Jerusalem Day Three November 5

Okay, sorry its been a crazy week, I've been really working hard everyday on my masters classes and attending fancy pants events like a "thanksgiving tea" at the ambassadors luncheon, helping prepare for a NATO brunch at our house( a bunch of important military folks) and last night we had the ambassador and his family over for dinner. His wife Ann and i are both on the activities committee, their family is very down to earth, very "normal" and we had a great time...ANYWAY the update on Jerusalem day 3....

Okay since I got to the middle east I haven't been able to sleep past 6:30 AM. We had been meeting for breakfast at 7:30. Not a problem... I got a call from Jenni downstairs in the hotel waiting for me at 7:50!!! DANG I overslept! SO I am rushing to get ready because they have already eaten and are just waiting...so I am frantically gathering my things together and can't find my camera...PANIC!!! So I turned my room upside down looking for it, still no luck. I am trying to think think think where did I have it last...I don't know! SO I go downstairs on the verge of tears and tell Jenni and Justin that I can't find my camera...I feel SO sick. Jenni takes my room key and thinks she'll be able to find it while I eat. I am not hungry in the slightest, but I know I'll need energy today, so I eat. Jenni didn't find it, and I just might collapse. The WORST ting to lose on a trip like this, and all my beautiful pictures lost! :( Jenni has 2 cameras, a small pocket size one, and heavy duty fancy one (which, teemed with her amazing skills is why her pictures are all always gorgeous!) SO she gave me the pocket one for the day, sort of like a surrogate child. SO I tried to just forget about my lost camera and enjoy myself, I am in Jerusalem for crying OUT loud! SO I did.

We needed to take a taxi to the dung gate, which is the gate nearest the wailing wall. We hailed 3 Arab taxi's who refused us before we got one ( a Jewish one no less) who agreed to take us.

We went straight tot he temple mount, only to find that when we reached the summit, the guards told Jenni she needed to cover her shoulders...okay Jenni is NOT the kind of gal to strut around sowing off her shoulders of all things! But, they wouldn't let us in, so we had to be practically escorted to the exit gate where they had to call over a merchant who tried to sell her a crappy quality, ugly scarf for 50 shekels! That's like 17 bucks, and it was a piece of crap !(we MIGHT have paid three dollars each...MAYBE...THEN they said that I had to cover up my legs! I was wearing modest shorts, and there were tons of other women in short skirts, showing just as much leg as I was! we refused to purchase the ugly overprices scarves and they made us leave! SO we went searching for less expensive beautiful scarves...and we found some. So then we hurry back through the old city to the entrance to the Temple mount only to fins it closed again until 1:00!!!

In line with a hunormous tour group waiting for the gates to open so we could go up to the temple mountA group of Hassidic Jews in a hurry to get somewhere...

Our pretty scarves to make us modest...how embarrassing!

Oh man, what a day! Plus I was still so sad about my camera, and the taxi drivers were so mean to us, and the guards at the top were mean too! PLUS I had like THE WORST case of the squirts! The kind where it hits you all of a sudden and you start to sweat because you look around you for a water-closet but there's nothing in sight and every moment until you are relieved feels like a stab in the gut, and like your insides are wanting to be on your outsides....Okay sorry for that, but just imagine my day-but I still held a smile, and the day was just beginning.

We walked outside of the old city down a valley and passed the tomb of Zachariah and ancient Jewish cemeteries. Then back up the hill to Gethsemane. At Gethsemane there was a beautiful garden with Olive tree's and the "Church of all Nations". The church was so beautiful inside, and we were there while mass was going on, and it was beautiful. Very peaceful even though there were TONS of people there. Tradition holds that the pulpit of he Church is built over he rock that Christ knelt at while suffering for the sins o the world. The entire ceiling was mosaic, and the windows stained glass. The Olive trees were amazing to look at because some of them were SO old!

In front of the tomb of ZachariahJenni and Justin in Front of the Church of All Nations

Inside the Church of All Nations, so so so breathtakingly beautiful! But for the record the feeling was NOTHING like being inside our Temples...just so you know :)

The ceiling domes inside

One of the old Olive trees in the garden
You can't exactly tell, but Jenni and I are standing next to the oldest living Olive tree...Me at the Gethsemane Garden gate

Then we climbed a VERY steep hill to the Dominus Flavit Chapel, on the mountain side where it i said Jesus looked across at the city and said "Oh Jerusalem..." It was extremely peaceful up here because there weren't many people, and the view of the city was breathtaking. We took of our shoes and relaxed just soaking in the feeling of being there. It was a much needed meditation spot I think for all of us.

Overlooking the city

We passed this beggar on our way up and on our way down

We then walked to Mary's Tomb/burial site. It was very deep, down through a ton of steps etc, and at the bottom is the tomb, as well as a place where people lined up for a turn to kiss this painting/sculpture of Mary. I passed on that one...that's a lot of lips on one spot...

The actual tomb inside

Then we caught a taxi to the Jaffa gate to explore the Jewish Quarter. It was so clean and modern feeling. Even though there were just as many ruins here. There were lots of residents here, and schools going on. We passed a pre-school at recess, they were SO cute! We wen to the Wohl Museum that was built to cover and preserve ancient Byzantine homes. They were very interesting and had mosaics and wall carvings still in tact. Most of them had ritual baths, which are always cool to see, as well as what looked like modern baths, the same general shape that we use today, just these were made out of rock.

In front of the remains of the Cardo, or Main street
It took us awhile to find the Wohl museum, can you see how HAPPY Justin is to have finally found it? :)
Another beautiful view of the Dome of the Rock. A $3 MILLION dollar gold menorah...wow.

We ate lunch at the burger bar, sadly it didn't help my fragile condition...yuck.

We then went to the citadel fortress, where they had a museum that was separated by time period, it was very interesting. They had a lot of models of buildings that made the ruins make more sense :) I was still depressed about my camera (I know I know I keep bringing it up, but I was having a rough day!) So after we looked around the museum, we rested inside the courtyard of the fortress and had some ice cream...that's when the day started to change for the better. I mean of course the day was great because I was in JERUSALEM, but not exactly idyllic. So, ice cream makes everything all better, including my tummy apparently.

Inside the fortress

Happiness=ICE CREAM, it truly was the turning point of the day!

Some of the carvings in the museum depicting Babylon captivity

We then too the "Rampart Walk" which is a walk around the entire old city from up high on the wall. We were really looking forward to it, imagining there would be the hustle and bustle of the old city on our left as we walked, and the hustle and bustle of the modern city on our right. Not so. It passed mostly the dumps and weeds you don't have to look at when you are at street level, but you can see nicely from the rampart! Ewe. It was really cool however to walk along the wall, it was like how you would imagine a castle, with a wall that has high and low parts (I don't know how else to describe it!) and there was a walk where guards ad watchmen could look out. That was pretty cool. And Jenni and Justin are entertaining travel companions.

At the base of one of the stairways on the rampart...all the stairs were SO steep!

On one of the little look-out-niches in the wall

Okay we were all getting pretty loopy by about this time, and I was hitting my second windWalking along the rampart

Scaling some of the stairs...do you see what I mean by high and low parts, like a castle? Am I crazy?

Funny Jenni...I'm looking to see if I can spot the street on the other side, and jenni snaps a pic of my backside...but my backpack looks SO cool! If you don't know, I collect patches and pins when I can't find patches and sew them on my bckpack from everywhere I go. But now I think I'm going to have to start a new one, this one's full!

Then we walked up (quite a ways actually) to Golgotha or Calvary, the site of the crucifixion and the garden tomb. Golgotha and Calvary are both directly translated to mean skull. The rock here is why they believe this is the actual spot, and also because not far off was a garden, of a wealthy man (Joseph of Arimathea) and his tomb. This site was the most spiritual for me. I did feel the spirit here testifying of the Savior. There were many people here, but most were in christian tour groups. We joined an English tour where our guide was very enthusiastic, And very knowledgeable. In the background as our guide is testifying of these places and giving is a historical backgound, there are otehr groups singing modern Christain hymns, and though they weren't hymns as reverent as our that we are used to, they still testify of Christ. It was a very peaceful, emotional, and spiritual feeling. We went into the garden tomb, where theyre was a man singing/sobbing/praying, and other than that the tomb was empty. Course there were many people coming in and out...catching a glimpse. It was a great place to visit, and wee. I am SO grateful for my testimony of Christ and of His gospel!

This is the skull. you can see the eyes and kind of the nose, the teeth part is covered by what is sadly now a bus station.

inside the Tomb

Outside the tomb, in the entrance

This is not the actual covering stone, but it is like this one, only bigger. It has since been removed, but they brought in this one to give you an idea...Listening to the guide right outsode the tomb...we made friends with the group we went along with, they were from Washington state, don't they just look the part?! I love how they are smiling in the picture!

This was jus too good to pass up, flaming urban cowboy right here, love those pants with the fringe! And the Gold hat just really completes the whole look!

We walked back to the Jaffa gate, completeing our entire circle of teh old city walls. We had tickets for a light show back at the Citadel, but ate dinner first at another of Lane's favorite places. We were a little early for the show, so we left Justin to hold our place in line while Jenni and I went to look at some more shops :)

We tried to retrace our steps to where we had been yesterday, and I kept a lookout for people I had seen yesterday to ask them about my camera (I know I know what are the odds that someone would say if they had sen it, or kept it instead of pawning it, or keeping it for themselves!?, But I just had to ask) So we went along and then, WONDER OF WONDER MIRACLE OF MIRACLES!!! We come across the shop where I bought my adorable leather sandals yesterday, and I told the man, I bought sandals from you yesterday, and I lost my camera, did I by chance leave it here? He smiled and asked me what it looks like (If you know me you know I put ribbon on things, my cellphone, mt CAMERA...) SO i said it's black with an orange ribbon with sunshines on it....and he PULLS MY CAMERA OUT OF HIS DRAWER!!!!!!! AMAZING!!! He gave it back explaining that he found it after I left yesterday and this morning he went around asking people if they had lost a camera. He said he turned it on to see the face in the pictures so he could recognize me if I came back! He told me he would have kept it for me for a year! I LOVE PEOPLE!!! I was SO happy! And I chided myself for thinking the worst of people, but sheesh it was in the filthy dirty arab quarter...who would have thought I had a chance in the world of seeing it again?! MIRACLE!!! Yes I cried, sweet tears of joy, and gratitude for this honest man. Jenni was so happy too, that SHE had to buy a pair of shoes!!! yeah! And the man was so happy to see me back with it :) I'm getting all tingly just writing about it!

MY HERO OF THE CAMERA MIRACLE,
can you see the joy exhuding from my happy relieved face?!

Then with my camera safely in hand we went back to the light show. It was amazing! ALl musical, and differnt scenery projected onto the inside walls of the fortress! It was powerful and cool, it told the story of the land and the way it changed with different people ruling it etc...it was really amazing!!! It reminded me of something Disney would do, yeah I would say it was magical! PLUS I was just as happy as a lark to be reunited with my camera! Oh happy happy day!!!

At this part of the show it looked like a ENOURMOUS library!
BFF Pic, Me and Jenni