Today, we said goodbye to quite a few things. Firstly was a family that isn’t flying back with us (the dad is a Delta pilot and gets some mad perks) that I got to know and love. The four boys made up a chunk of our “youngsters” group, so their presence will be sorely missed.

Secondly, Itai and, our bus driver, Hossam. They were so friendly, kind, and took very good care of us.

Thirdly, Israel itself. Today was the last day of our exploring and tomorrow, we embark on the long journey home.

Despite the bitterness of endings, there was a whole lot of sweetness that happened as well!

On our way to Yad Vashem (Israel’s national monument, memorial, and museum of the Holocaust), we drove by the U.S. Embassy.

We had to be discreet with our picture-taking because if the guards caught us taking photos, they would board the bus and make us delete the photos.

After some sneaky photography, we made our way to Yad Vashem.

If you are familiar with the book/movie, “Schindler’s List”, these names might be familiar to you.

These are the Righteous Among the Nations trees, which are planted to honor Gentiles who risked (and some lost) their lives for the Jewish people.

(I have actually never read the book or watched the movie, so I bought the book for the flight home!)

Another tree was dedicated to Corrie Ten Boom, the story of whom was unknown to me until today.

“The Hiding Place” was the book that was recommended to me to learn more about her story.

Apparently, because she was very vocal about/known for her Christian faith, it wasn’t until the 80’s that she was given a tree here.

There was also a memorial for the one and a half million Jewish children that died during the Holocaust.

It was funded by a couple whose son died in Auschwitz.

The names, ages, and country of origin of the children are read in Yiddish, Hebrew, and English. The youngest child I heard read while walking was a one year old from Ukraine.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the main part of the museum, which was fine because I was too busy note-taking.

I learned a lot that I didn’t know before, which seems like a crazy thought, considering the Holocaust is such a discussed event in school classes, media, etc.

The Hall of Remembrance was a room filled with every Holocaust victim’s name. Those blocks you see lining the walls are binders full of those names.

I have been to the Holocaust museum in Washington DC several times, so I wondered how this one would differ. The biggest difference I noticed is that the one in DC, while factual, comes from the American perspective. This museum, while also factual, comes from the Jewish perspective. That was a nuance that I really appreciated.

There were two things I wanted to bring back with me from Israel very, very badly: a journal and a Hebrew-English Bible. I told several people of my hunt because more eyes meant more chances of finding them.

The journal was found yesterday by Carly in The Shuk and the Bible in the Yad Vashem gift shop today by another group member. Won’t lie, I almost teared up.

What was especially cool was that earlier in the week, when I asked Itai if we’d be going anywhere that sold the Bibles, he offered to give me one of his! It turned out to be the same one I bought, so it all panned out perfectly; he got to keep one of his copies and I got to find what I had been seeking.

Our last tourist stop was The Garden Tomb, which is thought to be garden of Joseph of Arimathea, making it the other possible site that Jesus was buried. While the Church of the Holy Selpuchre is the more commonly accepted location, this site gave great insight on what the tomb could have looked like.

Here’s the tomb!

Lastly, Itai opened his home to us and fed us some great Israeli finger foods. While we ate, we shared how this trip impacted us spiritually and what our favorite sites were.

My faves? Nazareth village and the archaeological dig are neck-and-neck.

This was the view from his beautiful porch of his beautiful home. Seriously, I would love to live in a place like this. And not just because of the view.

We got one last night of Nertz in! What was different about this night though was Shabbat started at sundown, so there were a couple of run-ins with Shabbat rules we weren’t aware of. One, no playing the piano and two, no cappuccinos could be made.

Tomorrow, at 3 AM local time, we begin our trek back to the States! Here’s to a good few hours of sleep!