Julian has posted his photos

Julian has posted his photos of the trip. See if you can spot any of us
here

Jem's blogged reflections on the trip

You can find my blogged thoughts on the trip at www.latequartet.blogspot.com

Jem

The Via Dolorosa

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

The Via Dolorosa is the ultimate alternative worship experience really! A series of stations of the cross, around the city of Jerusalem, following as closely to the route that Jesus took as is possible considering that the streets have been redesigned since Roman times. One of the things I loved about them, was that there was a series of chapels along the way, but they were all different styles and run by different churches. Sometimes it almost became like a treasure hunt, as we lost one or two of the smaller stations along the way. Then finally we came to Holy Sepulchure (or the "Church of the Resurrection" as the Orthodox call it) the site of the Crucifixion, the stone where Jesus' body was washed as he was taken down, and the tomb. It was an amazing, poignant, exotic, spiritual place, and I loved it.

Bedouin tents

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

This is where we spent one night in the desert with the Bedouin at Wadi Rum. The desert was incredibly beautiful, with red/gold sand, and the Bedouin music and dancing was exotic and fun, but it was also very cold that night! I must admit I was glad that we only had to do it for one night, but I wouldn't have missed that night for the world.

Convent in Bethany

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

This is the beautiful convent in Bethany, surrounded by olive groves, that is being threatened with demolition because it is in the way of the wall. But the case is ging through the courts, I don't know the result yet, (or even really how to find it out) but hopefully this place will be saved.

The Wall

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

Here is the separation wall, with the town of Ramallah just behind it. We went to Ramallah one evening for dinner. It is a sad place, because of the difficulties caused by the wall and the checkpoints, but also it is an incredibly welcoming place. I have never had so many people say "welcome" to me before as I walked down the street. I felt like royalty!

Visions trip to the Holy Land

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

A group of 11 of us went to the Holy Land over the Christmas period (from Boxing day to the 7th January).We visited Jerusalem, Galilee, the dead sea, and then went over to Jordan for a bit, seeing Petra and Jerash (one of the "ten towns" and the river Jordan, before returning to Bethlehem just in time to experience Orthodox Christmas day before returning to York. It was an amazing experience and we took an enormous amount of photos between us. (hundreds every day). Yet it was also a poignant experience as we saw a lot of suffering around us and heard some very sad stories told to us by the Christians who live in the area.