End of the week

Thursday was full of thick thick weeds, thorns and bedrock. It was very hot but we found a lot and covered a good area. We had bought park passes back during the first week and they were going to run out on Friday so we switched work days and toured on Friday, worked on Saturday. Therefore on Thursday night we had movie night. We watched an episode of The Office and then Get Fit Gezer from last year's talent show.

The next day we left early, very early to get to Masada right when they opened. We were both very excited to get back to Masada as we enjoyed it last year but didn't get to see it all because we had such a large group and our tour guide liked to hear himself talk :). You can get to the top of Masada two different ways....one by cable car and two by snake path. Masada is a huge fortress on top of a large cliff, about 1300 meters up. Adam chose to walk/run the snake path that is two miles long with an elevation of 900 feet. I think maybe 7 people from our group ended up doing that and the rest of us ( I will call us the smart crowd :)) took the cable car!! Adam made it to the top in 36 minutes and his shirt changed color from all the sweat on the way. One of our friends, Boon, made it in 22 minutes and we were all amazed!!!

I'll give a brief history of Masada for those who don't remember from last year or have forgotten.

Masada was occupied by Herod for a while ( though he wasn't first) and during his reign he used it as his winter palace. He built several baths there and two large palaces, one built into the side of the cliff. After that Masada was occupied by Jewish Revolts as their last safe place against the Romans. Eventually the Romans came to Masada to capture the Jewish rebels. They camped out around Masada, and you can still see their encampments their today. They also built a wall around Masada so that if they ran out of supplies and needed to come down their would be an obstacle. Over a three year period the Romans built a siege ramp up to the lowest point of Masada. When they reached the top they busted through the stone walls and the wooden walls that he rebels had layered behind it. Then they went back down to their camp for the night, thinking they would return in the morning to capture the Jews.

However, that night the Jews decided it would be better to kill themselves rather than fall into the Romans hands where they would be mistreated and forced into slavery. So all the men killed their wives and children and then took turns drawing lots to see who would kill who until the last man had to fall on his own sword. They have found those lots at Masada, with men's names written on pottery sherds.

So, with all that history you can see why so many people flock there. You will better understand the topography of it when you look at my pictures. After we toured around we both rode back down on the cable car and got on the bus to head to the Dead Sea :)

I'll post pictures soon but for now here are some from the end of the week and our time at the overlook at Azeka.