In Cana we visited an RC church which was built over some original ruins. Then our guide found a shop large enough for our whole group where the guy let everyone taste some "Cana wine" (very sweet). Anton found a large ram's horn (shofar) to blow into.
We found our way into Nazareth which is as distinguishable from Cana as Waterloo is from Kitchener. But quite a bit busier and some pretty interesting experiences with the modesty police, oh dear. First we went to the Church of the Well, that contains a 2000 year old well that Mary and her family would have used. Neat. I sat down on a pew with several other tour members, and along came an old Arab waving at my legs. I was wearing a knee length skirt and at first I thought that was the problem, until someone informed me that I had deeply offended him by crossing my legs. Apparently it's like swearing at someone when you show them the soles of your feet. Well, my soles were nowhere near facing him. And anyways, I had sandals on! But apparently, I wasn't the only one to get into trouble. When I looked around for Anton, he was nowhere to be found. He had gotten kicked right out of the church for the length of his shorts. Apparently the only reason Anton got past the front door in the first place was because the guy was busy keeping Bruce out, our Scottish friend wearing too short shorts. And Helen got her shawl "readjusted" by him because she was showing a patch of skin on her back.
The next church we went to was the Church of the Annunciation, where supposedly Jesus was conceived when Gabriel appeared to the virgin Mary. Well, here the modesty police was running around blowing whistles at people and doing a much better job because Anton and Bruce were not even allowed past the front gate. They had to stand outside the whole time. At one point the guy brought out blankets for them, but by then it was too late, our group was done.
Next we headed off to the Nazareth Village where they have recreated life in the days of Jesus. We missed half the tour because it was at this point that my sandals literally broke apart. The soles came right off for no reason that I could figure, we weren't walking over anything very strenuous. Anton's theory was that the sandals were not made to withstand the ferocious heat, and disintegrated. It's too bad, I really like this pair, and I have such a hard time finding shoes that are comfortable for me. I was very fortunate because today was the first day that for some reason I brought along an extra pair of shoes. I hadn't done that any other day.
We saw the cliff that the people of Nazareth tried to push Jesus off of. They really didn't like Him there. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? And we saw Mt Tabor, which is the site of Jesus' transfiguration.
For lunch we stopped at a restaurant (cafe style) that actually served pork, which is almost unheard of here. But it is run by a kibbutz and they have their own herds.
Our last stop was the best. We stopped along the River Jordan at a baptismal site, and 5 members of our group were baptized and the rest of us watched while knee-deep in the river, with little fishies nibbling at our toes!
I think there is only one member of our tour group whose name nobody knows, because she hasn't worn her name tag once. Linda! We've figured everyone else out. And we like everyone!
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