The Holy Land
Took a day trip to Jerusalem
View of Jerusalem
Interior of the church built on the spot where Jesus was arrested.
Large mural painting of Radioactive Jesus (?). I don’t know what’s going on in this painting. I went with the Russian tour group, so I didn’t really know what I was seeing. I had to use my detective skills/wikipedia when I got home to figure out what I saw.
See. This is a good example. What is the seal of the United States doing on the ceiling of this church? I’m thinking some sort of Da Vince code conspiracy right? No, it turns out that this church was rebuilt in 1919 and it received large funds from countries around the world which is why it’s called the Church of all Nations.
Tomb of Mary
The un-grandiose entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Inside this church is the Tomb of Jesus, where he was held in Prison, the hill where he was crucified, where they prepped his body for burial, where the cross was buried and found hundreds of years later. Who would have thought that all that stuff happened within 500 hundred feet of eachother?
Another story about this church: being the holiest place in all of Christendom, the church is run by all these different sects of christian churches. They’re all assigned different parts of the church which leads to trouble. As in fist fights between priests and monks (the last one being on April 20 over a door left open). Besides the areas run by different sects there are parts of the church that are run by all of them and can’t be changed without confirmation from all groups. Obviously, this is a huge problem. If you look in the picture above there is a ladder on a ledge that’s been there for 150 years because they can’t agree to move it.
Jesus’s tomb is located inside this little church that’s inside another church. Like I said, went in there and didn’t really realize what I saw until I got home the next day and looked on the internet.
Interior dome with an incredible Trompe-l’œil ceiling. Completely convinced it was real.
Mosaic floor in the basement of the church featuring the Great Flood.
Probably the best mosaic I have ever seen.
The Western Wall.
Dead Sea floating. Floating in the Dead Sea is like floating in your scalding bath tub filled with baby oil/a gallon of Morton’s salt, and incredibly sharp rocks.
I almost bought this shirt…
Other random photo from the airport.