Friday, August 3 Well here I am in Charles DeGaulle airport. I'm not sure exactly what time it is. I think it is 9:00 AM. It was a really long flight from Detroit. My seat would not recline. Of course the guy in front of me had to recline as far back as he could the whole time. It was very cramped. The first movie was The Best of Marigolds or something like that. It was about a bunch of British old people who get swindled into going to India for various reasons to stay in the Marigold Hotel. The old run down Hotel is owned by a young Indian, his brothers and mother. He is trying to turn it into a classy hotel by conning classy people to come there in order to get their money in order to fix up the hotel. His dad had owned the hotel before him and could never get it to work. His mother and brothers want to sell the hotel. It is his dream to make it work and become profitable and prove himself worthy of the love of his girlfriend (of whom his mother does not approve). For the most part it turns out good for everybody. It was one of those movies that preaches positive attitudes will overcome crummy attitudes—kind of boring. The second movie was Journey 2. It was a rather juvenile movie with a poor script, but it wasn’t boring. The TV monitors were old and very difficult to see. The meals were typical airline food. The dinner was chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, broccoli, salad, cracker, dinner roll, cheese and a brownie. Breakfast was a spicy cheese biscuit, banana and orange juice. I arrived in Amman in the evening. We stayed at New Park Hotel. It was on King Hussein Street at the foot of the ancient city of Rabbah. Rabbah was the capital of the ancient city of the Ammonites. You can read of Rabbah in Deut. 3:11; Joshua 15:48,60; 2Samuel 11:1,16; 12:26-31; 17:27. And many other places. During the evening we took a walk to the top of the ancient city. The Romans built a citadel there, as well as many other things. It is Ramadan, so they were celebrating up there with food and music. We could sit and watch fireworks being set off all over the city. I must return there and get some pictures. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. We walked back down the mountain and went to bed. Saturday, August 4, 2012 For breakfast I had flat bread, spreadable cheese, butter, olives, tomatoes, orange jam, Nescafe MY CUP-provided by the New Park Hotel. We met some friends for lunch this afternoon. We ate at a French Restaurant. I had French onion soup. The bowl was loaf of bread baked for the purpose of being a bowl. In this case, “You can even eat the dishes.” Here is a picture.

Then we drove to the Sheik Hussein crossing (not to be confused with the King Hussein crossing.) It took us at least two hours to get through the crossing. The town on Israel’s side of the crossing is Beit Shean (Beth Shan). After checking into the Hostel, we walked to the old city of Beth Shan. There is an ancient amphitheater there and a Roman Stadium. Both sit south of the ancient tell of Beth Shan. We were able to walk around the amphitheater. But were too late to get into the national park to see the stadium or the tell. Beth Shan is the town where the Philistines hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan (see 2 Samuel 21:12). We arrived back at our youth hostel room at about 9:30. From our youth hostel window we can see the lights of villages in Jordan. Perhaps lights on the extreme right of the picture are from near Jabesh Gilead.