Jeruselem

So Galilee to Jeruselem is South through Samaria and into Judea.  Jesus chose the steep rocky road from Jericho to Jerusalem as the setting for his parable about the Good Samaritan.  The bible refers to going "up" to Jeruselem because it is at a higher elevation (2,500 feet above sea level).  In contrast, Jericho is 846 feet below sea level and known as the lowest place on earth.

We left the West Bank and entered back into Israel - we didn't have a great look at  Jeruselem until we came out of a tunnel rising into the city and it was an incredible  site when the whole city appeared at once.

We arrived at our hotel aptly called the Christmas hotel.  We considered going out that night to the Damascus Gate (one of the 8 main entrances to the old city - highway to Damascus) but Father Peter advised us against it because there was a stabbing near our hotel while we were at dinner.