Second, the Heights of Lebanon (sorry it took so long to post)

After we traveled to the depths, Jeita Caves, we went to a city north of Beirut called Jounieh (Joun meaning Bay, and Jounieh meaning city by the bay). From there, we took a trip up the mountain.  Here's a picture of us starting up:

As you can see, Tim and Delaney were excited!
Here is a view of the mountain we would be going up to:

Yes, all of the way up. We actually went past people's homes and could actually see inside. It was a little weird. This is Janna sitting next to me:

 The girls loved the ride! Then we got to the top. It took about 15-20 minutes.

As you can see, we were quite a ways up.  BUT NO! We had a little more to go.

Then we finally got to the top where there is this large catholic church.

And in front of it is the "Lady of Lebanon". When we went to see her we saw many people wearing too short shorts or tank tops had to cover up with a scarf for respect.  Here is a picture of the statue outside of the gift shop.

The story goes that when the built her, she had her hands turned to Jounieh which is a predominately christian community. When the workers returned in the morning, her hands were turned toward Beirut  instead. They then turned her back in the "right" direction and when they came back the next day she was turned again.  They decided that the lady wanted to protect not just the Christians of Lebanon but ALL of Lebanon so they left her that way. This is why this statue of the Virgin Mary is called the Lady of Lebanon. Yes, we climbed the steps up to almost the top (it was very crowded) and these are the views we saw:

This is the view of the Lady herself from below

Many were quiet and contemplative here. Under the Lady was a sanctuary where many were praying. Tim went in and made an offering in our brother-in-law Dan's name because we knew he would want to do that if he were there.  What an incredible ride to the top of Lebanon!