Doorpost

In the hotel you can see that all hotel rooms have Mezuzahs too.

Mount Zion

Mount Zion, as seen from the mount of olives.

These guys on the roof made for a nice picture

This is a carob tree (photo by Theresa). We were waiting in the shade for another group to move out of the area that we were going to. Ben fiddled a bit with the seed pods and it made a clicking sound. He said "the food of Yochanan the Immerser" (John the Baptist). According to Ben, the pods of the carob tree were called locusts.

We went to the upper room but it is only in the right area, the room is actually from the Crusader period.

David's Tomb. This is almost certainly not authentic

At the entrance to "David's tomb" there was an elaborate Mezuzah (a little tube which holds scripture).

Deut. 6:9 "write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates"

Outside, on the other wall was another big Mezuzah.

Zion Gate

This gate is a "zigzag" gate, fairly narrow, but the traffic can go through.

On the outside you can see lots of bullet holes from the six day war.

Jewish Quarter

We walked back to the Jewish Quarter. There is a Jewish, Armenian, Muslim and Christian Quarter in the old city, and they are all quite different.

The Jewish quarter is more open.
Apparently this is because it was bombed more severely.
When they cleaned everything up they decided to do some excavations, and found the Cardo.

This is the Cardo, the main street in the Roman period. It is low because over time the city was built on top of it.

This is typical: old + new + a building crane

A group of boys

...and girls

Holy Sepulchre

The Holy Sepulchre built over one of the possible places for the Crucifixion.

A beautiful church inside

Executions in the first century were often held in a quarry. The Holy Sepulchre is built over an old quarry. This quarry is in the basement of the church

Via Dolorosa

We walked on a part of the Via Dolorosa ( the 'way of the cross'), starting at station 5.

The Via Dolorosa marks the way that Jesus may have taken to his crucifixion.

It was narrow and full of shops and tourists

Olives for sale in rice(?) bags

In the Old City

Time to get into the old city - but, first we gather our group.

This was the way we counted to make sure that all of the group members were present. It worked quite well.

We were missing someone - Irene's roommate. We all waited in the tunnel going into the Muslim Quarter. We were supposed to wear our white hats. It came in handy.

The lost lady was found by security. Because she was wearing her hat they were able to contact us, and she returned to us a little later.

We continued our tour into the old city.

Lots of little shops are everywhere.

This boy sold bread but his asking price was a bit high

We bought bread and a green powder called hyssop.

It tasted quite good.

Western Wall

One of the most well known sites in Jerusalem is the western wall. It is the wall closest to where the Temple once stood. The bottom 6 rows of big stones are from the first century. On the edges of the stones you can still see the Herodian edging.

For many it is a very special site.

There is a side for the men, and a side for the women. The side for the women is much smaller.

Theresa made a picture through the fence.

Washing hands

Allan is putting on tefillin. Based on Deut 6:8 where it says to bind God's commands "as symbols on your hands".

Josh took this picture

Most men didn't have a prayer shawl on at this time of the day. This man has tefillin and a phylactery on his head too. This little box has scripture in it.

Lots of people write notes and leave it in the cracks of the wall.
A lot of people walked away from the wall backwards as if they didn't want to turn their back to the wall. We didn't stay very long, but that was okay.

Dung Gate

This is the pretty-looking Dung Gate. Apparently, named because that was the way all the rubbish was taken out of Jerusalem and into the Hinom valley.

Faith Lesson:

The Hinom valley is the valley where all the garbage was dumped. It is a "picture" of hell. Mark 9:48, "their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched."

We didn't go through the nice gate but through a "hole in the wall" These walls are from the 16th century, but they are built on top of older walls that were leveled during one of the many wars.

First stop inside the walls: the Bathrooms!


They livened them up with colourful paper.

Getting closer to the Temple Mount

We went through a check point - seperate entrances for men and women.

Kidron Valley

The Kidron Valley - so much blood has been shed here in many battles

Going through the Kidron Valley, between the mount of olives and the Temple Mount. Unfortunately, we went by bus.

View of the many graves on the mount of olives


The Eastern Gate is closed in

This is where we were going - to the Dung Gate. This is the view from the Mount of Olives.