Dear Diary,
I am writing this on the bus back home from our class trip, and my legs still hurt! Our alarm clocks rang at 3:30 this morning, because we wanted to climb Masada before sunrise.
We started up the Snake Path in the dark, with flashlights in our hands. The path is long and steep, and it winds back and forth up the side of the mountain. Some kids complained, but our guide, Avi, kept telling jokes to make us laugh. It took us almost an hour to reach the top.
Then it happened. The sky over the mountains of Jordan turned pink, then orange, and suddenly the sun appeared. Below us, the Dead Sea shone like silver. Everybody went quiet. Even Daniel, who never stops talking, didn't say a word.
Later, Avi showed us the ruins of the palace that King Herod built on the edge of the cliff, more than two thousand years ago. I can't believe people built such a place in the middle of the desert. It was the hardest and the best morning of my life.