Tiberias

What do baseball coaches do on days when their team is not playing? They go and watch other teams play. What do archaeoligists do on their day off? They visit other dig sites. I went with a group to a dig site on the border of Lebanon yesterday, then down to a dig site at Bethsaida. The Bethsaida site was cool because of its Biblical connections. Spent the night with several group members at a hostel in Tiberias. (Had dinner of "Saint Peter's Fish" at lakefront restaurant.) Arose at 5:30 this morning and rented a bicycle which I rode up to a Crusader Castle where I sat and enjoyed the espresso that I had bought from a sidewalk vendor. I then rode 15 kilometers along the shore of the lake to Capernaum, the city that Jesus moved to when he left Nazarath. Home to several apostles. Nice place. Visited the site nearby where Jesus told Peter to "feed my sheep." Then to where Jesus increased the fishes and loaves to feed the multitudes. Then a tough, hot ride up to the Church of the Beatitudes, built on the traditional site where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. - All interesting places. * Back to Tiberias where I swam in the Sea. (The Sea of Galilee is below sea level and the weather there this weekend was Houstonish. Still. Hot. Humid. Hurtful.) I tried to walk on the water but I was so hot and sweaty from my ride that my heart wasn't in it. I really wanted in. Therefore I sank. (Perhaps also there were other reasons I sank.) * Am back now at the kibbutz in the Carmel Mountains (hooray for dry, cool air) and will be back to work tomorrow. * Love and peace to all.