A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words - except in Galilee, where it's two thousand!

Let's skip the pictures - eventually I'll post them on flickr, but instead I'll create a syntax snapshot set from Galilee.

Nazareth: this is a picture of the Church of the Annunciation, where the birth of the Savior was announced to Mary. (Or, as someone else noted, it is where "the angel Gabriel enunciated.") There are lots of pictures/mosaics of Mary here donated by other countries to represent their classical icons/images of Mary. Incidentally, the one donated by the US looks nothing like anything I've ever seen before, especially in the US. I also lost my scriptures here. This is very sad.

Boat Ride O'er the Sea of Galilee: this picture is from a wooden boat. The Sea of Galilee is actually a lake (Lake Kinaret) and so is not salty. This is wonderful because when a wave hits your face and goes up your nose, it doesn't hurt! It is also about 700 feet below sea level and is the mouth of the Jordan River. Moving on to more specific parts of this picture: it is early morning, the boat is stopped. We learn about Christ and Peter walking on the water. (And since Peter means "stone," we tried throwing stones into the water; they did not float.) We next learn about the Christ calming the sea in the storm. We learned also the history of the song "Master the Tempest is Raging." If you get a chance, read the lyrics and don't sing it and pay attention to them; they're beautiful. We sing the hymn, and it is a lovely moment. My favorite lines: "No waters shall swallow the ship where lies the Master of ocean and earth and skies." With Christ in that boat, they were never going to sink. We've already seen Christ's power over the elements: the flood, rain, parting Red Sea, etc. No water would be able to swallow Him up. This is one of my favorite pictures.

Mount of Beatitudes: I may have previously mentioned that every Christian site in the Holy Land has a church on top of it. These churches are often lovely, are always ornate and crowded, but often make it difficult to imagine or picture what the site must have been like when it was "made famous." The church on the Mount is Italian, and was commissioned by Mussolini. It is much more understated than other churches in this country, though, and the Mount still provided a lovely view of the Sea of Galilee.

Capernaum: pretty much everything happened here. This is the city by the shore of the Sea of Galilee where Christ called apostles and made them fishers of men. Peter lived here, and after Christ left Nazareth it became his "hometown," and he stayed with Peter. Other things that happened here: raising Jairus' daughter from the dead, the woman with the issue of blood healed, the centurion's servant healed, the same centurion then finances the building of a synagogue where Christ later delivered the "bread of life" sermon, the man with palsy was lowered through Peter's roof, blessing children. They have built an odd church here over Peter's house but the floor of the church in the middle is glass and you can see inside Peter's house from the church. The original basalt synagogue is fallen but the foundation is still there and then a 4th century limestone synagogue's ruins are on top of it (LDS scriptures - the picture of Capernaum in the back of the new editions). We had great devotionals/lessons here. My other favorite picture!

Ceasaria Philipi: a huge mountain of bedrock. This is where Christ told Peter that Peter was a stone and Christ is the rock upon whom the church is built.

Akko: a crusader city, Richard the Lionheart spent time here. It's on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea (this would NOT be in Galilee). I won a Magnum (ice cream bar) here by finding a fleur-de-lis on a wall.

Meggido: this is a famous tell. Yes. Lots of stuff happened here. It overlooks where the battle of Armageddon will be fought.

Mount Tabor: either here or Mount Harmon is the Mount of Transfiguration. But there's a church on top of Tabor, so we went there. It was neat, though.

Nimrod's Fortress: not only does this place have a fantastic name, but it certainly outclasses every other palace/fortress I have ever explored. This includes France. (Disclaimer: this does not include palace/chateau grounds/gardens or roofs. Much of Nimrod's roof was missing, and Chambord had the best roof EVER.) We had two hours to run around. This fortress is built on top of a very very steep hill. It's a mystery even today how the rocks got up there. Legend is that there were giants involved. Excellent view of the Jezreel Valley!