Day One of Touring

The first picture is the sunrise from our hotel window. Beautiful birds of this land were a continual blessin to me. The seemed, time and again, to show up a crucial time. After leaving the Valley of the Doves, we headed to a village not far from Nazareth, whree Mary's parents were said to have lived. It was a Roman building project during the time of Jesus's boyhood. it is quite possible that he and Joseph would have done carpentry work here. The Greek word for carpenter is tekton, which means a worker of wood or stone. I thought it interesting that sarcophagi (have no clue of spelling), which were coffin type boxes that contained the bones of ancestors, were used for the cornerstones of the main building here. I instantly thought of Jesus and his willingness to suffer death being the cornerstone of his church and our life.

They were in the midst of excavating this area. Uncovered wre beautiful original mosaics from the time of christ. Some of these wre especially interesting to me.

One, in a dining room, was a beautiful floor of mosaics with a three sided white area in the floor. This would have been where the dining room table would have sat and more than likely waas the type of dining table on which Jesus would have eaten the Last Supper.

Depicted in the mosaics were many of the Roman gods. The first is called the Mona Lisa of Galilee. She was absolutely lovely.

The second shows a bout between Bacchus and Hercules. I think it a humorous warning of drinking too much. Bacchus puts Hercules under the table by getting him drunk. It made me smile thinking that the strongest of men can be put under when under the influence a little "too much".

The third shows a cenataur playing his flute. The next is a piece of early Roman graffiti. It says, in abbreviation, Only a really rich man can afford his own outhouse."

The last shows locals crushing grapes at the time of the harvest. Actually, here, I could not help but laugh, thinking of the I Love Lucy episode where she does the dance in a grape vat. Lynn, you and Oda Bee really came to mind so many times on this trip, because of Lucy and Ethel, but this was one place where thinking of you made me laugh!

The last pictures are some close ups to the Roman theater there.