On the positive side...

That is the last time I let J post as a guest blogger. Or at least next time I will proofread his post before I let him publish it.
We've been married for over 11 years but I never realized what a pessimist he is! Maybe he was just trying to goad me into creating an actual post about the trip. Maybe I'll get him back by telling what his "worst part" actually was... ;)

I feel like I need to print a retraction. I'd delete his post entirely, but that would hurt his feelings and then I'd have to reload all those pictures.

While the situations he describes DID happen, I would have lumped them all together under the heading: Travel Inconveniences and left them there. In fact, until he pointed them out, I had forgotten about most of them.

We had an AMAZING trip. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I never thought I'd be able to see the pyramids in person, or climb the steps to the Acropolis, or walk on the stones that Jesus walked. I'm trying to come up with a decent summary to this trip and I am still searching for the words. I think the most striking part of this experience was to contrast the pagan cultures with the cultures of the "people of God."
And to feel the AGE of all of these locations. I've been to DC and marveled at buildings that are hundreds of years old. But that is nothing compared to structures that are thousands of years old.
Definitely the most moving part of the trip was visiting the sites in Jerusalem. And not the traditional Catholic locations for the stages of Christ's life. We spent too little time at the Garden Tomb and a private garden near Gethsemane. I could feel a difference in these locations to the traditional tourist spots that most pilgrims visit in Jerusalem.
The Sea of Galilee was by far my favorite. I'm not a crowds-type of person so Galilee was so refreshing after the mobs in Jerusalem. Beyond that, though, there was a very serene feeling to the Mt. of Beatitudes. As my brother-in-law said: Although I can imagine it as a place Christ would be, I would have had a hard time paying attention to His sermon. I would have been too distracted by the beauty of the area. And it SMELLED good. No stench of crowds and foods and traffic like every other place we visited. Just nature and flowers and water. I could have lived there. Or at least spent several more hours there. The guide said the bugs are horrible in the summertime. :)
I hope to be able to say someday that this was a life-changing experience for me. (and J too!) As of right now, I'm still trying to process it all and see how I can let it change me.