Pictures and videos and links. Oh my!

Introduction

So as I promised in the previous post, this won't focus so much on the trip as it will the mechanics of formatting (see those impressive heading separators?) and adding some fancification (it's a word now, trust me) to future posts and letting all 6 or 8 of you reading this see something of Israel once we're in country.  As I said previously, "pics or it didn't happen." 

In addition, I know there's just so much of this mellifluous* prose that can be properly appreciated at any one sitting.  The pictures should help break that hypnotic spell. *Ahem* I heard both of you laughing.  Stop! :-)

As far as getting there goes, I sure am glad we're not leaving right now (January 4 as I'm typing).  There is extreme cold and snow throughout much of the country that's cancelled a lot of flights and stranded travelers all over the place.  Hopefully we won't have anything like that to deal with.

On we go to the including of links, pictures, and videos into the blog.  All three seem like they should be pretty easy to attach.  So here goes...

 

Links

Educational Opportunities Tours are the organizers of the trip that Dad and I are taking.  They travel to destinations all over the world but seem to focus on trips to the Holy Land and most of their tours appear to have a Christian emphasis.  Here's a link to the trip we're taking called "Holy Land Classic Tour" (fair warning, the site has an auto play video but it is about the Holy Land).  I'll try to make sure that links open new windows rather than leaving the blog and having to return when you're done.

 

Pictures

So you can attach a face to a name and know exactly who to blame for wasting your time reading the blog, below are two pictures of me taken from my son's wedding in March of 2013.  They're followed by a couple of my Dad.  Since I'll be taking most, if not all, of the pictures that will be posted, these are likely the only ones you'll see of me.

The first shows my wife pinning my boutineer on shortly after we arrived.  The expression on my face was a moment of pause and reflection, not any feeling of terror that she was going to try and hurt me with the pin.

This next one shows a much happier me talking and laughing with my son not too long before the ceremony was to start.  See?  Just like I said, the expression above was pause and reflection.  I knew there was nothing to fear from the flower pinning.

As mentioned, the next two show my Dad.  The first shows him enjoying a conversation with the father of the bride and the second was him being recognized at the reception.

Videos

I have the ability to take video with my camera and will certainly do that if something warrants it.  In the meantime, here's a short You Tube video (less than two minutes) from 2008 talking about the Sea of Galilee (which some of you may know is actually a fresh water lake).  Israel was in the middle of a drought at the time and it's believed that the reduced water level exposed ancient harbors that were being used during the time of Jesus' ministry.

 
And just so this post isn't complete fluff, one of the sites we'll get to see on our first day of touring is the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus is believed to have delivered the Sermon on the Mount and recorded in Matthew 5-7 and in Luke 6.  Although the scriptures don't provide a specific location, this site, located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, had a Byzantine church built on it in the fourth century and has been commemorated for over 1600 years.  A Roman Catholic chapel was built in here in the late 1930s.  The area is elevated above the water and looks very beautiful.  Here's a link if you'd like to investigate further.

It looks like the links, pictures, and videos are showing up.  Let me know if you have problems viewing anything.

*Mel-lif-lu-ous - sweet or musical; pleasant to hear.  See Tim's blog posts.

See you soon.
Tim