On day 7 in Israel we started our tour at the Sea of Galilee and then preceded to the Jordan River. A group had stayed up the night before chatting away at the hotel bar way past the bar's closing hour of 11 pm. What hotel bar closes at 11 pm by the way? At one point during the night Brandon Marshall Bears Jersey , Spencer Haywood ca to let everyone know that Usain Bolt was about to run the 200 ter final. I'm glad he rd us because that was the ONLY event from the Olympics that I had the ti to witness while I was in Israel. Everyone had breakfast on our own and checked out yet again from our final hotel resting ple. We gingerly made our way to our seats on the bus that slowly had bee "assigned" much like seating on the bus during all of our playing days. With the exception of Danny Schayes of course, who seed to wantonly roam the bus daily and ss up the rotation. This morning, our tour guide Ian, was going over the historical significance of the Sea of Galilee while we toured historical and religious sites around the Sea of Galilee. To say that Ian had a wealth of historical knowledge unsurpassed by anyone I had ever t would be an understatent. Our first stop was to the Mount of Olives where the Church of the Beatitudes resided. This was the ple that Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount. There was a beautiful church built on the spot where Jesus had given this sermon which we all were able to walk in and around. After leaving the church, we walked down where Jesus walked on water in the Sea of Galilee. Spencer Haywood asked if he ould get in the water Matt Forte Bears Jersey , and I rember saying to him "no Spencer!!! you're going to get mud all over you". I then saw a couple people getting into the water and thought to myself "what are you talking aboutthis is the Sea of Galilee where Jesus walked on water; who cares if you get mud everywhere". So like Spencer and a couple of the other guys, I took off my oes and got into the water, which not surprisingly was perfect temperature. After filling up a couple of water bottles with Sea of Galilee wate, we went to our next destination to a city called Capernaum. Capernaum is widely considered to be the "city of Jesus". Inside the city, there was a huge excavation site where the house of Peter's mother in law lived. This is a house where Jesus spent a great deal of ti. Because the excavation site of Capernaum owed ruins Womens Jim McMahon Jersey , it was easy to imagine yourself standing and walking in the sa ple that Jesus and his disciples once road. This was quite an extraordinary visit. We made a quick stop on the side of the highway where so of the players and I went down to a little inlet where you were able to see the Jordan River. There was so much history at your fingertips every where your turned. Dale Ellis, a teammate when I played with the Seattle Supersonics was the only player to brave the water and got in. A group of camping teenage girls were rafting on the river and went past us singing, screaming and basically being teenagers. It was nice to see kids being kids in a ple where conflict was always just around the corner. We left the Sea of Galilee and made our way to the Golan Heights. Again, we were given a brief historical history of the area and the conflicts imbedded within. At one point during our briefing, we were told not to take pictures of an Israeli intelligence pound that was just above us on a hill. At tis Womens Dan Hampton Jersey , it felt like I had snuck into a Jas Bond movie. I will not confirm or deny that I took a picture of said intelligence outpost. Lunch today was indeed a smorgasbord for all senses. When we got out of the bus, we found ourselves in a military type base overlooking Syria with tanks and artillery surrounding us. In the middle of all of this, our hosts were on the grill cooking up so traditional Middle Eastern cuisine. It was surreal to see the Syrian flag only a mile or o in the distance with all the upheaval going on in that country. What made this setting even more morable was when we were rd during lunch that the Syrian Pri Minister had fled Syria to Jordan. This was another not so subtle reminder that the landscape of the Middle East can and does change rapidly. The food served at this piic styled setting rivaled anything we had feasted on the entire trip, and I would have to say that it was my favorite al. My only plaint would be that there was too much good food that my ever expanding belly could not modate (even though it tried). We had hummus, ats Womens Walter Payton Jersey , falafel, baskets of pita and if that were not enough, you could hear Jas Brown being played on the loudspeakers of one of the trucks. This was indeed a trip of a lifeti. We finied with our ritual of taking a "team" picture to mark our presence in this spot and got on the bus for a ride to a nearby Kibbutz where they had arranged for us to be able to ower and clean up for a long plane ride ho. After freening up at the Kibbutz, we went to a restuarant called Tatti Loft for our final al on Israeli soil. During the al, we were asked to reflect on our ti in Israel and recount any events that might have stuck out in our minds as well as aring any feelings that we might take with us bk to the states. Responses from the group ran the gamut from humorous to emotional and all were heartfelt. There is no way anyone we could have made this 8 day journey and remain unchanged in so way. When we embarked on this tour 7 days earlier Womens Mike Ditka Jersey , we were told that we would most likely leave with more questions than answers which I will corroborate fully. I am humbled and honored to be one of the few chosen to embark on this trip and leave with more of an understanding of the situation but with no real prehension of any solution.