Tour: Back to Jerusalem and home!

As I write this, we are sitting/sleeping/eating/emailing in the Philadelphia airport, having finished the first leg of our trip home and awaiting the second. The last couple of days of our tour were a nice relaxing ending to a wonderful trip.

On Friday morning, we left Jericho, where we had spent the night, and headed back to Jerusalem. We spent some time at the Garden Tomb:


And at Gethsemane, where we sang together for the last time as the 2009-2010 University of Utah Singers.


I think I can safely speak for everyone in the choir when I say that we could not have possibly asked for a better ending.

After that, we went to Hezekiah's Tunnel. The tunnel was created long, long ago, around 700 BC, as a way to divert water to Jerusalem during a siege. Two teams of diggers started at opposite ends to make the tunnel, and met in the middle, which is quite a feat! Today, you can take a tour of the tunnel. You wade through cold, fresh water that, depending on your height, can rise to your mid-thigh, and walk through narrow tunnels with low ceilings, that, also depending on your height, can sometimes cause you to have to stoop quite low. It's pitch black, so you need some kind of light (our group used a variety of lighting instruments, including iphone apps, cameras, head lamps, and actual flashlights), and if you are claustrophobic at all, it is certainly not for you.

We loved it!


On Saturday, we had a free day (I know many people went back to the Old City of Jerusalem) until our final choir dinner, and then we headed to Ben Gurion airport for our 11:55 PM flight.

It was the trip of a lifetime and one I'm sure none of us will ever forget! Thanks again to everyone who made it possible or had a hand in it in any way. We are very much indebted to you! Thank you!

Tour: More Jerusalem

Today was wonderful for all of us! We spent about seven hours wandering around the Old City of Jerusalem. The first stop was the Dome of the Rock.


We also saw the Church of the Holy Sepulchre:


The Wailing Wall:


And so many other things! It was very hot and we were very tired, but it was also really great!


Eventually, we ended up at the BYU Jerusalem Center. It is a very beautiful facility and the views of the city are stunning.



The Jerusalem Center was very kind in hosting us. They gave us a tour, let us hear the organ, and fed us. The students there were also nice. (Healing a rivalry one concert at a time!) Our concert in the hall there was completely full and, as we have enjoyed this entire tour, spectacularly well received. All of us had a fantastic time and would like to express our sincere thanks to the people of the BYU Jerusalem Center for their hospitality.

As the tour winds to an end, we'll have our last concert tomorrow in Ein Geddi. If you've missed us so far but you'll be in the area, we hope to see you there!

Tour: Bell Caves and Jerusalem

We have had a busy couple of days!

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!