On Monday we went to the Wailing Wall. Picture #1 is the separate men's and women's checkpoint getting in. Very tight security. See below. Picture #2 is the "Wall Tunnel" under the Muslim Quarter, next to the Wall.
Started the day at Mount Zion, the City of David. Apparently when the current wall was put up in the 1500's, the architects neglected to include the City of David within the wall. Gordy's students will remember that this was the lower (southern) part of the Jerusalem mount, and the site of King David's home. Currently covered in other people's homes, but undoubtedly in the envious eye of biblical archaeologists when that time comes it is available for digging. Went to the Church of the Dormition where Mother Mary is supposedly buried. Also the Upper Room, built a few centuries after the time of Jesus. As Eliezer said, "I can't tell you it is THE Upper Room, but I can tell you for certain that it is the upper room of the downstairs room." I have trouble with these places, but as Suzi says it answers the sense of longing that people have for the place and the event.
Then through the Zion Gate, with some obvious bullet holes from the Six-Day War in 1967. Through the Jewish Quarter to the Davidson Archaeological Museum on the south side of the Temple Mount. Good video presentations, and wonderful digs outside. Saw the famous "Robinson Arch," while Gordy has pictures of me pointing to my feet (the less-than-famous "Dunn's Arches," and pointing to the side of my head at the even-less-famous "Dunn's Temple." Saw a young girl's Bat Mitzvah, and were asked to join in the singing and dancing. It happened on a platform just south of the Wailing Wall, but separated, since females are not welcome there.
Off to the Wailing Wall. We didn't try to get close since there were so many people there, and the others had been there a few nights ago. Went through the Wall Tunnel west of the Wall that archaeologists had dug below the Muslim Quarter. It followed the Wall the rest of the way to Herod's Palace on the NW corner of the Temple Mount. Saw a few places where folks are working below -- like 50 feet below, with more to dig. The current buzz is, "Wait a couple of years, and we will have some fascinating things to reveal." It was an excellent tour, and among the best of the trip so far.
The tunnel brought us up near the Via Dolorosa, and we walked the way of the cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Again, I had trouble with this, particularly when Eliezer mentioned that Station Four (or Five?) had been moved for commercial reasons. The Stations at St. Luke's this Good Friday, though, will have particularly deep meaning this year. The place is not as important as the reality of the event.
Had an in-depth tour of the Church, though didn't get to reverence "the" holy sepulchre -- looked like a three-hour line and we were just about walked out by then. Suzi had logged 21,000 steps the day before! Back to the hotel, when Ethan picked us up outside the Jaffa Gate. Dinner and a bus ride around "Jerusalem at Night." Saw some interesting neighborhoods and sites away from the Old City -- the Supreme Court, the Knesset, the Prime Minister's offices. Wrapped it up with a final look over the Old City from the Mount of Olives. Didn't blog last night because we were just too tired.
Today, off to the Yad Vashem (Museum of the Holocaust) and Israeli Museum. Temple Mount if it is open to tourists again.
Hope you are enjoying this. See you in just a few days!
Doug
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