<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Palatino Linotype" LANG="0">Hi William,<BR>
Indeed I stayed in a lovely cottages' hotel at the foot of the mountains less than a mile away from St. Catherine's'. Luckily, there were no lines at the Monastery both times that I went, which was rather surprising since the Monastery is only open a few times a week from 9 to 12.<BR>
The icons are the most beautiful and impressive anywhere; the Transfiguration mosaic behind the altar, with our very own St. James in it, is, deservedly, world famous. But there is one icon in the church that took my breath away: it is rather large, 111x79 cms. and it shows Mary presenting Baby Jesus in the temple. The Baby is in the arms of a temple official but looking back at His mother and extending one little arm towards her. Mary is accompanied by St. Ann and by Joseph who carries the two sacrificial doves on a mantle. The effect of the icon on the viewer is mesmerizing. As I was glued before it, a multi-lingual monk told me that he thought I must be a Catholic, when I asked him why, he mentioned that the Pope had visited the Monastery sometime earlier and had spent a long long time before that icon. <BR>
All the icons are beautiful, and the low-hanging lamps give them an other-word aura.<BR>
I was also quite taken by the priceless library, and by the parchment signed with Mohammed's palm print wherein the Prophet assured the safety of the monks and of the oldest continuously occupied Christian monastery in history.<BR>
And, yes, I did go up to the top of Mount Sinai, but I did not walk up the 2,200 carved steps; instead, starting about midnight, I, and a few others, rode camels half-way up (very scary!) and walked the rest of the way arriving at the top in time to see the sun rise. A short-distance before the top there is a little chapel (a hut, really) and a multi-lingual monk who hears confessions, ....imagine! When a young man in front of me told the monk that he would love to confess but that he had nothing to repent of at that moment the monk reminded him that spiritual arrogance is no virtue. ..... Oh, well!<BR>
By the way, as we were making our way up the mountain in the dark, we heard and saw, some commotion below by the walls of the Monastery; my camel guide said that it was some Bedouins coming to collect the bread which the monks have provided for them daily for eighteen centuries; apparently a bargain was struck in the 2nd. century whereby the Bedouins wouldn't rain rocks down into the monastery in exchange for a daily provision of bread. Mohammed's seventh century assurance of safety did not alter the custom.<BR>
As we all know, many experiences can only be felt and all the words, videos and pictures in the world cannot begin to explain them. Among them is the Camino, San Juan de la Pena, the Falls of Iguazu, and, at the top of the list for me, the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Egypt's Sinai.<BR>
Warm regards,<BR>
Rosina <BR>
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