Jerusalem Day Two November 4

Started the day with a very odd breakfast. This was no continental breakfast folks, Jewish people eat this stuff for breakfast: fish raw and cooked, spaghetti, salad, tuna salad, shredded carrots, plain sour yogurt, eggs, boiled and scrambled, oven fried potatoes with seasonings, I don't even know how many pickled items, cottage cheese etc. I thought it was so odd...I stuck with some cottage cheese and pears, and some corn flakes, so glad they had those! Oh I also had some eggs and potatoes, also more normal items. Interesting.

From our Hotel we walked to the Jaffa gate of the old city. The first place we went to was the Western wall or wailing wall. These are believed to be sacred places because this section of the wall was preserved from the actual temple that stood here on Mount Moriah, which was also the mount that Abraham brought Isaac to for sacrifice, and where the Dome of the Rock and Al Aksa mosque are now. The wall and spaces around it were separated for men and women. The men had to wear yamika's to enter, for respect. They had some paper/cardboard disposable yamika's for tourists to use. This is the place where people come to pray, touch the wall, and stick their written prayers into the cracks in the wall. There are so many tiny bits of paper shoved into every nook and cranny.

There are people standing right up to the wall and rocking back and forth reading and reciting their prayers and scriptures, some sit to do this and touch the wall when they are finished praying. Some believe that since God's presence dwells in the temple, and this is the only temple remains, that his spirit is still here at the wall, and they feel that they can closer to God here than anywhere else. People come from all aver the world to pray here at the wailing wall, and many orthodox Jews come every day.

I was just yearning to tell them all about the gospel, and to tell them that God has established Temples ow, where his spirit really does dwell, and that by Reading the Book of Mormon they could come closer to God than any amount of praying here at the cold stones. If they only knew. And how grateful am I that I know! It certainly is a reverent place, there were many different people's destroyed here, many Jews died as well as other people, and much destruction took place over this Mountain and surrounding lands.

Outside the Jaffa Gate, first glimpses of the Old City
In one of the streets, behind me are some shops/souks. ALl the roads are ancient, and all the doors on the sides look so cool. These ones were all teal green...so cool.
The Western Wall/Wailing Wall
The women at the wailing wall

Touching the wall, if you are curious it felt like stoneThe men's side

We also took a tour of the Temple Tunnels, walked through some of them, and learned a lot about the structure of what the temple and old city looked like 2,000 years ago. I also saw the largest building rock they have ever found around here, and I don't know of a bigger one...it's 13 meters long so like 30 something feet long, and is 2,000 years old and weighed 575 TONS!!! Dang.

Walking through the tunnels The tunnels were cool to see and walk through, especially because I got a better understanding for the building style and how and what they used. What they don't know is how on earth they could have moved that rock piece at all!

Admiring the ancient tunnels and listening to out tour guide, Justin is trying to keep his disposable yamika on his head, they had fans blowing in every direction We also took an audio walking tour of the Jerusalem Archaeological park. We watched a video that put some things into perspective and then walked around the ruins learning about each place as we went. The pictures will explain a lot about this part.

We are holding our audio tour guides to our ears, the Southwestern corner of the temple mount in the background
This is a ritual bath. Before entering the temple or even going to the temple grounds, people would take a Ritual Bath, and ascend the path to the temple. The person enters on one side of the bath, completely immerses themselves in the pure water (could not be just any water) and exits on the other side of the bath being physically and symbolically cleansed. Many houses had them, and many places near the temple had them for travellers. Once they are clean they cannot touch anyone or anything that is unclean, or they would have to be cleansed again. People (men) would save up all year to travel to the temple, and bring an offering. (a bird if you were really poor, and a goat or a lamb if you could afford it)This is the small remains of what used to be a huge arch supporting the ascending stairs to the temple, it's called Robinson's Arch.


There were ruins on homes from the Byzantine era, they were so small and connected, like apartments kind-of. This is me in the doorway of one of the homes
On the floor of a main room, the floor was a cool mosaic
Not sure what this giant bowl was for, it seems too small to take a bath in, but then again, people then were very small, so maybe. Maybe a fire pit or something, but it was clean inside...?
These three arches used to be the Hulda Gates, but the Romans walled it up.
The courtyard and just outside a palace, that isn't actually there anymore. but the wall in the background is the outside city wallWe ate at a restaurant we stumbled upon in the souks (open markets, mostly run out of a stall) and ate shwarma and chicken with a smorgasbord of toppings and salads, among which was PINK pickled cauliflower...I didn't actually eat it...

Also, Fanta here is FANTASTIC!!! It's sweeter and less carbonated than in the states, and since you have to pay for water if you want to drink it with your meal at a restaurant, and it costs more than soda, I took advantage of the sweet orange soda! YUM!

A humorous sight to me...a very hassidic Jew, with his side curls, black coat, and hat, texting on his cell phone...Mom and Dad, if this guy can do it, so can you!We went to Saint Anne's church, Anne was the Mother of Mary, and this was the supposed birthplace of Mary. The Acoustics are AMAZING here, Jenni sang Ave Maria, and it sounded really and honestly like a choir of angels. We also all three sang I need thee every hour. It was SUCH a contrast being in a Christian part! We had been to some pretty historical and amazing places but we agreed this was certainly one of the most peaceful. There was a man there who showed us the Holy Water Cisterns and the Pool of Bethesda, where the sick people would wait and when they saw the water stir or move they believe it was angels wings touching the water, so they believed the first one to touch the water after that would be healed. There was a certain man who had been an invalid for 38 years and Christ asked him if he wanted to be healed, and then man said he couldn't get to the water fast enough before someone else got there, and he had no one to carry him to the water, and Jesus Said "Rise, Take up they bed and walk" and then man was healed and went on his way. (the story is in John 5) This was the same healing that the Savior did on the Sabbath, so the Jews scorned him for that and tried to disprove his divinity.

The inside cathedral, where we sang :)I suppose I was probably contemplating life, or thinking about how much my feet hurt :) Not sure...you decide

The site of the pool of Bethesda, there are still water cisterns here, with water even!The father taller structure was a Crusader church, and below it was a house of healing for the sick, it seems this place was always associated with healing.


The man we met who showed us around unlocked this iron gate so I could climb in and take a peak of the cistern. There wasn't much to see, it was so dark, put I shone my camera light down to see it was very very deep. We also walked the Via Dolorosa, which was traditionally said to be the trail Jesus carried His cross to be tried and then Crucified. Later they found evidence that put His path somewhere else, but people still follow it and walk it symbolically. Along the trail (which is now streets and alleys) there are churches and schools that were built over churches and other monuments of remembrance.

Roman Orthodox Jews

We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was SO busy, huge and very gaudy. There was a stone supposedly that was where he was buried...not that He had a body to bury, I don't get it. But people would throw themselves crying onto the stone and pray and cry and pray and take tokens like gold and put them on the tomb, say a prayer and then put them back in their sack. Interesting. There was also the actual Sepulchre , I'll include a picture of it. How people can have "spiritual" experience in a place like this I do not know. On a historical standpoint it was VERY cool. Lots of old paintings, and mosaics, and churches with thrones and decoration. Inside the church were tons of pathways and places to other saints' worship, it was huge, and SO much to see.

There has been so much built around it, the church isn't too fancy on the outside...but inside is another story
The actual Sepulchre. People were lined up a LONG ways to get to walk inside it, I was more inerested in seeing everything else there was to see
A throne or something, on the side of the main pulpit
People light prayer candles all around the Sepulchre I LOVE shopping in the Souks, haggling on the price of something, finding gorgeous original things, I bought a Bedouin patchwork cloth, so beautiful! And I got a really great deal on it! I also bought some Camel Leather Sandals, they are SO cute!--but they stink like a camel droppings! That part will go away though :)

A shoemaker
Shopping in the Souk
This man was sleeping and barefoot in his shop :) Funny
This is a pyramid of spices! That's a lot of spice y'all
An assortment of candies...I felt kinda funny about eating them though, who knows how many unwashed hands and sneeze germs are on these things...all part of the adventure! Spices, more and more spices!

Pink door...all the doors had their own character...I liked this one especially :) We walked through the streets of the Old city, I got some fresh pomegranate juice squeezed on the spot. It look 2 pomegranates to fill one cup. It was very tasty! Since we had a big lunch...we decided to have Gelatto for dinner...delish! Interesting story...there was a man who approached us for money for the sick children of Israel. He was an EMT and had some equipment with him, and a tax-write-off form if you wanted one, so he seemed legit. He was a Jew from the UK. We donated some money so he put his equipment and Yamika on Justin for a picture, the trouble was this fellow was quite ripe smelling, Justin was so grossed out he put hand sanitizer on his balding head! :) SO he left and shook Justin's hand, but wouldn't shake mine or Jenni's-for modesty reasons you know...Anyway this chap came back, and asked a favor. He explained that he in one of many children form an orthodox Jewish family, but that he is modern and has been shunned by his family, especially his older brother. So he wanted ME to call his brother and pretend I was from the Red cross, calling to tell the brother (Steven I think...not sure) that Michael (the EMT) was doing such a wonderful work volunteering for the sick Children of Israel. I thought it would be funny so I did...and the guy wasn't at home so I talked to his wife who saw right through my game. I just asked her to pass along the message...anyway as I was praising him on the phone saying what a wonderful asset he was to the organization blah blah blah he was jumping up and down thanking me ad saying like PERFECT, and That's Brilliant! Then he kissed my hand....so much for modesty right. Just an all around Odd experience! That pretty much sums up day two, I hope the pictures explained a lot.

Jerusalem Day One Monday November 3

We left the house at about 8 in the morning, and drove to the Israeli border which is about an hour north of Amman. The drive was very pretty, and we drove below sea level...quite a bit below sea level actually. Interesting. Debbie dropped us off and we went in to pay a tax at the border, which was only 5JD, which is like 7.50. I had heard stories about having to pay up to $400.00 to get across the border in a timely manner. We waited for an old nasty tour bus to take us from the Jordanian side to the Israeli side.

On the bus they checked our passports. Mid-way though the drive we had stop at this station, all get off the bus, show a lady in a little booth our passports, get back on the bus, drive to the end where they check our passports while we unload. Then we send our baggage through security, with our passports that are checked again, this time giving them back to us with a baggage ticket. Then we go through security ourselves, yep another passport check, and then through the visa process. Passport check, in addition to a girl asking a million questions about WHY we are going to Jerusalem, who we are meeting there, where we are staying, what we've been doing in Jordan, why we are coming back so soon, why why why....BLAH! I just felt like saying, I have no weapons, my passport has been checked by 27 people today, and I am not a terrorist!!! We also had to go through customs, another 2 passport checks, and then we were free!

We got a Taxi...my first Taxi ride. A very nice gentleman, taught us some Hebrew, like Shalom (obviously) and Thank-you which is Toh-dah. By the time we got to our hotel it was about noon and it was too early to check in, so we left our bags at the hotel baggage room, and got another taxi to the Jerusalem Museum. It was really amazing to see a model of the old city, in the second temple period, with Herod's temple. Really cool. Sadly the main exhibits were closed, but the best part of what we saw were the dead sea scrolls. Some of them were pretty well preserved. It was so cool to see the texture of the animal skin they wrote on, and where they sewed the pieces together, and the writing, complete with ruler tick marks on either side of the writing to make sure the scribes' lines were straight. It was very cool.

We also went to the Bible lands Lands Museum, where they had on display artifacts from every era and time period where things are still preserved. They had a lot of jewelry, pottery, statues, figurines, and carvings. They also had a lot of stamps. Stamps like when they would seal a letter, there was a mus mixture they would put on top and roll this cylindrical stamp over it, that was carved to leave a little scene in the mud, signifying some one's mark. They also had mud stamps more like the wax stamps we are more familiar with seeing. My favorite exhibits were probably the mummies, the Greek pottery (just like in the beginning of the movie Hercules!) And I really loved looking at the mosaics and the sarcophagus', they had some pretty ornate carvings!

We caught another taxi to take us to see the BYU Jerusalem center, and the mount of Olives. The Jerusalem Center was closed, so we just looked at it, but we got to a viewpoint right before sunset, on the mount of Olives, which does indeed grow many olive trees. The viewpoint had many people sitting on rows of concrete benches waiting for sunset, and there was also a camel... look for the picture with the camel, there's a funny story. The sunset was GORGEOUS, especially because the dome of the rock was just glowing in the sunset colors in the sky! It was really a sight.

We went back to the hotel and were quite disappointed because we were paying a fine price for these rooms and they were tiny, and dirty, and smelled awful like cigarettes! And the toilets were so dumpy, no pun intended, but when you sat on it, you felt it might break beneath you! Oh well, all part of the adventure!

We walked a ways looking for one of Lane's favorite restaurants (Lane lived in Jerusalem for 2 1/2 years) called the Olive and Fish. It has been a bit of an adventure/headache to explain to people that I can't have gluten, fortunately in Jerusalem most everyone speaks English and understands well. I ordered a fish dish, but then couldn't have it because it had gluten in it, so instead I ordered a scrumptious sounding salad. It had mixed greens, pomegranate seed-jewels, steak slices/bits and a date-honey dressing, also apparently couscous, which I can't have. I recognized it, but it took awhile to get some one's attention to have them make one without the couscous. By the time all of this happens, Jenni and Justin are completely finished with their meals which were scrumptious, and I am just starting on my salad which i the end tasted like rabbit food. I thought it would probably be good for me, the dark green lettuce and all, so I ate as much as I could, but I disappointment in the end...oh well :)

I went to bed after watching a few news updates about the end of the election...I slept horrible because the "queen bed" was actually 2 twin beds pushed together, the bed was short by normal standard it stunk like a bar, and i kept getting wafts of strong smoke throughout the night, and it was SO loud, honking horns, people yelling all night down below on the street, just busy night life, and I was freezing!!! So I had to use the nasty bed cover that I hate to even touch because they never wash those...I was grateful for daylight....but when it did come...I opened my curtains to let in the sunlight and found my window was open! Oh BROTHER! No wonder I was smelling smoke, and hearing noise and freezing! I can be such an idiot sometimes!!! All part of the adventure!

Waiting for the bus at the border, passing the time playing cards!

This is the Dead Sea Scrolls Monument, inside is where you look at the scrolls

The model of the Herodian Temple
Another part of the Old City Model
The Old City Model behind meThese sculpture says "Ahava" which means Love

Inside the Dead Sea Scrolls Monument
More of the Scrolls, I really liked looking at the Isaiah scrolls
In front of the Bible Lands museum, no pictures inside

Okay I thought it would be funny to get a picture that LOOKS like I am kissing the camel...mind you there were many people around...so I walk up to the camel, calmly and start to get closer and closer and Jenni is waiting with the camera for the right shot...well as I get my face about a foot away the seemingly calm camel startles and jerks his head right towards mine...it scared the poo outa me! My adrenaline kicked in and everyone around was laughing. Camel head butt anyone? It didn't actually contact me, but close enough, so this picture seemed much more appropriate!

Jenni, Me and Justin, waiting for sunset. Our cab driver was very cool and he took these pictures of the three of us. He also played Reggae music and Phil Collins among other old rock. He told us how he was so young and didn't need to be married yet, he was ONLY 37! Totally different culture than Utah!

At the restaurant, eating my rabbit food...yum?

BEST way I know how to end the day, with Ice cream, but this wasn't just any ice cream it was Gelatto, Pistachio and Belgian Chocolate flavor, DIVINE!!!