Scavenger Hunt
Before Angela (the last roommate for the gals house) was here, the 6/7 Zealous group did our first miniature excursion in Jerusalem. It was a day full of learning our way around the city and learning about some of the important pitstops and some of the history of those places. We were sent a location and a clue, and after we made it there and found the answer, we were sent a small history lesson to read out loud. There was a lot of excitement, small failures, laughter, and sweat on this day, as we were all still figuring out how to get around town. I don’t have photos from all of the locations, but I have photos from my favorite places we visited, so those are the places I’m going to talk more about, but we did go through some neat places (like the zoo, the Shuk, the Homage to Jerusalem near Mount Herzl, and Zion Square).
Ramat Rachel
We started our day at a small park near by our Zealous leaders home, where we learned what we were going to do for this little adventure. We learned that throughout the day, each person was going to be sent a location, and we would have to take a photo of the what the clue talked about. Our first clue took us to Ramat Rachel, a kibbutz halfway between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. This kibbutz was built on an incredible archeology site.
Something about me… I grew up with Indiana Jones movies, and a fascination for ancient history. So naturally a huge draw for me about coming to Israel was the richness in archeological finds and the history that comes with it. Someone has a photo of me just about in tears getting to be here. This was my first archeological site that I got to see.
The layout of this little Archeological garden is easy to follow, and so fun to explore and read the plaques. We didn’t have time to explore this site in depth, so I’m looking forward to going back and seeing more for myself. We ended this first hunt by posing with the dig behind us. The next photo in the slide below shows Ray reading the next clue. It’s not pictured, but you could see both Bethlehem and Jerusalem from this little outlook we were standing on. I’m wanting to go back to take more notes and photos for a longer post about this fascinating site.
Jaffa Gate
Walking into Jaffa Gate together was a great experience. We were all so excited to be on one of our first adventures together (while wishing Angela was with us) that I just remember the excited chatter and smiles and joy that buzzed through our group. We were simply here to get a photo of the Tower of David, but we did take our time exploring just inside of the gate. Another takeaway for me in this stop was seeing this Jewish man playing his cello inside of the gate. We took a minute to enjoy his music. Well, I stopped to take photos of him (with his permission) and to take photos of the architecture within the gate.
First Station
The final stop on the scavenger hunt was to First Station. This one stuck out to me because it had been a full, hot day, and practically as soon as we got there we sat down and ordered cold drinks at one of the restaurants there. We were all just tired and giddy from sensory overload, heat, dehydration, and just a great day over all. The last clue we had here was to go to the carousel and get a photo there. And that we did. Not only did we just take a picture of it, Ray paid for us to ride, just for kicks. And that is one of the most colorful highlights that sticks out to me for that day.
I really hope you go through and enjoy the photos! We had a great time and were so thankful that we got that experience together. Be sure to subscribe for email updates if you want to keep following along as I share more about the places I’ve gotten to visit and experience!
Thanks for reading!
- Mads
