Jesus baptism, although it's not. The traditional site of Jesus baptism is down river towards Jersualem, but Yardeni is pretty much the only spot on the Jordan River where both sides of the river are inside Israel (elsewhere, the Jordan is usually the border between Israel and Jordan). But, it is the Jordan River, so we stopped and I got some Jordan River water!

Then, we headed to Bet She'an. Bet She'an is an ancient city which has levels of occupation going back to 3000 - 5000 BC. In Old Testament history, it's mentioned in 1 Samuel 31:1-10 as the city where King Saul and his son Joanathan were nailed to the wall after being killed. In New Testament times, it was one of the cities of the Decapolis, which were 10 Roman cities mostly east of the Jordan River (except for Bet She'an which was on the west side). There are Roman ruins there, as well as ancient Caananite, Egyptian and Israelite ruins. Also, there's a prominent dead tree on the top of a the OT Tel (the old hill which has the ancient levels of civilization). That tree was the prop from which Judas was portrayed as hanging in the movie "Jesus Christ Superstar.

From Bet She'an we moved on to Jericho. Actually there are two cities of Jericho mentioned in the Bible, both next to each other. Ancient Jericho (see Joshua 6:1-20) is mentioned as one of the first places Israel conquered when it entered the land. That city was never rebuilt. However, next to it another city, also named Jericho, was built. In the OT, that Jericho is mentioned as the place where the prophet Elisha cleansed the waters (2 Kings 2:19-22). In the NT Jericho is mentioned in Jesus' parables (see Luke 10:30-37) and also as the place where Jesus met Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).

On the way to Jerusalem, we passed through the wilderness of Judea and saw the ancient road that went from Jerusalem to Jericho. One of the things you get an appreciation of is why the Bible always speaks of going "up" to Jerusalem and "down" from Jerusalem. I always thought this was simply because you went up and down from the temple mount, and that's partly true. However, you really do go "down" to Jericho, because Jerusalem is 3000 feet above sea level and Jericho is about 1000 feet below sea level. While we stopped to see the wilderness, we met Beduin people and rode camels!

Finally, we arrived in Jerusalem just before sunset. We'll be based here in Jerusalem until we leave for Egypt. Tomorrow, we'll be touring around in Jerusalem, and soon we'll be making day trips to the Dead Sea, Qumran (the site of the Dead Sea scrolls) and Bethlehem. Because I'm taking a lot of pictures, and we have wireless in the hotel room, I'll try to post pictures every evening, even if I don't get a chance to post a description, so check the photos each day!

Hi All!

Today, we toured around the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee, also known as the Lake of Gennesaret and the Sea of Tiberius, is the lowest fresh water lake in the world. It's located 700 feet below sea level. It's circumference is 32 miles. It's 9 miles wide at its widest point and 12 miles long at its longest point. Much of Jesus' ministry occured in villages and towns on and around the Sea of Galilee.

Several stories of Jesus' ministry involve storms on this lake. Storms here are common, because winds come in through the Valley of the Winds and Doves and create violent upheavals which suddenly start and end. Today however, we had unseasonably warm weather (it was around 90 degrees fahrenheit) and the sea was an absolute dead calm. In fact, Bishop Schneider, who's been here 15 times or more, said he's never seen it this calm, especially in the fall when the weather is usually much rougher. In any event, it was good to be out on the boat in calm weather, and it was a nice peaceful way to celebrate Bishop Schneider's 75th birthday!

On our tour around the lake, we also visited Capernaum, where Jesus taught in the synagogue and healed Peter's mother-in-law. While the site of Peter's house and the synagogue at Capernaum are pretty certain, other sites are more or less simply based on tradition. The sites of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes and the site of the Beatitudes, for example, are two places we visited. While much of Jesus' teaching, preaching and miracles probably occured nearby, many of these sites are based on reports and research of Eugenia, an early Christian nun, who came here to find the sites in 384 AD.

Tomorrow, we're heading south for Jerusalem, where we'll base ourselves for the remainder of our days in Israel. I'll try to keep photos posted every couple of days, at least.

Hi All!

Yesterday, I arrived in Tel Aviv just an hour or so before Bishop Schneider and the rest of the group arrived from Paris. We set out together heading first to Joppa/Jaffe/Tel Aviv (all are really the same place), and managed to see a little bit there before the sun set. Then, we headed to Netanya for our first overnight.

Today, we got an early start and had a full day of biblical sightseeing. We started at Caesarea Maritima (not to be confused with Casearea Philipi), which is the first artificial port on the Mediterranean. It was built by Herod the Great at the end of the first century BC, and named in honor of Caesar (because Herod was very polticially astute). Caearea Maritima was really the political Capital of Judea during Roman times. It was here that Herod the Great lived most of the time, and where Pontius Pilate and other Roman Governors were headquartered. Later, Paul was tried here before the Roman Governor before being sent to Rome.

After Caesarea, we headed to Meggido, an ancient ruin with more than 25 layers of civilization. Meggido was an important strategic point in the trade route between east and west, and many monumental battles were fought here. Joshua conqured Meggido from the Caananites when Israel came into the land, and later Solomon made Meggido one of his three chariot cities. Although the site was abandoned around 600 BC, it continued to be thought of as the site of epic battles, which is probably one of the reasons it was the image of the final battle between good and evil in the book of Revelation -- which is why we often know it as "Armaggedon" (the Greek transliteration of "Har Meggido").

After Meggido, we headed to Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus. It was getting late, but we did see one of the sites which was potentially the precipice from which angry people in the synagogue tried to throw Jesus from. And, we got to see Mary's Well and the area which would have been ancient Nazareth.

Tonight, we're in Tiberius (another city named for a Roman Emporer, and built by Herod Antipas). We'll be touring around the Sea of Galilee (also known as the Sea of Genesseret and the Sea of Tiberius) tomorrow. I'll try to post new photos every couple of days.

Hi All!

I've been in southern Turkey for the past several days, basing myself in Adana, which is on the southern Mediterranean coast, just next to Tarsus, the city where St. Paul was from. Today, in fact, I finished my tour of Turkey by going to Tarsus. Not much is there from Paul's days, due in large part to the fact that Tarsus has been continually occupied since well before New Testament times. On the other hand, you may have noticed that many of the places I've visited are now called by different names because the biblical cities that were there before were abandoned, and new towns or villages sometimes sprung up. By contrast, Biblical Tarsus continued to be a city, and so today, Biblical Tarsus is known as, well, Tarsus!

My tour here began after taking an overnight and all day train from Istanbul. It was really a neat way to see a lot of the very diverse and intersting countryside through the central section of Turkey. Much of that central area was once known as "Galatia", and so as I was traveling through, I read Paul's letter to the Galatians! The train ride was very comfortable and I slept well in my sleeping compartment. I had planned to take the train back today. However, when the train was almost 2 hours late getting to Adana, I realized if it was that late getting back to Istanbul, I'd miss my connecting flight to Israel. So, I got a refund of my train ticket (I think!) and I'm flying back to Istanbul tomorrow morning.

The other two places I visited while here were Antioch (and it's ancient port of Seleucia Peiria) and Cappadocia. Antioch, you may remember from Acts, was the place where followers of Jesus were first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26). There's an ancient cave church there, in use since at least the 4th century, which legend claims was one of the places where St. Peter preached while he was in Antioch. The port of Anitoch, known as Seleucia Peiria, was the place from which Paul and Barnabas set out on their first missionary journey.

Cappadocia is an area of central Turkey which has incredible volcanic rock formations. This particular type of volcanic residue becomes very hard when exposed to air, but until then is very soft. So, people for thousands of years have carved out cave homes, churches and other things from these rocks. They still do today. In the early church, very many monastic communities gathered there. It was remote, and also provided protection during times of persecution. The paintings (mostly dating to the 11th or 12th century AD) are incredibly well preserved because they've been in these dry cave rooms. Both the paintings and the rock formations are incredible! Lectors on Pentecost Sunday will remember that "Cappadocia" is one of those dreaded place names you need to read! (Acts 2:9)

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post for a few days. My hotel has free wireless internet, but the Preventer of Information Technology there decided that Blogger is a bad website and won't allow me access. So, for the very last thing on my tour of Turkey, I am visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Internet (Starbucks), which has no such restriction!

This concludes my tour of Biblical sites in Greece and Turkey. Tomorrow, I catch a flight from Adana to Istanbul, and then a connecting flight to Tel Aviv, where I'll meet up with Bishop Schneider and the rest of the group from the US, who will be departing from Dulles this evening (Tuesday). So in the immortal words of Mel Brooks, "we're off on the road to Judea!"

Hi All!

A few days ago, I left Istanbul and headed south to Izmir. Izmir (biblical Smyrna), is on the western coast of Turkey, and very near to a couple of very interesting biblical sites. On the way, I drove through Iznik (ancient Nicea). Nicea was the city in which the first and last ecumenical Councils were held. These were the Councils which were attended by bishops in both the east and the west, before the split of the church in the 11th century. In Iznik, you can still see the remains of the church in which the seventh, and possibly the first, Council was held. The city walls are also remarkably intact.

Since arriving in Izmir, I've toured Izmir (biblical Smyrna), Sardis and Ephesus. All three are interesting, although Ephesus is the largest and most extensive. The remains of the Roman Forum here in Izmir are relatively sparse, but they have preserved the underground, vaulted basement parts of ancient stoas, which you can walk around in. Sardis reminds us that there was a large Jewish community throughout this part of the world even before New Testament times. The large and prominently located synagogue there (which held over 1000 worshippers) is the largest biblical era synagogue found outside of the Holy Land.

Ephesus is huge, and parts are very well preserved, including the Theater which is mentioned in Acts 19:23-41. The same cannot be said of the Temple of Artemis, which is barely visible. However, in the first century, it was a huge building drawing thousands of pilgrims from throughout the Roman empire. It was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. The tourist traffic generated by the temple was one of the reasons that Ephesus thrived, and when Paul and his companions began preaching against pagan worship, it upset the apple cart.

In the first century, Ephesus was perhaps the second or third largest city in the Roman empire, with a popluation of around 250,000 in the first century when Paul was there. It was the capital of the Roman province of Asia, and continued to be a thriving commerical center until around the 7th century when the river that fed into the harbor finally silted up the harbor enough that it was no longer viable as a port city. Today, Ephesus is 5 miles inland.

Unfortunately, I found out yesterday that I have to drop the Island of Patmos from my travel plans. The ferry schedules won't work with my schedule, so I'll have to plan a Greek Island cruise sometime in the future and include it then! Tomorrow, I'm going to head to Pergamum, which along with Ephesus, Smyrna and Sardis is another of the seven churches to whom John of Patmos wrote in the Book of Revelation.

Hi All!

Yesterday, I set foot on the continent of Asia for the first time. And, I did it like the ancients did -- I went by boat! I took an all day cruise up and down the Bosphorus Strait, which divides the European and Asian continents, and which also divides the European and Asian sides of the city of Istanbul. There were some great sights along the way, and we ended at the mouth of the Black Sea, where I climbed up to the remains of what's probably a Crusader era fortress. There are photos on the photo links to the left. (By the way, this "cruise" was on one of the public ferries, and cost the equivalent of about $13.50 round trip. If you're ever here, it's a great deal!)

Today, I decided to go to the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul. That museum is on the grounds of the Topkapi Palace, and within the old Byzantine city walls. The museum has three parts, including the Museum of Archaeology (which focuses on the history and pre-history in Turkey), the Tiled Kiosk (an early Ottoman building which focuses on pottery) and the Museum of the Ancient Orient (which includes objects throughout the middle east dating back to the 15th century BC). Among the objects there are a cuneiform record of the acts of King Nebuchadnezzer (remember him from the last reading from the Easter Vigil?); a Hebrew inscription from the completion of Hezekiah's tunnel (cf. 2 Kings 20:20); and friezes which once adorned the Ishitar Gate of the ancient city of Babylon. There are photos of all of these and more in the link on the left.

Today, I also took another trip on the public ferries (which are very fast and efficient) to scout out where I'll need to go later in my travels. Tomorrow, I head back to the airport in Istanbul, this time to pick up a rental car. I'll be heading south to Izmir (biblical Smyrna), and using that city as a base for the next week as I visit places like Ephesus and the Island of Patmos.

Hi All!

Last night, I arrived in Istanbul and today I got off to an early start seeing the city! That was partly because of my great and terrible planning. What was both great and terrible about my planning is that I have a hotel which is less than 100 yards from Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, two of the most important sights in old Istanbul / Constantinople. The terrible thing is that both of these sights have multiple minarets (the towers used for calling Muslims to prayer 5 times a day.) In the old days, the Imam would climb the minaret and yell at the top of his lungs. Today, they have VERY loud speakers meant to be heard miles away. Apparently, the first time you should pray is at 6 am! On the upside, I was up good and early and managed to be 5th in line to buy a ticket to see Hagia Sofia!

Istanbul, while not mentioned in the New Testament, is extremely important in church history. The city was founded by Greek colonists in the 5th century BC, and named Byzantium. About 313 AD, the Roman Emporer Constantine (the first Christian emporer), moved the capital of the entire Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium, which he then very modestly renamed Constantinople in honor of himself! When the Roman Empire split in two by the 6th century, Constantinople was the capital of the eastern, or Byzantine Empire.

The Church of Hagia Sofia (Holy Wisdom), was the Patriarchal Church of Orthodox Christianity, and even though the church is now a museum, the Patriarch of Constantinople is still looked to by over 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians as the leader of eastern orthodox Christianity. It was in Constantinople that the Second Ecumenical Council was held in 381 AD. That Council, among other things, finalized the version of the Nicene Creed as we have it today. When Hagia Sofia was built (532-537 AD), it was the largest church in the world, and continued to hold that status until the Rennaisance. Even so, you can still fit Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral under the main dome of Hagia Sofia!

Constantinople was the captial of both the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church until the emergent Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453. While Christians continued to the live in the city afterwards, Hagia Sofia was turned into a mosque (the minarets were added at that time.) It continued to serve as a mosque until after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. In 1935, Hagia Sofia became a national museum, and since then, the government of Turkey has tried to restore both the Christian and Muslim hertiage of the building. You can see a lot more in the pictures, and of course, I'll have a lot more to tell you about when I get back.

Tomorrow, I'm off on a cruise up the Bosphorus Strait!

Hi All!

I've been in northern Greece for the last few days, visiting some of the very first cities in Europe visited by St. Paul. I've been staying in Thessaloniki, the city to whom Paul wrote two letters. The archaeological remains in Thessaloniki are relatively modest, and relatively recently uncovered. The Roman Forum, for example, which dates to the 2nd century AD, was uncovered in 1963 when ground was broken for new law courts.

A couple of the larger remains in the pictures are things that the Roman emporer Galerius built. In the late 3rd and early 4th centuries, the Roman empire had already been spilt into eastern and western administative halves. Galerius ruled the eastern part and made Thessaloniki his capital. Galerius, like Diocletian before him, vigorously persecuted Christians, and in fact, made practicing Christianity in Thessaloniki a capital offense. In about 304 AD, a Roman soldier named Demetrius was caught secretly preaching to a group of Christians. He was subsequently jailed and executed by being speared to death. A large church in Thessaloniki, named St. Demetrius, is built over the site of his imprisonment and his body is buried in the church.

Today, Thessaloniki is Greece's second largest city. To reinforce that if you're ever here, rent a car inside the city and then fight your way out to the Thessaloniki beltway -- which is what I did on Sunday when I drove out to see Philippi. Philippi was the site of Paul's first mission work in Europe. Although today Philippi is just ruins (there is no modern Philippi), the remains are quite extensive. However, Philippi continued to be a major city through at least the 7th century, so there are remains of several eras on top of one another. Of particular interest is the Octagon Church, with it's really well preserved 4th century floor mosaics and cruciform baptismal font. Like many Greek cities, there's a high hill with defensible fortress on top (acropolis), which I climbed to get a great view and great photos.

On the way back to Thessaloniki, I also stopped briefly at Amphipolis (mentioned only in passing in Acts 17:1). The site was closed in spite of the fact that the sign said it was supposed to be open at that time. But, I did get a chance to view the area a bit (and there's one photo). All of these towns were connected by a major trading road called the Via Egnatia, which is what made them commerically well off and strategically important to many successive empires.

Traveling between these places is, of course, much easier today than in Paul's day. However, in Paul's day it was possible to travel between what is today Turkey and northern Greece. Early in my travel planning, I discovered that it's very difficult today. There's one train which runs daily between Thessaloniki and Istanbul, which I had been planning to take. However, the masssive rains that Istanbul received about 2 weeks ago have apparently damaged the bridges and so the trains aren't running. Everyone says that there are busses still running, but every bus official I talk to to claims that they don't go there. So, tomorrow morning, I'm taking the train back to Athens and flying to Istanbul from there. Oddly, that trip will take less time than the bus would have!

Hi All!

Yesterday, I visited the archaelogical remains of Corinth, an extremely important city in the first century. St. Paul spent a significant amount of time there, and wrote 29 chapters to the early Christians in Corinth, more than to any other community. (Apparently, they were his problem children!)

Corinth was inhabited for centuries before Paul got there, although the city was sometimes destroyed and rebuilt. Often, the destruction was due to warfare. Corinth sits in a tiny slip of land between the Adriatic and Aegan seas, and rival Greek city states often fought over it. Corinth later became quite rich because they could transport merchandise across the isthmus so that ships wouldn't have to sail all the way around Greece. Roman Emporers (and later Napolean) tried to dig a canal, but were unsucessful. Finally in 1893, a canal was cut, but you can see the bedrock they had to cut through to do it!

Sometimes, the destruction was due to earthquakes, which are prevalent in this area. In Paul's day, the city had recently been rebuilt by the Romans around 46 BC (after having been destroyed by the Romans about 164 BC!) The Romans populated the city with a whole host of people, including Greeks and Romans, slaves and freedmen (ex-slaves). In addition, there seems to have been a significant Jewish population. So, the people that Paul would have met were diverse in many ways.

You'll see in the pictures that the site is pretty broken up. In later ages, the city was destroyed repeatedly, and earthquakes took their toll. Today, the modern city of Corinth is located several kilometers up the road. So, it's kind of hard to make heads or tails of what you're seeing, and it took me a lot longer than usual to figure out what I was looking at. However, I'll put it all together when I get back, and hopefully you can get a sense of what's there by my photos and somewhat longer captions.

Today and tomorrow I'm finishing up sights in Athens. Then, I'm off to Thessaloniki on Saturday.

Hi All!

I'm now in Athens, which I'll use as a base for about 5 days as I tour Athens and the environs. My first impression of Athens is that the landscape is really stunning! The pictures I've posted show some of this, but the sky is even bluer and the scenes in real life are spectacular. Hopefully, the great weather will contine as well!

Today I toured three parts of the ancient city of Athens -- the Agora, the Aeropagus and the Acropolis. Bascially, the Agora is the center of the city. It was here that most of the temples, houses, and official buildings were located. Up the hill is the Aeorpagus. The Aeropagus is dominated by a rock hill called the "hill of the Aeroapagus" which in ancient times was used as a gathering place for hearing disputes. By the first century, it was mainly used as a common area to gather together for all kinds of discussions. It was here that St. Paul was brought and asked to tell the people of Athens about Jesus. He preached his sermon (Acts 17:22-31) at the Aeropagus, probably at the base of the hill.

The Acropolis is the highest point and contains the most recognizable feature of ancient Athens -- the Parthenon. The Parthenon was a temple to Athena, the patron goddess of ancient Athens. The whole Acropolis complex was a temple precinct, but orginially, because of it's nearly impregnable landscape, it was a place for defending the city. In fact, it remained a place of defence for centuries after Paul visited. The Parthenon is in such bad shape today primarily because it blew up in 1687. The Turks and the Venetians were fighting over the city. The Turks were postioned up on the Acropolis and the Venetians laid seige to the city. The Venetians were firing canon balls up onto the Acropolis and at some point hit the Parthenon, which was being used by the Turks as a powder magazine.

I'll be checking out some other sights in Athens later in the week, but tomorrow I'm driving out to Corinth. I'll try to post those tomorrow.

Hi All!

I've been in Rome for 3 days now, and have managed to see a good bit of what I'd hoped to see. Rome is huge, and everywhere you look, there are layers upon layers of history, from ancient to recent. My photos focus mostly on three sights -- the Pantheon, the Roman Forum and the Vatican, including St. Peter's and the Vatican museum. There's lots to tell that I don't have room for here, but I've got lots of material for when I come back! I will mention two things - one having to do with the Church and one personal.

First, one thing I'm learning more of here is that many words used in the church are actually old Roman words, that didn't even have any particular religious meaning to them. For example, the term "basillica" simply meant a large, covered building with one main and two side aisles. Usually, these were government buildings used for legal proceedings. However, as churches began to need larger spaces after the legalization of Christianity, and started using old Roman "basillicas" for worship, the term came to mean a big church. Also (and I did know this before), the title of Popes (Pontificus Maximus) was originally a term used by the Roman Emporers.

The personal thing I'm very grateful for is the ability to use English while in Italy. My bad Spanish is good enough to help me understand a little bit of Italian, but it hasn't helped me very much in trying to talk to people. But, I'm starting to realize that lots of Europeans use English as their international language (much the way people in the first century used Greek.) This was driven home to me when I was sitting in a cafe having lunch yesterday, and a bunch of German guys sat down at the table next to me. Only one of them spoke a little English, but he needed that English to commuicate with the waiter who spoke only Italian and some English. So, I ended up helping the Germans figure out the English words they needed to communicate with the waiter. And when my German is better than their English, it's bad!

Tomorrow, I fly to Athens, and will be in Greece for a little over a week. I'll be visiting a lot of places that St. Paul visited and wrote to. For now, I'm getting into my journeys with Paul by reading Paul's letter to the Romans, since I am, after all, in Rome!

Hi All!

Yesterday, I had a great day in Venice! It was especially nice, because the day I arrived it basically monsooned all day, and I think there was more water coming from the sky than there was in the Venetian canals! Nevertheless, I did do some walking around (mostly to get to indoor sights) and then the rain finally stopped around 5 pm. Yesterday, however, was a perfect day, and I've posted a lot of photos from when it wasn't raining.

I hadn't fully appreciated before that basically from around 900 - 1500 Venice was not only a major power and trading city, but a vital link between East and West. While most of Europe was still struggling in the dark ages, Venice continued to be connected to the Christian Byzantine Empire in the East and to trade with Muslim countries. This is reflected in St. Mark's Cathedral (San Marco) which really looks like a Byzantine Church with architectural themes that sometimes resemble a mosque. Of course, as Rick Steves points out in his travel books, this is partly because the Venetian army sometimes ransacked the East. In fact, a couple of St. Mark's most prized treasures were the result of the looting during the Crusades, when the Venetian army sacked Christian Constantinople, and carried off things from Hagia Sofia. So, in one sense, visiting St. Mark's was a good prelude to my visit to Istanbul in a few weeks. (Hopefully, Istanbul is also done with rain for a while!)

All in all, Venice was a fascinating city of canals, culture and history. I'm glad I was able to stop there, and I spent my last night on the San Marco piazza drinking chianti and listening to live music. It was a blast!

This morning, I caught a train to Rome, and already have managed about 7 hours of touring, including the National Museum, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. One of the things I'm already noticing about Rome is that everywhere you look you find bits and pieces of ancient history. It's hard to put it all together, but by focusing on a few things, I'm starting to get a sense of how this city evolved and changed over more than 2000 years. One thing that I hadn't expected to see so dramatically at the Pantheon was the change in street level. You walk down into the Pantheon. It's clear that when the building was first built, you walked up the steps to it. In fact, you can still see the steps in the excavations on the side. But, like pretty much everywhere else, if you want to see the "actual" place, you have to go down 10-20 feet. (I saw the remnants tonight of a racetrack built by Emporer Diocletian. The shape of the track is still visible in the modern piazza, but at one end you can see the excavations of where the track actually was -- and it's 25 feet beneath current street level.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to the Colluseum, the Roman Forum and the Vatican. I finally have a hotel with wireless internet in the room, so I hope to be able to post some more tomorrow!

Hi All!

Last night, I took my first overnight sleeper train from Frankfurt to Milan. It turned out to be a really restful night, which meant that when I got to Milan just before 8 am, I was rested and ready to go. The two main things I wanted to do in Milan were to see the Duomo (the Cathedral which dates from 1386) and the original Leonardo da Vinci painting, "The Last Supper." I did manage to do both, and more. You'll see lots of pictures of the Duomo, but of course, none of the "Last Supper" because they're really strict about the "no photography" rule there.

One place I was really disappointed was closed was the ancient baptistry in the Duomo. (It's being renovated.) While the Cathedral is the 4th largest church in Europe and dates from the 14th century, the Christian community here is much more ancient. In fact, two really significant leaders in the late 4th century, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, were both baptized in the ancient baptistry which now lies about 10 feet beneath the current Cathedral. (Ambrose was, in fact, the 11th bishop of Milan.) One of the reasons I like to see places like the original baptistry is that it reminds me that God has been at work for a lot longer than I can usually imagine, and the Holy Spirit has been working through people to pass on the message of Jesus in times and places that we can sometimes hardly recognize. (Later on though, I went to the Sforza Castle in Milan, and there I did see a number of things like what I might have seen in that ancient baptistry. There are some photos in the link.)

I also did get a chance to view the "Last Supper." Leonardo da Vinci painted it on one end of the Dominican Refectory (dining room) to go with another painter's work at the other end. Although Leonardo's painting is slightly younger, it's significantly more deteriorated than the other painting, because it's done as a fresco, which doesn't hold up well. But, you can still see, when you're in the room, how Leonardo painted it to be an extension of the Refectory, as though Jesus and his disciples were right there, eating with the Dominicans in the 15th century. It's a good reminder that for faith to be real, it can't be abstract -- it has to be a living encounter with God right in our own time and place.

There are lots of Milan pictures, and also a few of the reconstructed old center of Frankfurt, which I got a chance to visit before my train trip. Tomorrow, I'm off to Venice, and hopefully will be able to post some more things by Thursday.

Hi All!

I've been visiting my friends in Northern Germany for the past week. It's been great to see them again, and I was even able to be here for Ruth's 20th birthday! My friend Thomas and I did do a lot of bike riding over the week (75 km), but I'm afraid that pales in comparison to the number of calories I consumed! All in all, it was a great week! I'm in Frankfurt about to get on a train to head for Milan, and I'll have more to post in a few days. For now, you can check out the Northern Germany photos under the photo links on the right.

Hi All! I've been in the Mosel Valley for the past several days. The Mosel is known for it's white wines, and much of the economy is based on tourism and selling wine to tourists. So, I've tasted a lot of wine and bought a couple of bottles for my friends in northern Germany, too. This area also has a lot of old castles which were used in the middle ages to control the Mosel river, which was vital to commerce.

One castle I visted was Burg Eltz. It originally dates back to the 1100's, and is one of the few castles in Germany to have survived intact to the present day. One interesting piece of church history to note about Burg Eltz is that the only successful seige was carried out in the 1300's, when a seige tower was erected just in front of the front gate. (The ruins of the seige tower are also in the photos.) The seige lasted for about 4 years, and was carried out by the Archbishop of Trier, who was trying to gain control of that area of the Mosel valley. (In those days, either the church or the duke had control of land, and whoever did got to collect taxes.) So, bishops sometimes spent more time trying to control land than they did preaching! This continued until (and even past) the time of the Reformation, and this is the thing that Article 28 of the Augsburg Confession was concerned about. That article was not opposed to bishops existing or having power in the church (as some Lutherans sometimes think), but rather was opposed to bishops having secular power and doing stuff like the Archbishop of Trier did in the 14th century.

So, check out the photos from the Mosel in the photo links! I'm heading to Osnabrueck tomorrow to visit friends there, and I'll have another posting in a few days.

Hi All! I arrived in Germany on early Tuesday morning, Sept 1 and spent the first day in Frankfurt taking care of some initial business for my trip and trying to beat off jet-lag! Largely, this is done by taking it easy, but not sleeping until it's late at night local time. That pretty much worked, and by early Wednesday morning, I was in good shape to drive south to visit Katie Claycamp (a PoP member doing graduate work at the University in Konstance.)

Although the weather has been pretty rainy, which has prohibited us from getting a good view of the Alps, we've been having a great time touring Konstance! Although the city dates as a "Free City" from the 12th century, it's roots go back to Roman times, when there was a Roman fort here named in honor of the first Christian Emporer, Constantine. Later, in the early 1400's, Konstance was the site of the Council of Konstance, the last pre-Reformation Council of the western church, at which Jan Huss, a reformer who had been promised safe conduct, was burned the stake. About a hundred years later, Martin Luther was also promised safe conduct to respond to charges against him. But, with the memory of what happened to Jan Huss, Frederick the Wise took extra precautions and had Luther "kidnapped" for his own safety. During his "captivity", Luther translated the New Testament into German.

It's been fun catching up with Katie and her boyfriend Volker, and getting to see a new part of Germany. Tomorrow, I'll be off to the Mosel Valley for a few days. Each time I'm in a new place, I'll post a link in "Photo Albums" to the set of photos from that place. You can click that link on the sidebar, or look at the Konstance Photos by clicking here.