Israel Day 1-2 – Up, Up and away

Our journey began Sunday, June 17 … where else, but in church. This is where the planning began, and where our group is from. We left the church parking lot on the church bus at 3:00 p.m. (I want to thank Don Gullett for driving us) for our trip to the airport, and our 5:50 flight to Philadelphia to meet our tour leader John Delancey and the tour group.

Our flight to Israel left at 9:15 p.m. We were served dinner, then the blinds were closed and we were encouraged to sleep. During that time we did look out the window, and saw New York City, Long Island, Boston, Cape Cod, and Newfoundland. I tried to sleep. It is hard when you are squeezed into a tight space sitting up. I drifted in and out, half an hour here, an hour there (I had a gps tracker in front of me on the plane with the time). I managed to sleep about 5 hours of our 10 hour flight.

I cracked the window after dawn over France. It was green and I enjoyed seeing the farms from 38,000 feet in the air. I looked again, and saw the Mediterranean Sea just south of Rome. It was beautiful. I could not take my eyes off the terrain. The girls looked also, at Naples, the coast, the mountains, and the boot of Italy. We flew over Greece, saw Corinth, then Mount Olympus and the islands of the Aegean Sea.

Then there was Israel. A circle over Lod (Biblical Lydda - Acts 9:38), and the landing at the airport. We walked down the Ramp, and were greeted by a larger than life Mezuzah Passing through immigration, we met our Israeli tour guide Shlomo Ben-Asher.

Then we were off through Tel-Aviv for our first stop in the old city of Joppa. In Joppa we walked the narrow streets of the old city. We saw the supposed home of Simon the Tanner (Acts 9:43). (We were told te buildings dated from the 19th Century). We climbed the steps for a great view of the Mediterranean where we could see Andromeda Rock. We came back out to the plaza where we saw the fountains and the statue of Jonah’s whale.

Returning to our bus, we traveled north to Netanya where we spent the night. Denise & I had a room by the pool on the first floor. Chelsea and Sarah had a room on the 15th floor with a great view. We ate dinner – lots of fresh salads, and then went to the beach for a dip in the sea and an opportunity to collect some interesting rocks.