Christmas in Bethlehem

When some friends of us told us that they had scheduled a little bus for a trip to Bethlehem on Christmas day, we seized the opportunity to go. There we saw a few sites, such at the Church of the Nativity, where according to catholic tradition Christ was born.

Here's a few of the friends we went with, and an authentic Franciscan monk!

In the church is a little Grotto, or basement where a shrine for his birth place is found. Being Christmas, however, the stairway down there was dangerously overcrowded, (and since I'd seen it 10 years ago) I decided to pass on going down there.

After that we went to the Sheperd's Fields, where it is believed that the angel visited the shepherds to tell them where Christ was then night of His birth.
There's now a small, but very pretty church there, and some caves that one can explore... to top it off, there was also a beautiful rainbow out.

Anyway, it was a great trip for Christmas day. We ended the day by enjoying a dinner with some other friends and finally opening presents at 10pm.

This Nativity set was pretty cool... but a few dozen grand out of our budget...