Day Five: Bethlehem

The Tour Itinerary:
After breakfast this morning we will enjoy a tour of Bethlehem including visits to the Nativity Church which was built above the traditional Grotto of Jesus’ birth, the Manger, the Grotto of St. Jerome, the Church of St. Catherine, and the Shepherds’ Fields. In the afternoon we will drive to Ein Karem, the birthplace of St. John the Baptist, to see the Visitation Church where Mary proclaimed her famous “Magnificat”. We will also visit the Franciscan Church of St. John the Baptist. We will then proceed to Jerusalem for check‐in at our hotel.

I did not have a good night as I was up several times with a very upset stomach. Surprisingly, though, I felt reasonably rested in the morning. I skipped breakfast and got ready for our 8:00am departure. Our first stop was the Good Shepherd Store, an upscale shop run by Christians which features high quality olive wood carvings, jewelry and other items. I got an olive wood rosary for Michael.

We went to the Shrine of the Shepherds' Fields which is still in use today by shepherds. See previous page for a picture of the fountain at the entrance to the shrine. We celebrated Mass in a covered outdoor area with a view of the fields. Fr. Jim used the early morning Christmas readings since they told how angels appeared to shepherds announcing the birth of Jesus. As a concluding hymn we sang "Angels We Have Heard on High". Two panels in another part of the Shrine are at the top of this page.

We went to the Church of the Nativity next. This is one of the two churches we visited that are "owned" by multiple sects. The church is huge, has multiple floors and is cut up into chapels and other worship

spaces of varying sizes. It is almost like you are going into a multi-tenant business building and needed a directory to figure out where the chapel for the sect you want to visit is located. The church is also undergoing extensive renovations so scaffolding is everywhere. The result is that views of most of the interior are seriously obstructed.

Our goal was to visit the grotto where Jesus was born. We got into a long, slow moving line in a tight space with huge crowds in a hot environment. Since the space where you can view the grotto is small, maybe a half dozen people can go in at a time. The whole experience was underwhelming and. sadly, not particularly memorable.

We went to lunch afterwards at a place close to Bethlehem. We were all seated at tables and plates of food similar to those we would get at

the buffets were placed before us. I had one pita bread. After lunch, one of the restaurant people put a fez on Matt Hachey's head. The fellow then brought Matt up on a stage adjacent to where we ate and dressed Matt in Arab garb. Matt really got into it and had a big smile on his face (picture on the left on page 25). Other people from our group were brought up on stage and were dressed similarly. Then a parade through the restaurant followed with all the participants dancing as they went along. It was really quite entertaining.

Re-boarding our bus, we went to Ein Karem near Jerusalem where we visited the Church of St. John the Baptist. It is a small and pretty church which is supposed to be built on the spot where Elizabeth and Zechariah lived. Plaques with the Canticle of Zechariah written in a variety of languages are in the courtyard of the church (picture on the right on page 25). The principal attraction is the grotto in which John is said to have been born. A small altar is built in the grotto, and the

effect is to create a very nice worship spot. Pictures of the interior of the church and the grotto are on the upper half of page 26.

On a nearby rise is the Visitation Church where Mary may have met Elizabeth when Mary journeyed from Nazareth. It is over 100 miles from Nazareth to Jerusalem so it probably took Mary several days to get there. The church is well decorated with some nice frescoes throughout. A chapel below the church has an very pretty alcove with a spring fed fountain. Pictures of the front of the church and the grotto are on the lower half of page 26. Around the courtyard are plaques with the "Magnificat" in various languages (picture on page 27).

We arrived our hotel, the Dan Jerusalem around 5:30 after a much less hectic day than the preceding one. The Dan is a very nice hotel, worthy of its five star rating. Since "Shabbat" (the sabbath) began at sundown, the food was fully kosher. Also, the hotel had "Shabbat" elevators. Since Orthodox Jews can do no work on Shabbat and pressing an elevator button is deemed to be work, Shabbat elevators start at the highest floor and move down one floor at a time where they stay an ample amount of time to allow people to get on or off. When they reach the lowest floor they return to the top. I accidentally got on such an elevator, and my button pushing was to no avail.

I ate a little bit of food in the evening, but because I had taken in so little I was pretty worn out at the end of the day. I cleared my email and updated this diary then turned in for the night.

Accommodations: Dan Jerusalem Hotel
> 32 Lehi Street, Jerusalem 97856. Israel
> Phone: ++972-2-5331234
> Highly rated, free WiFi