On Monday, we got to visit some of the caves in Israel. There are some areas that are completely dotted with caves that are quite old. People used them as cisterns, marketplaces, raised pigeons for food...they just kept digging and digging into them so they got deeper and deeper. We got to explore one of them.
Afterwards, we had a concert in the Bell Caves (Govrin Caves). These are totally man-made caves that were used as limestone quarries. They are huge and a really, really fun place to sing!
I know I speak for everyone in the choir when I say this was a definite highlight of our tour so far. Simply incredible. Huge thanks to the choir that hosted us and our host families for the night! You are wonderful!
Today, we arrived in Jerusalem. What an amazing city! It is beautiful and the amount of history all around us is amazing us all.
We spent the morning/early afternoon sightseeing: the Church of the Nativity (in Bethlehem), Mount Zion, King David's Tomb. Not even scratching the surface! We also took some time to visit the Israeli museum, where we saw fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Yad Vashem, an incredibly moving holocaust memorial. It was a full day in many ways.
At about 7:30, we went to a theater in Jerusalem where the Israeli music festival was beginning. We sang for the crowd outside and then got to go in and attend a King's Singers concert! What wonderful luck for us! It was an unexpected but very welcome addition to our itinerary.
All in all, a very full, satisfying day. Tomorrow we will see more of Jerusalem, then tour the BYU Jerusalem Center, where we'll give a concert tomorrow night. Should be great! If you're in the area, we hope to see you there!
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