Monastery of the Cross and Israel Museum

The Monastery of the Cross is an 11th century building still being used today by monks (see a previous blog post from when I visited with Annie for more info on the history of the building). Here are some pictures from the outside (one from the south and one from the north):

And inside (for the next three, imagine you are looking up at the ceiling first and then your gaze sweeps downward):

Baking bread:

After the Monastery of the Cross, we went to the Israel Museum where we saw four exhibits:

1. A new and temporary exhibit entitled "Herod the Great: The King's Final Journey," about the excavation of Herodium and Herod's tomb.

2. A large model of 1st century Jerusalem.

3. The Shrine of the Book, an exhibit about the Dead Sea Scrolls.

4. The archaeology wing of the museum, featuring artifacts as old as 6th millenium BCE (Katie liked the fish hooks).

Looking bored while standing in line to enter the Herod exhibit.

Last picture we took indoors before we were asked to put cameras away:

Godzilla marauding in 1st century Jerusalem:

 Posing with the Ahava/Love sculpture in the sculpture garden:

Chicago has the bean, Jerusalem has the apple core: