1. Note: This activity works best in a computer rather than a tablet or phone.
2. Launch Google Earth in the Chrome browser.
3. Save this file on your computer. Virtual Pilgrimage Part 1 – Tour Builder.kml (You’ll have to click on the Download Button)
4. Find your file on your device and it should open up in Google Earth.

This Field Trip takes the form of a Pilgrimage. it is also a lesson. See below. Destinations in this Pilgrimage:

1. St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec to explore the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her parents.
2. Nazareth, Israel, Here we explore the Basilica of the Annunciation where the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to become the mother of Jesus.
3. Bethlehem, Palestine. Here we look at sites associated with the birth of Jesus.
4. Caphernaum, Israel. The ministry of Jesus in Galilee is centred around this town,
5. Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We walk the steps of the Via Dolorosa on our way to the place where Jesus was crucified and resurrected.
6. Ephesus, Turkey. John the Evangelist was centred here where tradition tells us that he made a home for the last years of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
7. Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The remains of another Apostle, St. James are found here. The cathedral is an important pilgrimage destination as pilgrims walk the Camino.
8. Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome. Early Christians suffered waves of persecution that caused them to worship in secret underground places like this.
9. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey. As the Church became the official religion of the Roman and byzantine Empires, large places of worship such as the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) Basilica were built.

---

Before:

1. Write a timeline what you see as being the important events in the first 500 years of Christianity.
2. Research why a scallop shell is considered to be a symbol of a pilgrim.

During:

1. Using the instructions given above, take the pilgrimage. Look at the videos at each stop. Also explore the sites by using the pegman figure and dropping down to streetview or to see the photos at each place.

After:

1. What questions remain for you about this time period? Select one of them and research an answer.
2. Which of these places would you most like to visit? Why?
3. in what ways are we pilgrims in our daily lives?
4. Finish with the prayer below by Jenny Child:

God of our pilgrimage,
you have given us a desire
to take the questing way
and set out on our journey.
Help us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus,
that whatever we encounter as we travel,
we may seek to glorify you by the way we live. Amen