We're Moving to a New Website!

Well I guess it was inevitable, we have outgrown our lovely home here on blogspot. We have moved to our own piece of Internet real estate. is now the place we call home. It has all of the same information that is contained in this website, but it has more content, more bells and whistles and allows for a little more freedom. In addition, it will have a forum function so you can ask your travel questions and get answers. It will have pages dedicated to photography, handy ideas and unique design. We are excited for the change, so please come over and visit us, kick the tires and take it for a test spin. If you like what you see please let your friends and family know about it. Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you at our new location. Rob Shumate

Paris, oh la la

On this particular occasion, it was less of choice and more of necessity that we made it to Paris. Not because we didn't have the desire to go back, we did. The opportunity never really presented itself as we had so many other first-time visits to other countries to make. However, our hands were forced (don't feel sorry for us) to return to Paris because Sharma's parents were flying to Europe and decided to fly into Paris. Darn! I guess we will have to go back to the city of lights. I researched various options on how to get to Paris. We could take the ICE train, we could drive. If we drove, where would we park? If we drove would we pick up her parents or would we just meet them at the airport? A lot of questions needed to be answered and I needed to get busy on answering them. We priced ICE train tickets, once we figured out the price per person, although they weren't terribly priced, we could still beat them if we drove our car. So that was answered. Then we needed to figure out where to park the car. Our first option was to park at Disney Paris, which we know our friends have done. This apparently is a very convenient way of going to Paris. You park at one of the Disney parks and then take the train into Paris, spend the day, return to the park and leave. All great points, except for one key item...this is only good for a day trip. There are no overnight parking facilities. So I moved on to my next option, driving into Paris. Driving into large cities is never something I long to do, in fact if I can avoid it I will. But more often than not I find myself there, in the midst of the city, frantically telling the kids to "Look at the Eiffel tower before you miss it!". We found some parking garages near our hotel, some reasonably priced and some not. Ultimately I decided that I would drive into Paris, straight to Charles de Gaulle airport and pick up my in-laws, then park the van near our hotel. That was my choice and I was sticking with it. We left early in the morning from our hours, needing only four hours to get to Paris. Driving in France is not unlike driving in Germany except for two items, there are no stretches of unlimited speed in France and they charge you so much in tolls that you may want to consider taking out a loan just to visit. Tolls amount to, from our house near Kaiserslautern (Germany) 29 Euro each way. They make this very quick and painless, drive up to the toll station, insert your card and you are on your way with barely a tap of the brake. We made our way to Charles de Gaulle airport, wondering the whole way if I had made the right choice to pick up my in-laws. Airports in general make me a little nervous, with all of the hustle and bustle, a tornado of signs telling you all sorts of information, police, taxis, white zones...ahh! Now add to this list, all of the signs are in french. I know some french, I took it for four years in school, I had to read it while I served in Haiti, so it is not totally foreign. But when you are under stress, the words 'bonjour' and 'banjo' look about the same. We actually did pretty good for our first time there. In advance of them arriving I did my due diligence and looked up which terminal their flight was arriving. With this bit of information I followed the signs and found my way to the parking garage. We found a parking spot that could accommodate our large van (took up two spots, kind of). We walked to the the exit and took the elevator to the next floor, where all of the arrivals were. Actually it turned out to be a great move on our part and not difficult at all. After waiting for 45 minutes Sharma's parents showed up. After several minutes of greetings and conversation we left doing what we just did in reverse. We left the airport and now made our way to our hotel. Our hotel was located near the Sacre Coeur area of Paris. We were following our GPS and as we were getting near our hotel we were keeping our eyes open for anything resembling a parking garage. This was a crazy area of Paris; so many people and cars going every direction that really I just wanted to get off of the street, so the first garage we came to I drove in. It turned out to be quite a ways from our hotel (1/2 mile) but I felt better knowing that we just had to walk. The price ended up being okay as well, for our van we were charged 50 Euro for 48 hours, a small fee was added on for every hour over the 48, which meant we could explore some on our third day and not worry about being charged for a full extra day. We dropped off our luggage at our hotel, located in a very bustling, very diversed part of Paris. Our hotel won't be listed on any five star rating system. It was a clean room with a bed and a bath, these are our requirements anytime we go on a trip. This helps to defer the cost of lodging and gives us more money to play with. There was no elevator, so we were obliged to carry our bags up three flights of stairs. Our first destination was Sacre Coeur, a short walk from our hotel. We passed a Monoprix (grocery store) and purchased our usual. A diet of baguettes, sliced cheese, salami, red peppers, a couple of bags of chips, drinks and a small dessert. Again, this is a cost cutting measure first and foremost, but the great thing is everybody in the family likes it and we can still be mobile if we need to be. We hiked a couple sets of steep stairs to the top of the hill where Sacre Coeur sits. It was a busy day of tourists, the skies were cloudy but not threatening. We took in a rest at the top, ate our food and enjoyed the view from our vantage point from the steps in front of the church. After touring the church, we walked down off of the hill and caught a metro to the Louvre. We got off of the metro and walked back toward the Louvre from the direction of the Obelisk, at Place de la Concorde. We walked along the gardens outside of the Louvre, taking in all of the sites. The line to get in was short and we were in in a matter of minutes. We had a list of three things on our to-do list: Mona Lisa, Winged victory and Venus de Milo. The crowds were present but not overwhelming, it helps to visit late in the afternoon. We walked from the Louvre to the Metro...next destination, the Eiffel tower. We arrived at our Metro stop and walked along the Seine toward the Eiffel tower. As we got closer and closer the crowds became exponentially larger. We found some places to take pictures with the tower as our backdrop. We bought some cotton candy for Maddi, that always keeps her happy. This time we decided to watch the Eiffel tower from a perch 1 km away. We walked north of the Eiffel tower (away from the large expanse of grass), toward an overlook, there was already a crowd gathered, so we had to wait patiently for our chance to move to the front. We waited for 30 minutes until the Eiffel Tower started to sparkle. It twinkled for about 5 minutes and then the lights were shut off and we were left to bask in the afterglow. We caught the Metro back to our beds. The next day McKay and I had tickets for the French open at Roland Garros. Growing up I watched any sport on television, this meant that, from an early age I was exposed to all things tennis. The French open would be awesome to see someday...well that day is today, and doing it with my son? Even better. We took the metro to Roland Garros. We found the right line to stand in and were soon entering the park. We had printed off our tickets in advance and they scan them in and give you an actual ticket to get into the park. We had purchased a day pass (24 Euro) that granted us entrance in to courts 2-18, none of the big ones. I figured this time I would just get a feel for the tennis venue and then next year get tickets to a big court. McKay were definitely novices at this as we had no idea of schedules, who was playing, where to go or how to get into each court. We tried to get into court #3, the guy at the entrance let us in past the rope. We walked around the court and up some stairs and joined the line to get a seat. But nobody was moving. Was this court closed, not letting anybody in? We decided to leave and move to another court. Court #2 was next door. We stood in line at that one and saw that the line was moving. We soon realized that they only let people into the court when there is a break in the play, meaning that the players are taking a small rest. I am a dummy, I should have realized that. We got to see a Women's double on court #2. Then we decided to catch a Men's double, so we walked to one of the smaller courts, past the main courts. Wow, was it crowded and sunny today. They have huge television screens that people will just sit and watch the matches on. After sitting at the men's doubles for a while we decided to make our way back to court #2. It seems that they put the best matches, of those that didn't qualify for the big arena, in the lowest numbered courts (i.e. #2 and #3). We waited patiently for our turn to enter the court. We found great seats about three rows up from the court, right behind one of the players. The sun beat down on us from the right hand side. I brought sunscreen and did apply it, just not very well. I was burnt on he right side of my face, arms and legs. We were fortunate enough to see a Women's single match that went three sets. Then we watched a Men's singles match. This was awesome, 5 sets, 2 tiebreaks, serves going in excess of 130 mph. Truly a great match. It was Juan Monaco vs Milos Roanic. The only thing was that we had such great seats, that we didn't want to lose them, so we sat in our same seats for 5.5 hours in the sun. The best part of the match was when the water guy would come out and spray down the clay between sets. He got the loudest cheers and hollers because he would spray the crowd occasionally. It was such a hot day that any relief was appreciated, and he knew that. We didn't eat, drink or use the bathroom for 5.5 hours and we were spent. We caught the metro back to our place but because we only bought one way metro tickets we had to stand in line to purchase our return trip, us and about 200 hundred other people. Now we know all about the French Open...and I can't wait to get back. The next day we took our luggage to the car and dropped it off. We caught the Metro to Musee d'Orsay because it was a free museum day. We got to the museum and the line was starting to grow. Lucky we got there when we did. In fact we were even more lucky, because the guy running the line saw Maddi and let our whole group go through the VIP entrance saving us some time. The museum was an old train station converted into a Museum. They had many impressionist painters, many sculptors and a variety of other artists. The crowds were large but not unbearable. From here we took the metro back toward our hotel. Sharma had a flea market that she needed to go to...and yes, I said 'needed'. The flea market was called 'Les Puces de Saint Ouen' and apparently it is the largest flea market in France. Upon arriving we walked through the open air market past booth after booth of 'stuff' and when I say 'stuff' I mean 'stuuuffff'. We walked quite a while, just meandering around with no sense of purpose. This is where learning the art of orienteering would come in handy since it was very easy to get lost and turned around. We walked back to the car and drove home. Mode of Transportation: Van; tolls 29 Euro each way; Metro 6,90 Euro/adult for 1 day Mobilis ticket, Jeune ticket (students on Sat and Sun) 3,10 Euro/day. First Sunday of month all museums are free. Hotel: Bervic Montmartre Parking: Clingancourt 50 Euro/48 hours Sites: Louvre: 10 Euro/adult, 18 and under free, French Open tickets: 24 Euro/day, outside courts No 2-18; Les Puces de Saint Ouen- 27 Rue lecuyer, St Ouen (in Paris)

The storming of Normandy France...by the Shumates

Normandy is one of those places that you know that you should get to before you leave Europe, but it doesn't normally make anybody's top 10 lists of 'have to' in Europe. Such was our case, we knew it needed to make our list at some point but it wasn't a pressing matter. We tend to always have plans for spring break, this year was no different. We decided to fit in Normandy the last three days of spring break this year. As it is in any ward, or probably any church, people are always discussing where they are going for vacations and word gets around. We realized Eric and Stephanie Flake were also going to Normandy at the same time. After talking with them they offered to share their lodging accommodations with us. They had secured a small farm house in the countryside of Normandy. In addition, Ken, the owner, gave tours of the D-Day beaches and Mt. St. Michel. Eric had arranged for tours of the beaches, Mt. St. Michel, fishing in the local ponds around the house, shooting guns, gathering eggs, naming the baby lambs etc. We did not opt for this package, our only desire was having a place to lay our heads. So here is what it ended up to be, a large farm house complete with 6+ bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, living room and kitchen/dining area. We had one half of the house with our bedrooms and the flakes had the other half of the house with their bedrooms and we met in the middle to eat, converse and play games. We left early in the morning on Thursday, knowing we had an 8 hour drive ahead of us. We love our GPS, in fact if it wasn't for it we would still probably be in the Czech Republic trying to get back to Germany. Our GPS is on our iPhone, which we love the compact, concise nature of it all. The only drawback is that when we travel outside of Germany we get hit with roaming charges. If I was smart, for all of the money that I have paid in roaming charges I could've purchased two GPS units. Our trick, when outside of Germany, is to turn it on briefly, see how far I have to drive before our next set of instructions and then I will turn it off. In order to get to Normandy, from where we are in Germany we have to go directly through Paris, at least that is the most direct route. We were told over and over again to loop around Paris to avoid the traffic. Before we knew it, we were entering the Paris city limits. Traffic wasn't terrible, we caught a few sites of the city as we drove through, including the iconic Eiffel tower. As we were leaving Paris I saw a sign for Versailles. I mean, really, could I pass this up? No, I should say not. We followed the signs off of the Autobahn and through the city. After 20 minutes of driving we found a parking spot close to the palace. After stretching our legs we started walking. A 10 minute walk led us to the Palace of Versailles. The gold gate laid out the boundary around the outer courtyard. We walked through the first set of gates, past the long line of those going in, to the second golden fence. This was the actual palace border, you could peer in and see just a little. As this was not on our itinerary and we didn't have a lot of time this fleeting glimpse would have to suffice...but we'll be back. Beyond Paris the drive is beautiful, as you get into rolling hills, a patchwork of trees and grasslands that seem to go on forever. The houses are quaint and feel like they have been plucked out of an old country magazine and placed on the landscape. On the way to the Normandy area we decided to stop at Rouen, a small city whose claim to fame is the death place of Joan of Arc. There is a church here that marks the spot where she was burned at the stake. We made our way to the church and arrived just as it started to rain. All the other family members went into the church to take refuge but since Eddie was with us, I stayed outside, under shelter, and weathered the storm. There has to be some scriptural message in that story. The rain let up and we observed where she was burned (it is outside of the church). We got back to the van and took a deep breath for the last leg of the journey. As we were getting close to our destination, we realized that we were hungry and wouldn't you know that a McDonalds was right there...always so conveniently located. We called Eric Flake to let him know that we were almost there and then we grabbed a bite to eat. We drove another 30 minutes and met Eric and Ken, who then led us to our final destination. We got acquainted with our new surroundings, checked out the large house, strolled out in the garden/animal area and then thankfully put our clothes away, followed by us. The next day the plan was to go to the D-day beaches. Ken rode with the Flakes and we followed. On our way to the beaches we decided to go to Bayeux, a town that is home to the largest (longest) tapestry in the world. It tells the story of William the Conqueror. We drove in and out of small villages and towns in order to get there. As we were leaving one of these villages we passed a police car off to the side of the road, tending to another car. We didn't think anything of it. Not more than a minute later, as I looked into my rearview mirror, I noticed the police car on my bumper. They pulled around me and waved me over, so I obliged. Then they caught up to Eric and waved him over and he followed suit. The police car then sped up in front of us and blocked the roadway. Oh boy, what were we in for? Both cars pulled up to the police car now forming a barricade in our lane. They waved us onto a dirt driveway and approached the vehicles...they started talking in French. I understand some French, but I played dumb..."English?" In their best English (which was pretty good) she explained that I was clocked speeding coming out of the village and so was Eric. Since I am one not to make a big deal out of things, especially when I am in a foreign country I was getting ready to arrange payments. But Ken, was not going to take this lying down. I must confess at this moment that I didn't have any money on me, in fact we were just getting ready to find a bank in the next town. Ken pleaded and reasoned and explained...all to no avail. I was sent off by the police to retrieve my international driver's license and vehicle registration. Within the time that it took for me to walk 50 feet and come back, the three police officers and Eric and Ken were exchanging good byes and thank you's. Wait, what did I miss? Apparently as soon as Eric took out his passport and USAREUR (Government issued) license and the SOFA stamp was seen the police officer let us go. To this day I really don't know what happened and I am not sure Eric really knows either but suffice it to say we saved ourselves a lot of money. It would have cost us at least 150 Euro each for these infractions, it would have been paid in cash and it would have found its way into the police officer's pocket. Needless to say I drove 10 Km under the speed limit the rest of the time I was in France. We made it to Bayeux, a small and quaint city in Normandy. The Bayeux tapestry is kept in a building that is enclosed by walls. We got there early in the morning and still had to fight the lines. We had our Yorkie with us so he stayed outside with Ken. We really were not interested in anything else at this site, so we made a bee-line to the tapestry, stopping just long enough to get our audio guide. The tapestry was long, not big, as in rectangular, it stretched forever. They stretched it out in a horseshoe shape, there were numbers on the tapestry so the audio guide could follow along. In actuality, I thought it was a pretty neat thing to see. I took a couple of pictures (without the flash), even though you weren't supposed to. The tapestry depicts William the Conqueror's life, very interesting. We left the building after seeing this and walked up to a cathedral that was near by. We knew we had to hurry today because there was plenty to see. We waited for the Flakes for quite some time, but I became inpatient as I could see my time here slipping away and thinking of everything that I still wanted to see. The Flakes showed up and we piled in our cars and got on our way. Our first Beach stop was at Gold Beach, a site of the British invasion (not the Beatles). We parked and walked along the rode way that paralleled the beach, passing all sorts of trinket shops and souvenir shops selling old army relics. You could probably find anything related to WWII there. We stopped at one of them...because it is written in a bylaw somewhere that Sharma can't pass a souvenir shop without stopping. Actually it was fine, I definitely wanted a memento of this trip. My children bought spent ammo casings (they were probably never used in the war, but who would know). We walked down to this small beach that had large cement stacks sitting in the water, 200 meters out. These were known as Arromanche, they were part of a floating, portable road that the Allied forces used to off load their ships and transport their armored vehicles ashore. Really a great site to see them. And what an amazing feat of engineering to achieve it. Oh yeah, we bought Maddi a cotton candy...she remained happy. From there we drove to Omaha beach. "The beach" that everybody knows. The whole group went into the museum there, except for me, I had to take Eddie. There were no dogs allowed on the grounds, but being undetermined I snuck him in. I walked the grounds waiting for the others to come out of the museum. There were a lot of people there and there were several workers patrolling the area, looking for anybody breaking the rules...namely me. I lasted 20 minutes before I was nabbed, the Yorkie was not welcomed. I took him out to Ken, who was watching one of the Flakes little girls while she was sleeping. The cemetery at Omaha beach is breathtaking, white headstone after white headstone, cast against the backdrop of the site of the beach invasion. We were there while they were taking down the US flag, everybody stopped what they were doing and paid their respects. We walked down to the beach from here, a winding and fairly steep walk. The beach was like any other beach, sand, a barrier of sage brush, followed by a steep cliff. But to think what had happened there, to think that many of those young soldiers would see their last moments of this life there...pretty moving. We gathered some sand to remind us of our time there and started our ascent back up to the top of the hill. From the perch at the top of the hill you could have a clear view of this beach and some of the other beaches that were in play on that D-Day. Next we stopped at Pointe Du Hoc. This was a small peninsula that was carpet bombed on that triumphant day. As you walk up to the area of Pointe Du Hoc you start to see the telltale signs of pockmarks in the ground. Some were small, only 8 feet deep, others were very large, 20 feet deep. The kids had a ball running around, down and in the craters and then climbing back out. The whole landscape was hole after hole. Some of the pill boxes and fortified structures were still there. Compared to Omaha beach, the cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc made them look like the plains of Nebraska. These were sheer cliffs, a rock face that was unforgiving. It started to rain on us here, it was about time since it was threatening all day. The rain was refreshing and lasted 30 minutes. We decided it was time to get going and make the trip back home. The next day we arose bright and early and headed out for Mt. St. Michel. Again, this was something I remember learning about in French class. We drove 40 minutes from our farm house and then there it was. There in the distance was this edifice that looked like some giant had placed a huge paperweight on the flat sand and left it there. The land leading to the water was as flat as flat could be and then you have this gigantic rock with an Abbey placed on the very top. It truly was an amazing site and probably the most breathtaking site we have seen so far in Europe. We crossed the causeway and parked our car. We entered the walled village at the bottom of the rock and made our way through the streets taking in the sites, souvenir shops and restaurants. We climbed the stairs to the Abbey and decided to split up. McKay and I had Eddie and the girls went in. The views were magnificent, overlooking the inlet of water, that was now rushing in to try and encircle this monolith. After the girls came out McKay and I entered. We kept a pretty quick pace, knowing that they were waiting for us. The structure was incredible, just knowing how much work they had to do to build this structure. The rooms were cavernous. After winding our way through the Abbey we found our way out and eventually found the rest of our family, they were shopping. We always purchase a water color of travels, so we found a nice water color and few other souvenirs to remind us of our time there. We returned home, cleaned up a bit and hit a antique shop...a huge antique shop in a small town. It had a lot of...stuff, yeah just stuff...oh and did I mention there was a lot of it. From there we went to a restaurant where they had a buffet style food choice of French food (obviously, since that is where we were at). The food was good and interesting all at the same time. I ordered Salmon along with my buffet. It was good, not great, but we did have a great time there. We drove back to our farm house where we relaxed the rest of the evening, enjoying the company of the Flakes and learning a new game called Dominion. The next day we dedicated to relaxation. We could have been very ambitious like the Flakes, who took every opportunity to immerse themselves into the surrounding culture and farm life. We opted against going down to the local dairy farm and buying fresh milk, skimming the top off and making your own butter. Looking back, I would have done that, but at that day and at that time I just wanted to sleep in. I had to get to the dairy farm by 8:30 am. The Flakes left in the morning to head back and we spread ourselves out and enjoyed the house. They had a real wood burning fire place, something I have loved ever since growing up in Washington....the smell and feel of a real fireplace. My skills were not quite as good as I remembered however. It didn't help that the wood was wet from the recent rains...definitely going to blame my lack of starting a fire on that. Eventually the fire started and kept us warm. Sharma and I went to a supermarket to buy enough food for the day. We went to bed and got up the next day and drove home. Info Transportation to area: Drove van from Germany, 8 hours, approx 45 Euro in tolls-each way (29 Euro just to Paris) Lodging: Holiday Lettings-Ken and Charlotte Kitson, CAKitson@gmail.com Sites: Versailles, Rouen, Bayeux Tapestry (7.80 Euro adults, 3.80 Euro children/students), Gold Beach (Arromanche), Omaha Beach (museum and cemetery), Pointe du Hoc, Mt St Michel (9 Euro/adult, under 18 are free)

Bavaria

We have long wanted to take a day to visit the southeastern part of Germany, better known as Bavaria. This is where you would find Munich, Dachau, the Eagle's Nest and Neuschwanstein castle. Obviously we couldn't see all of these places in one day so we chose to see Neuschwanstein and Dachau concentration camp. The Neuschwanstein castle is the model for Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle. Dachau concentration camp was the first concentration camp established by Adolf Hitler. Talk about dichotomy. The trip was about four hours, not a hard drive, easy to do in a day. As we got close to the castle, from the back seat the call was heard "There it is!" I looked, I swear I did. Where? The classic case of looking beyond the mark, I was looking up on the mountain for a massive monument. I finally spotted it, a smaller castle, placed on a medium sized hill in front of the mountains. Now please, don't let my description deter you from visiting or downplay the 'coolness factor' of the castle...I just had built up something more in my mind. We parked below the castle because you can't drive up to it. On dry days you can pay to take a horse drawn carriage to the midway point and then hike the rest of the way. Today, because it had been snowing and the path was wet, we had to walk to the top. We purchased tickets for the English tour of the castle. On our way to the trail head we passed a very picturesque lake scene. No seriously, postcard picturesque. The lake was serene, the backdrop was a mountain ridge draped in a blanket of snow. We didn't have long to admire this beautiful sight as we need to make our way up the hill to the castle so we could join our English tour guide, otherwise we would be trying to figure out what the German tour guide was saying. We ran into another English speaking family and exchanged picture taking services with each other. We walked up the hill, at least we were able to work up a sweat and get relatively warm. About half way up we heard the tell tale sounds of clomping hoofs. We missed our opportunity to ride by 15 min. Thats okay, if you know me, I am hiking the hill to save a few bucks unless I am physically unable to perform. We made it to the top and looked out over the valley, what a view. We didn't have long to admire it however because we needed to be in the castle in 5 minutes. So after a string of quick photographs we were on our way again, finishing off the last 200 meters. We joined our group and were immediately given rules/instructions. The only one I remember and the only one I knew that I was going to break was 'no photographs'...yeah, like that has ever stopped me before. The castle was very magnificent on the inside. Ludwig II did a very good job on this castle and spared no expense, which was part of his problem. I had my iPhone at the ready to take any photo that presented itself...because that is what any good photographer does right? I have become pretty good about blending in, waiting for the perfect hole, quickly snapping the photograph off, putting the phone away and acting natural. I took several photos of the inside of the castle and never got caught once. Through one of the windows you could see this bridge spanning the mountains behind the castle. People were on it and taking pictures. I asked one of the workers there how to get out onto the bridge, she said the bridge is closed and they should not be on it because it was dangerous. Too bad! That would have been a great picture. Our next destination was Dachau Concentration camp, a very humbling and moving place. I have been here before but it was by myself, I wanted to check it out before taking my family here. I felt that my kids were mature enough and could handle the very sobering subject of genocide. This place was a destination of the visual, for the camp is not a thing a beauty, but it is a destination of the mind. It makes you pause, it makes you think, it makes you question, and in this sense it is a very real tourist destination. The day was a dreary, overcast day, which is the way you would expect a visit to a concentration camp to be. I was excited for my kids to see how evil this world can be, sometimes it is beneficial to take off your rose-colored glasses and see the potential in people...the potential evil. This place made evil a reality. Dachau was used as a prototype for other concentration camps. The ovens were actually used, but the gas chambers were never actually used but they existed here. All of these still stood; the barracks were torn down and where they once stood, just the foundation remained as a testament to what was here. There was a mini museum/story of what happened not only here but from the onset of the third reich. Hailey really wanted to see it, Sharma was not thrilled and McKay and Maddi, I believe, could have cared less. But, I believe they all walked out of this place with a better perspective on life and possibly vowed to be a better person because of it. We try to blend ethical and philosophical places as much as just seeing the beauty of this world. The trick is communication, talk with your children, spouse or friend as you have these experiences...you might just learn something wonderful.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

So, one of the best perks we receive is being able to partake in the Wounded Warrior travel opportunities for providers at the hospital. It is an opportunity to see various things in Germany free of charge, for the whole family. We decided to visit Rothenburg, because it is supposed to have a wonderful Christmas market and just the fact that it is supposed to be a wonderfully preserved walled city. Rothenburg is situated near Nuremberg, in the eastern part of Germany. We left very early in the morning. We drove to the hospital, parked our car and loaded onto one of two buses. Like I have alluded to before, the buses that we get to use are very nice, complete with a bathroom, reclining seats, seats that move away from your seat mate, so you have a little extra room. They always give you a goody bag, this time it included a drawstring backpack, water bottles, and other small items. The bus was moderately full, McKay and Hailey sat next to each other, Maddi and Sharma were paired up and I sat by myself. We left at 6am, on a very cold and dark Saturday morning. I plugged in my iPhone and listened to music and podcasts that I downloaded. Half way to Rothenburg we stopped at McDonalds to have brunch, just as the snow started to fall like a blanket out of the sky. Oh yes...it was cold this day..a bad omen. We pulled into Rothenburg in the late morning, somewhat groggy and very cold. On all Wounded Warrior excursions there are tour guides provided, very knowledgeable and approachable. Here is the rub, if you know the Shumates, we are an independent breed. We don't like to be cooped up in a pack of people, unless we are leading the pack. The balancing act here, is how long do we stick with the pack leader before we break off and form our own makeshift group? We stayed with our tour guide for 20 minutes...not too bad for us. Our first item of business was to find an ATM and get some Euro so we could do what we do best. Before we could do this, we were lured into the Rothenburg cathedral, which much like all of the churches here in Europe, was wonderful...wonderfully 'been there done that'. We conquered the ATM and set out for our adventure. We actually wandered a bit outside of the walled city and purchased something called a Schneeball. It is a shortcrust pastry special to this area, it is deep-fried in a special device that helps it to retain is characteristic ball shape. It is then dusted with chocolate or confectioner's sugar. We bought two and since we were hungry they didn't last longer than 5 minutes. It wasn't fantastic, but we were hungry. From there we wandered back into the city, feeling sorry for ourselves because we were cold. We made it to the town square where the Christmas market was being held. We purchased something called Kinderpunsch, this is our version of a hot drink, non-alcoholic. It is usually made with apple or grape juice, cinnamon and ground cloves. You buy the drink in a souvenir mug, each city has their own souvenir mug. You buy the drink which includes a fee for the cup, if you want to keep the cup, away you go. If you want a Euro back, turn the mug back in and they will dispense a Euro to you. After consuming our Kinderpunsch we wandered down the main street of town. Now, I am going to apologize right now, I am not sure what appeal the Christmas markets have. Please don't get me wrong, they are nice, they put you in a Christmas mood, of this there is no doubt, I just am not a subscriber of needing to see all 2,500 Christmas markets in Germany or the rest of Europe for that matter. We meandered down the street, briefly stopping into stores to look at the local wares, but mainly to get warm. We found our way to a portion of the walled city that you could walk around. So we climbed the stairs and walked along a narrow path and low hanging ceiling, that they built around the wall. There were great views of the city...and into people's homes. I am sure they have gotten used to seeing random people peering into their homes while they are trying to live their life, I don't know, if you ask me that would be just a little strange. We had 1.5 hours to go before the bus was to leave. We found this restaurant that was serving hot chocolate that looked very good. We purchased 5 hot chocolates...I figured that we paid $20 for all of them. The exchange rate can really kill you sometimes. While there we played a game that we like to play...somebody starts of a story by saying one word, the next person says one word, the next person says one word and so on. We laughed, they looked at us, we laughed some more. And since we use our iPhones and iTouches a lot our respective batteries were running low. So we plugged each one in...since we never go anywhere without having a cord to charge them. I know...sad that we can't detach. We met our group and blended in, like we were there the whole time. We did have a good time, we are glad that we went...mainly because I didn't have to drive, it was free and we could mark this one off of our ever growing list.

Roma...not the tomato

Our second time to Rome! There is much to see in Rome and since I really enjoyed our first visit I was looking forward to our second. I decided since we had seen many of the big highlights in Rome the first time we were here that we would spend time in a museum that we didn't get to the first time around. I had everything planned, get off the ship, walk 15 min to catch the train into town. I knew the schedule and how much it would cost. No problem. But Rome had other ideas. We get off of the ship and start to walk toward the train station when we are stopped by a group of taxi drivers...I didn't know if this was going to be a throw down with taxi driver hooligans or what was going on. They indicated that there was going to be a general strike today. Great!! We would be able to get into the city but not back to port...that is unless we used their services. I was skeptical and thought that maybe they were just trying to make a buck. There was an 'information' booth next to us so figured I had better ask to make sure what they were saying was legitimate. They concurred with the information that was being given to us. The information booth had one bus that would be going into town and we could purchase tickets if we wanted. We wanted. We bought round trip tickets for 80 Euro for the family...four times as much as I would have spent on the train and taxi...so not happy at this point. The Pextons, our friends from Washington were getting off in Rome. They had all of their luggage with them and they needed to pass through customs at the port. They also bought their tickets to get onto the bus to Rome, but they purchased them from a lady roaming amongst the people standing outside of the 'information' building. They were keeping lists of people who had purchased tickets, the problem was they were two distinct lists, there was no coordination of the lists to see who was on the bus. So when it was time to catch the bus we were all able to get on, except our friends the Pextons. They were the only people left standing, with their luggage and no way of getting to Rome. Sharma threw a mini fit, John was fit to be tied and our best efforts looked like they were going to be thwarted. There were seats on the bus, but they were for the infants that were being held on laps. To me this didn't make much sense, since when do you see infants sitting in seats by themselves. After a few tense moments, they relented...probably realizing they were going to lose money on not using those seats and John and Stacey were able to get on the bus.

An hour later we were being dropped off in front of the Vatican. We said our 'goodbyes' to the Pextons as they went to find their hotel and start their two day visit to Rome and we had our own destination. We (us and the Palmers) walked passed Castel Sant Angelo and over the Ponte Sant Angelo, which is the bridge that crosses the Tiber river. It is a nice bridge with marble figures lining the sides of the bridge.

From here we walked to Piazza Navona, my favorite piazza (at least so far). As we did the first time, we got several times trying to find this piazza and had to ask several people. I am not the typical male that won't ask for directions if I am lost. I want to know where I am going and will ask multiple people to make sure I don't waste my time. The Piazza was busy today, there were Christmas kiosks selling items and a lot of people taking pictures. We took a few pictures and looked for our next destination, a bathroom. We decided to find a McDonalds to use their facilities, but we did not realize how hard this task was going to be. It was coming up on our GPS, there were signs but we couldn't find it, it was the varitable needle in a haystack. We found ourselves next to the Pantheon and didn't even have a chance to spend much time here because we needed the bathroom so badly. I found somebody sweeping in front of their shop and I asked where the McDonalds was and she looked at me with this inquisitive and almost berating attitude and said 'why do you want a McDonalds when you have all of these local restaurants to choose from?' I explained our plight and she directed us to a local restaurant to use their bathroom...sweet relief.

We hurried over toward the Spanish steps area and stopped at a McDonalds to pick up a quick bite to eat before we had to get to the Borghese Gallery. In order to visit the Gallery I was instructed to purchase my tickets online because you had to have a reservation to visit it. We finished up at McDonalds so we could make our 1pm entrance time and we needed to be there at least 30 minutes before to pick up the tickets. We left McDonalds and climbed the Spanish steps. Just then Travis realized that he had left his backpack at McDonalds and needed to go back and retrieve it. We decided to split up, McKay and I would go to the Gallery and pick up our tickets in time and the rest would wait for Travis and then come and meet us. I didn't realize how far of a walk it still was to the Gallery, McKay and I took off in a very fast walk to pick up the tickets. We made it there just as our 30 min time limit was expiring. What made me perturbed was the fact that the person in front of me had no reservations and was allowed to buy tickets. I don't know if they say you have to buy tickets online, but the unwritten law is that you can purchase them on a walk up basis if there are tickets still available. Anyway, we followed the rule and retrieved our tickets at the appointed time. Our family and friends joined us 15 minutes later. Then we realized that we had to check in our belonging before entering the Gallery which was another 10 minute wait. They allot you 2 hours to see the Gallery and limit the number of people, which is actually nice, because even though you are fighting crowds it isn't terrible. The Borghese Gallery is spectacular with the finest marble creations I have seen. The bulk of the exhibit is by Bernini. There are several famous sculptures here and they all have intricate detail. The indentations that are carved into the marble, for example where somebody is grabbing somebody else, are so intricate and precise that it looks absolutely real. We spent a good hour looking at everything, but the kids moved through quickly and were anxious to go.

We took the Metro back to the Vatican as it was getting close to the time that we needed to get on the bus. Sharma and Corri did some shopping in the shops around the vatican. Me and the kids purchased gelato for everybody. We took pictures of the Swiss Guard around the Vatican and hung out in St Peter's square for 20 minutes. We made it back to the buses and loaded on ready for the hour long ride back to port. All in all, a good day in Rome. Whether there was an actual strike or not, I can't say...we may have been had, but in hindsight it was worth the extra money to make sure we got to Rome....I hope to see you again someday.

It's all Greek to me

Making it to Athens was high on my list, so when this trip came up with not only Israel, but also Athens, I was sold. One of the people in our group used their 'no fee' passports, that are issued by the government to employees/military overseas. He was flagged when he arrived in Athens and therefore they wouldn't let him off of the ship. We all decided to wait for him in the dock area. 20 minutes later he showed up being led by security from the Athens port. He was taken in to a small roomed and questioned about what he was doing here. They gave him a hard time about using his 'official' passport instead of a 'tourist' passport. After another 10 minutes they released him and we were able to get on our way.

We walked into Athens to catch the metro to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon, my main destination. Again, a very brisk morning, so the more we kept moving the warmer we stayed. The hike up to the Parthenon was a pretty steep climb, along a winding path. As we approached the entrance we hit the bulk of the crowds. We all funneled into the passage to reach the top of the Acropolis. The wind was very strong on top, so now it wasn't just cold, it was very cold. It literally blew right through you. The Parthenon was under construction so you had scaffolding that obstructed portions of the edifice. There were tons of people milling all around, so getting the right picture was part skill and luck. The view from the top was outstanding as you could look in a 360 degree panorama over the city of Athens. I didn't linger on top because we were all cold and ready to get out of the wind tunnel. As we descended from the Acropolis I wanted to make sure that I was able to see Mars' Hill, where Paul preached to the Athenians about the 'unknown God', referenced in Acts chapter 17. The hill is not spectacular, but is a rocky outcropping from a hill at the base of the Acropolis. There are some steep stairs the led up to the top of the hill and from there you can navigate pretty easily. I stood there and imagined Paul preaching in this very spot, pretty incredible.

From here we made our way to the neighborhoods of Plaka and Monastiraki to do some shopping. These areas are basically shops and flea markets, but not the traditional flea market you would think of if one said the word 'flea market'. We meandered toward Monastiraki square, a very small square without much to see. However, there was a man selling coconut sticks covered in chocolate, there were delectable. At this point there was a small division in what we should do next. Several of our members wanted to go to "Hard Rock Cafe" to have lunch, which is something they do at every one of their destinations in order to eat and purchase a local souvenir. We decided that we didn't want to do that but wanted to go to Syntagma square instead.

As we parted ways and started to head for the square we passed a Gyro shop. They had spinning meat...which made my head spin. I knew I wanted to have an authentic Gyro from Athens. No better time than the present. We stopped and purchased several. Man! They were so good. I needed to remember this moment so I had my picture taken with the guy manning the spinning meat. We walked up to Syntagma square. A natural meeting place for people dissatisfied with austerity measures that Greece is implementing on its residents. This square has been in the news a lot lately, mainly filled with protesters and people clashing with police. I wanted to make it here if it was safe. We wandered up to the square keeping an eye out for anything that may seem dangerous. There were police around but not much activity. For all intents and purposes, it was a normal square and you wouldn't have known that anything had occurred here. The only tale tell signs were saying in graffiti that were out of place, on the backs of benches, on walls etc. There was your usual band playing for money and people milling around. We walked up to the main road and started to take pictures of a government building when something more interesting caught our eye. There was this dog, a mangy mutt that was patrolling the main street in front of the government building. He would chase anyone on a bike or motorcycle and try to bite them. He had most of his success with slower moving vehicles, so bikes and mopeds were his best option. But he was an equal opportunity biter so he tried anything on two wheels. Did not mess with cars, probably learned this lesson the hard way. As we (probably 10 of us) sat there watching him chase, bark and bite unsuspecting travelers, we found ourselves rooting for him to get somebody. I know, it sounds terrible. He would chase somebody and then he come over to us and sit down quietly, not making a sound until his next victim. Once he saw them, he would chase, bark and bite some more. Come back to us, sit down and wait. He was like Jekyl and Hyde. And we cheered him on. He finally was successful, he bit somebody's pant tore the denim as they rode away. We cheered, feeling like he had won, it was time to move on. That could have been the highlight of our Athens visit. We took the Metro back to our starting point and then walked back to the ship.

Turkey on turkey day

We reluctantly left Israel and headed for Turkey. We have been to Turkey and like Turkey so we shouldn't have any reservations about going. Since we have visited Turkey before we knew what to expect, the hustle and bustle. Since this is our second stop to Izmir, with the main attraction being Ephesus and us visiting it last time we decided to keep it simple this time and just stay in Izmir.

I had done a bit of research on what there is to see, it is not ladened with tourist sites but there were a few that I wanted to hit. We stopped at the Agora, an excavated area that had some ruins that were in various states of uncovering. It was a cold morning, we hailed a taxi and piled in. He wove through the streets of Izmir like a man who just robbed a bank and was on the lamb. He pulled off to the side of the road and he waved to us to go across the street. We exited his vehicle and crossed the street and wandered down a road to a fenced off area. The Agora sat in front of us...very underwhelming. We peered through the fence, took a couple of pictures, realized how cold we were and decided it was time to move on to the bazaar, to warm our cockles by doing some shopping.

We walked 20 minutes to the bazaar and immediately realized that this could entertain us for a few hours. We had a great time wandering, browsing and just taking in everything. We found several items that we liked and most of them were extremely inexpensive. McKay found soccer jerseys for about 5 Euro apiece. We found scarves that were dirt cheap. I bought some nice leather shoes for Sunday and trainers to wear during my travels. The kids found all sorts of clothes. Sharma even purchased a small nightstand. When we were in Istanbul they had really good cherry tea, so when I saw several guys carrying around trays with tea I thought I had found heaven once again. I asked one of the runners how much they were, he told me and indicated to follow him...which we did. He poured us five small glasses of tea...except it wasn't cherry. It looked red...cherry red, but it didn't have the same taste, in fact it didn't taste very good. We tried to drink as much as we could so we didn't appear rude and not appreciative. I drank most of mine and then realized that the kids had not hardly touched theirs. I went into 'dad' mode and decided it was time to take one for the team. I drank out of each of their cups to the point that they were almost gone. I know the glasses appeared small but when you don't like the fluid contained therein, the glasses suddenly seem like 64oz. Big Gulps. I choked it down and decided it was time to move on. We came upon a mosque in the middle of the bazaar, actually there a few but this seemed to be a little larger than the others. We peaked inside but did not go in, even though I was beckoned to come in by a guy coming out of the mosque. On our way out of the Bazaar we stopped at a pizza shop and enjoyed a quick sit down meal.


We walked to the Izmir clock tower. This is probably the most famous tourist spot in Izmir. It is located in Konak square, a large cemented area near the sea. In the middle is a tall structure with four fountains, completed in 1901. We took several pictures in and around this area. After walking over to look at the sea we caught a taxi back to the ship. We were ladened down with many bags of trinkets, clothes and furniture, I think we broke a record of how much we transported back to the ship on this trip. Now my concern is getting it packed away and off of the ship.

That evening we had dinner on the ship and since it was our traditional Thanksgiving, we were all in the mood for turkey, stuffing, potatoes, pumpkin pie. The turkey that was served and every other dish that was supposed to replicate a Thanksgiving meal were terrible at worst...especially the pumpkin pie...inedible. At least they tried, but this instance it would have been better that they didn't.

The Holy Land-Day 2

We started the day at 7am...like we should have on Day 1. We found our bus and settled in for a ride to Jerusalem. It was little over an hour to Jerusalem and Moti did a good job of teaching us about his country and the relationship with the Palestinians. We would pass Palestinians settlements and you could tell them because they were the ones that had large cement fences with barbed wire at the top.

I felt very lucky having two people in our group who had spent time for a semester at the BYU Jerusalem center. They were a fountain of knowledge and could explain everything with a LDS perspective. I split them up on the buses so each bus had somebody who was well versed...beyond our tour guides.

As we approached Jerusalem I became more and more excited. Finally, there it was Jerusalem! We rounded a bend on the freeway and we could see the tale tale sign of the Dome of the Rock. There is no mistaking it. We drove a little further and passed the BYU Jerusalem center! So cool. It was so surreal, I really can't put it into words...seriously. From knowing Jerusalem through pictures, through biblical stories, through the news...and here I was.

Our first stop was the Mt of Olives. We pulled up and the first thing I saw was a camel...yep, a man trying to make money was selling rides on his camel...we're not in Kansas anymore. The view from the Mt of Olives was fantastic...just amazing. It overlooked Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock, the outer wall, the stairs to the temple, the city of David, the Lion's gate and Bethlehem off in the distance. Here is the funny thing about the Mt of Olives, there are no olive trees on it...zip, nada. The hillside is one large Jewish cemetery, containing over 150,000 graves. From our vantage point we could see the Golden gate leading into Jerusalem through the old city wall. This gate is sealed but we know that Christ passed through this gate on Palm Sunday and upon his return he will pass through it again. The gate was sealed and a muslim cemetery was placed in front of the gate to prevent the Messiah from entering here. In front of us was the corner of the wall of the city, from here Jesus might have been tempted by Satan to cast himself down after he had fasted 40 days and nights. Next to this were the stairs leading into the city where the temple would have stood. These are the steps that one could imagine Mary and Joseph returning to Jerusalem and looking for the young Jesus as he was sitting among the learned and teaching them or you could imagine Christ cleansing the temple of the money changers on these steps. Off to our left in the distance you could see Bethlehem perched on a far off hill. Bethlehem is in a Palestinian area and therefore necessitates crossing over into Palestine, which equates to changing bus driver/tour guide and getting your passport stamped etc. We didn't have enough time for this on this go around. We could also see the City of David off to the left of Jerusalem. We had our devotional and a group picture. After spending 30 minutes here...and frankly I could have spent another hour here looking at everything, we left.

Our next stop was the Garden of Gethsemane. We hopped back into the bus for a short 15 minute drive, which actually wouldn't have been that long if we would have walked. We got off of the bus and crossed the street, next to the old wall of Jerusalem. We walked passed an old church and onto a side street. Up the side street we came to two walls that lined either side of the street. On the right side of the street was the public viewing of the Garden of Gethsemane, on the left was the private viewing of the Garden of Gethsemane. I don't know what Moti did or who he knew but he was able to get us into the private section. It is much like the public part except it is quieter, with less people and the path winds in and amongst the trees whereas the public part appeared to have the path around the perimeter of the trees. By this time we learned that Moti was going to talk a lot at each of our stops and if we wanted to get some photos we just had to wander away. So wander away we did. I loved the Garden of Gethsemane. The trees looked like they had been ripped up by the root, twisted, wrung out and placed back in the earth. They looked so old and I could well imagine them being privy to the Atonement that took place in that garden spot. Again I could have spent another half an hour just taking it all in. There was peace in that Garden, much different than on the night of his atonement. To give me perspective of our proximity, just beyond the walls of the Garden, lay the Dome of the Rock.

Unfortunately we needed to cut our time short because we had an 11:00am appt to see the Garden Tomb. You can't see it without an appointed time and our time was coming very quickly...in fact we were going to be late. I was frantic with anxiety...we can't miss the Garden Tomb. The bus ride took longer than I had hoped, traffic and narrow streets with cars did not help us. We scrambled off of the bus and followed Moti, our fearless leader. We all looked like Lemmings, each person following the next...actually we were dysfunctional Lemmings because we had large gaps in our line, some people would stop and take pictures and others would wander off of the path. To my surprise and utter astonishment we made it to each of our destinations with each person accounted for. We entered another side street lined with cement/rock walls that curved around to the left. On the right hand side there was a small door, big enough for one person to enter, this lead to the Garden Tomb area. We met our Garden Tomb guide, he sounded British. He first led us to the far end of the garden, to a small lookout. The view was of a small parking lot, next to a building on one end and a rock wall on the other end. To the casual observer this scene wouldn't amount to too much. He started to tell a story of a British gentleman that was at a hotel near this area and as he was looking out of a window, looking at this rock wall, he noticed something odd...the face of the wall looked like a skull. Golgotha, meaning skull, he surmised this might be the place of the crucifixion of Christ. Now as we gazed upon this rock wall, you really couldn't make heads or tails out of what you were looking at, certainly no skull remained. But you could pick out the original holes and indentations of the wall where the skull would have been. And he explained this whole area would make sense for his crucifixion because from this spot they would have wanted to bury him quickly before sunset, so the garden tomb was literally a stones throw away. He led us over to a sitting area, complete with benches. He began to tell the story of the crucifixion and burial and as soon as he did the world tried to drown him out. We were not the only ones in this garden, there were several other groups here to pay their respects. We had one group next to us, probably 40 Brazilians from a church singing, now when I say singing I don't mean the peaceful, reverent songs of respect and thoughtfulness...I mean at the top of your voice, drown out any peaceful and reverent feeling you may have...singing. It was annoying, loud and disrespectful. And just when you thought it would end, a new song was begun. Our tour guide, you could tell, was a bit annoyed. Behind us we had another group chanting, albeit much quieter as they were contained in a small building. This immediately impressed upon me as I sat there. I compared our own desire to concentrate on the Lord and our desire to hear what he has to say, while the world and her distractions vie for our attention and makes it hard to concentrate on things of the spirit. This is the way I felt sitting in the Garden Tomb, trying to listen to our guide, feel of the spirit and take it all in, while the world around me shouts, yells and tries to distract me. We made our way over to the tomb area, it looked like all of the pictures that I had seen in Sunday School. The sun shown down through the trees, shadows falling across the Garden Tomb entrance. A small square hole in the side of the rock, a path worn in the rock in front of the door where one could roll a rounded rock to open and close the tomb. We each waited patiently for our turn to enter the tomb, Once inside I could see how small the actual tomb itself was, just a small room maybe 20 x 15 feet. To think, this was where Christ was laid to rest, this was where he was resurrected...wow. We gathered as a group and had our devotional, it was quiet this time and we could concentrate on the presentation and testimony given. The whirlwind around us had abated and we were finally left to feel the spirit in this serene place. The Garden Tomb was closing and we needed to leave. We walked to the exit, which led past the tomb itself. The door of the tomb was closed and on it was the inscription..."He is not here, for He is risen". I think that sums it up nicely.

Upon leaving we wanted to visit an olive wood store to buy some carvings. We knew of a gentleman that comes to the Ramstein Bazaar and sells his wares, we like him because he has a lot of LDS carvings. Our tour guide Moti had run over to his store while we were at the tomb and reported back that it was closed. We had Moti find his cell phone number and call him up to see if he would open it. We were in luck, he said he could meet us there in 20 minutes. We got on the bus and stopped at his store. We piled into his shop and started shopping. His work is fantastic. He had many carvings of Christ, scenes from the bible and he had many scenes from the Book of Mormon. Some LDS specific work included the Liahona, Father Lehi, the title of Liberty and Nephi, just to mention a few items. We bought something for each of our children so that they could remember their trip to Israel and we bought a carving of Lehi, kneeling down holding the Liahona.

At this point there was a divide of what people wanted to do, a few wanted to go to the BYU Jerusalem center and the majority wanted to go to old Jerusalem. Our group walked down to the Damascus gate and entered in. It is a lovely gate, very large and formal. As we passed through the gate and into the old city I soon realized that old Jerusalem did not differ much from Istanbul's Grand Bazaar. Old Jerusalem consisted of shops, merchants, small restaurants, falafel stands etc. There are four distinctive quarters of old Jerusalem, Armenian, Jewish, Muslim and Christian. I honestly don't know which quarters we visited as we just wandered without direction for most of the time. We purchased three falafels and drinks, I bought freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, which was very good. The only direction we had was we needed to meet at the western wall (wailing wall) at a predetermined time to meet our group. In hindsight, I think I would have opted to go with the other group to the BYU Jerusalem center. I felt like old Jerusalem was so much like Istanbul that I had seen it before. In order to get to the western wall we had to pass through a metal detector, which I though was interesting. The only place that I saw a lot of military presence was at the western wall. Israeli military were all over this area. After meeting with our group briefly and getting the low down on going up to the wall, we decided it was time to approach. Sharma and the girls had to go to the 'female' section of the wall, a much smaller less prominent area of the wall. McKay and I donned on our yamakas and approached the wall, at first just holding back and observing. We were told that we could take pictures as long as we weren't being obtrusive and disrespectful. We took some pictures and just let it all sink in. There was one guy sitting in a chair, dressed all in black, with locks of hair, rocking back and forth repeating his prayer. Nearer the wall was where all of the action was happening, men, young and old, citizens and military line up against the wall placing their notes in the wall and praying. There were a few gentlemen standing around what looked like an old cart and inside the cart there were these long leather strips, connected to a small box and inside of the box there were contained prayers. Men would come up and have the orthodox Jews wrap these boxes to their arms or their foreheads and then they would go to the wall and pray. McKay and I each had a note that we had written and we took them up to the wall and placed them into the crevices of the wall. I had to touch it just to say that I did. We then stood around a bit longer and upon leaving I decided that I wanted to get my picture taken with one of these orthodox Jews manning the cart. As I asked him for the picture, several in our group gathered around as well. The guy running the cart, that I had asked, picked out Ian Price and started to question him...no, not just question him but badger him and really put him on the spot. He first asked Ian "Where is God" Ian, being a shy boy anyway, didn't answer at first, instead was looking to his father for help. The old man seeing this, said "Your father an't help you". The answer the old man was looking for was "Everywhere". After a few minutes of Ian trying to figure this out, the old man then asked "Is God in the heart of the Devil?". Again, Ian stammered around a bit, he had that 'deer in the headlight' look to him. As I stood there, wanting to help Ian out, it dawned on me, that Ian only being 13 but holding the office of Deacon in the Aaronic priesthood had more power assigned to him that this old man who had studied the scriptures for many years beyond Ian's age. Ian held the power of God, whereas this person didn't even know who God really is. I did get my picture taken and we hurried back to the group.

We walked to the bus and caught it for the final time back to the cruise ship. We sat in silence as we drove back to Haifa, I think some of us were tired and I think others were thinking about everything that we just experienced...I was in the latter group. One of the things that struck me as interesting was to see where each of these historical places were in relationship to another. I always thought that each place was miles away from one another, yet as we traveled most were in walking distance of one another. I was also amazed that all of the places we saw were in the midst of the city, surrounded by sidewalks with people rushing by on their way...to do who knows what, yet within walls just a few feet away the most important things in this world happened. I felt like day 2 was the highlight for me. As I thought about day 1, although I knew what I was seeing, I could imagine the things I was seeing as being anywhere back in the states. What I mean by that, the river Jordan, the Sea of Galilee, Mt. Tabor didn't look like anything special they could have been placed anywhere in America and they would have belonged. But it wasn't until day 2 that I really had the sense of being in Israel. The dome of the rock with its iconic gold dome, the temple mount with graves lining its side, olive trees in the Garden of Gethesemane, the Garden Tomb and finally the western wall all reminded me that Kansas was definitely a long way from here. I was in Israel, the land of Christ.

The Holy Land-Day 1

The main reason we took this cruise was to get to Israel. My bucket list coming to Europe was Israel, Egypt and Russia. One down. I did a lot of research in preparing for coming to Israel. I knew that we needed to do a tour in Israel so we could see as much as we could. I emailed five different tour companies and whittled them down to one who gave us the best itinerary and best price. His name was Moti and he did a pretty good job. I can't give him a ringing endorsement because at times he spoke too much and had too much of a Pro-Israel slant. Don't get me wrong, I love Israel and the Israeli people but please don't put down my country or build your country up unnecessarily...just give me the facts of what we are seeing. Also, you have to realize that our tour guides (we had two buses and each bus had their own tour guide) are Jewish and therefore don't believe our Christian beliefs.

We got off to a rocky start, somewhere along the way I thought we were supposed to meet Moti at 9am. We got off of the ship a few minutes before 9 and there he was. He asked what took us so long because he was expecting us at 7am...your kidding, we wasted two hours on the ship? Man! So we had to adjust our itinerary for the first day and reverse the order. Once loaded on the buses we left the port area. We spent the first 40 minutes in the bus driving past Mt. Carmel, leading to the Jezreel valley (Valley of Armageddon). It was foggy to begin the drive and I prayed that the fog would lift so we could see everything we came to see. Within 30 minutes the fog was gone. As we drove through this large and spacious valley I imagined the armies of the world gathering in this valley and waging a devastating war. Could not believe I was here...this will be the theme of the next two days.

Our first stop was Mt. Tabor, where it is believed that the Transfiguration of Christ occurred. We had to disembark our buses at a base camp and take smaller shuttles to the top. We all filed into the shuttles, which took a little while to get everybody up to the top. It was a long and winding road to the top, but it gave a fantastic view of the valley below. There was a Franciscan church at the top of the mountain to celebrate the Transfiguration of Christ. There were three tabernacles built into the church, one for Christ, one for Moses and one for Elias (Elijah). As a side note, each place we were to visit was assigned to a member of our group. They were expected to do research and present a small devotional at each place where we could hear what happened there and read it in the scriptures. Hailey had the opportunity to read the account of the transfiguration out of the scriptures at this stop. We had a group photo here and then moved on.

Once down from the mountain we climbed aboard our buses again. Next stop was the River Jordan. The road wound through the mountains and then we could see another valley. This valley had a large lake in it, the Sea of Galilee (lowest fresh water lake on earth). It was much bigger than I imagined it to be. On the other side of the Sea of Galilee we could see the Golan Heights, Syria and Jordan. Wow! Seriously? These countries you hear about in the news...they are right there! We took our picture next the "Sea level" sign, which is interesting because you are used to the sign being near water. This one was half way down the side of a mountain.

We made our way to the Jordan River. Now this isn't the place that Jesus was baptized, it apparently is 100 Km to the south but for tourists sake they have created a stop to sell souvenirs etc. They have built a fenced off area of the River that you can go into. There is the opportunity to perform mock baptisms in the river. There were many many people that had paid money to dress in white, enter the river and have themselves 'baptized' by who knows who. I stood there in awe of what I was seeing...in my mind, making a mockery of a very sacred covenant that a true follower of Christ makes. But I had to take a picture. The river was teeming with huge catfish and muskrats, I don't think I would have entered the river even if I was paid. We had our devotional which was very nice. I bought a small bottle and went down to the edge of the river and filled it up with water. Pretty dirty, but who cares. The river itself was pretty with overhanging beaches from trees near the river bank, much like the pictures I saw in church of where Christ was baptized.

We left the River Jordan area and drove the banks of the Sea of Galilee. Our first stop was Tiberius along the shore. Not much happened here specifically, but it is in the general area of where many miracles occurred. We stopped here and had lunch. We all had falafels (pita filled with lettuce and deep-fried chickpeas) for lunch. After 30 minutes for lunch we were back in the bus and on to Capernaum. This city did hold several stories from the bible. This is where Jesus came to preach after leaving Nazareth. He chose many of his apostles from this small town. We stopped at a synagogue that Jesus preached at, not much of it left now. We also saw the spot that is claimed to be the home of St Peter, a small circle structure made of rocks and mortar. Over the top of his home are the foundations of several churches that have been built. Those have all been destroyed except for their foundation, now there is a modern church/structure that has been built, which still stands. While here many people had the chance to wander down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee and gather some rocks and sand.

Our next stop was the Mt of Beatitudes. Much like several stops there is no clearcut evidence that the Sermon on the mount was held where we visited. But it seems likely that it could have been here. And much like many places we saw, religions have built their churches over/on the spot where they think things occurred. The Mt of Beatitudes was no different, there was a Catholic chapel built at the top of the mountain and another edifice built half way down the mountain. Unfortunately, the manicured lawns, landscaping and buildings detract from what this place truly is. I wish it would have been left in its natural state. It was hard to get an idea of how people would have been gathered due to the planned landscaping.

We jumped back into the buses and started on our way back to the ship via Nazareth. Unfortunately we hit unexpected traffic on the way back and spent excess time in the bus. We would have hit Nazareth in the morning but because I was late getting our group off the ship we had to wait until the evening to see Nazareth. Everything was dark and it was hard to get an idea of what Nazareth really looked like. We stopped at the Basilica of Annunciation in Nazareth. This church was built by the Roman Catholic church and described as the place that they believe it happened. Whereas the Greek Orthodox church says that it occurred at a local spring and therefore they built their edifice there. Because we were running late we didn't have much time in the church itself. The outside of the church had some very interesting carvings in the large wooden doors of the church. We made it in the church and had just enough time to walk through the church without stopping. We went from the second floor down a spiral staircase to the first floor. It opened up into a large chapel that held made different versions of the the birth of the savior, each one from an artist from different countries. We left the church and wandered the grounds. As we were standing there the bells of the church started to chime...I love the bells on churches. And even before the church bells had stopped the Muslim call to prayer began. I also love the call to prayer. Hearing both of these sounds competing for my attention? I just loved it.

We made it back to the bus and drove back to the port. What a great first day. We felt tired but knew that we had seen so many wonderful things. What made it even better was that I was helping my children's testimony of the Savior grow. They got to see places that, up to that point time, they had only read about in the scriptures...in the words of MasterCard...priceless.