After going to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher we had lunch and then went on to Bethlehem. It's in Palestinian territory so we had to go through a security check point to get through and we were given a new Palestinian guide.
This is the outside of the Church of Nativity. We had to wait about half an hour to get in. While we were waiting we heard gun shots but the guide just said they were fire crackers.
The door is really low. I heard before that it was so people had to stoop down and be humble to get in. Our guide said it was because some knights would go in on horseback so they made it smaller.
This is the inside of the Church of the Nativity. Our guide is holding the number nine sign.
There is a grotto under the Church of the Nativity where Jesus was born. It's divided in half. One one side its really decorated but you have to wait a long time to get in. So we went to the other side which isn't decorated like that so we wouldn't have to wait. It was really cool to be where Jesus was born. You can see the natural stone ceiling above. We think of Jesus being born in a wooden manger but the people of this area actually used caves as mangers.
This is where the body of Saint Jerome used to pray. He translated the Bible into Latin and so is the patron of translators (I don't know if that's official but I treat him as such^^). The Crusdaers took his body to Rome.
"Here lies Saint Jerome, priest and doctor of the church"
A cool statue of Saint Jerome. I love the skull at his feet.
This is the outside of the Church of Nativity. We had to wait about half an hour to get in. While we were waiting we heard gun shots but the guide just said they were fire crackers. 
The door is really low. I heard before that it was so people had to stoop down and be humble to get in. Our guide said it was because some knights would go in on horseback so they made it smaller.
This is the inside of the Church of the Nativity. Our guide is holding the number nine sign.
There is a grotto under the Church of the Nativity where Jesus was born. It's divided in half. One one side its really decorated but you have to wait a long time to get in. So we went to the other side which isn't decorated like that so we wouldn't have to wait. It was really cool to be where Jesus was born. You can see the natural stone ceiling above. We think of Jesus being born in a wooden manger but the people of this area actually used caves as mangers. 
This is where the body of Saint Jerome used to pray. He translated the Bible into Latin and so is the patron of translators (I don't know if that's official but I treat him as such^^). The Crusdaers took his body to Rome. 
"Here lies Saint Jerome, priest and doctor of the church"
A cool statue of Saint Jerome. I love the skull at his feet. 
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