A Trip and an Engagement

Mark and I returned from a very interesting and densely packed adventure.  While we were gone, some important things happened here at home.  Rebecca and Austin became engaged and we are very excited for them and happy to welcome Austin to the family.  He kind of got initiated last June when he came out with Rebecca for Jeff & Jess' wedding.  He was totally fine with nieces and a nephew invading his personal space very early in the morning!  We pronounced him awesome!

Now on to the trip!

We arrived in Amman, Jordan in the evening and were taken out to dinner by a client of Mark's who lives in Amman.  Mark had never met him (just conducted business on the phone and by email) so it was fun to get together with him and his wife.  We had a yummy authentic Jordanian dinner with lots of small dishes served family style.  We got to try many amazing things.

We declined the use of the hookah pipe!

After dinner, we returned to the hotel and met our tour group.  Among those on the trip were our friends from law school, Stan and Cheryl.  They, in turn, had been accompanied by 4 women in Cheryl's reading group, three of whom had their husbands with them.  It was fun to meet new people.

Day 1:  Jerash & Kerak

Our first stop was the ancient city of Gerasa, known today as Jerash.  Jerash was inhabited as early as 3200 BC, but Romans conquered it in 63 BC and it became one of the ten cities of the Decapolis.  Philadelphia (now Amman) was also one of those ten cities.

The Emperor Hadrian visited Jerash in 129-130 AD and a triumphal arch was built to honor his visit:

The Persians conquered the city in 614 AD and it rapidly declined.  In 749 AD the city was destroyed by an earthquake.

We saw the theater and were serenaded by Jordanian bagpipers:

Of course we had to climb to the top of the theater for a lovely view.  There were many school groups (all boys) and they were very friendly and eager to try out their English skills.  Some of the boys wanted to take their picture with Mark.  I guess they don't see Americans very often, or maybe they think we are all wealthy and famous people!

A tourist policeman was on hand to keep all of the school groups in line:

There were lovely tile floors:

The columns were really cool.... I mean, who doesn't love a row of columns?

We learned that the main street running north and south in a Roman city is called the Cardo, while another main street which runs east to west is the Decumanus.  The intersection is the Forum.

Amazing workmanship:

We boarded the bus and drove to the next site: Kerak.  Kerak was the capital of the biblical kingdom of Moab.  In the Bible it is called Qer Herraseth and is mentioned the the Book of Kings and the Book of Amos.  The Nabateans, Romans, and the Byzantines all resided in Kerak before the Crusaders built a castle there.  The town remains mostly Christian even under Arab rule.  This is the fortress from the bus window as we wound our way up to the mountaintop:

Kerak Castle resisted attacks by Saladin's troops in 1183 and 1184, but finally fell after a siege in 1189.  The story is told that the siege in 1183 took place during the marriage of Humphrey IV of Toron and Isabella of Jerusalem.  Saladin ordered his troops to avoid bombarding the young couple's quarters.  He was not able to capture the castle at that time, but returned later.

The view from Kerak:

We left Kerak and almost immediately the terrain changed as we headed south towards Petra.

We saw Bedouin tents along the King's Highway:

A lovely sunset and the end of a great day!