Day 11---On our own today

Most of our adventures today took place apart from the tour group. Since the group was going to visit many places we had seen twice before, Olen and I decided to spend the day doing things on our own. We had thought this might be an option for us, and I had spent many hours prior to the trip looking up sites in Jerusalem that we could not see as a group.

We accompanied the group from the hotel to the Mount of Olives where we had a wonderful overview of the city, and where the official “group” photo was taken. Elie reminded us to stand in Zacchaeus-Goliath formation (smallest on the front, tallest on the back row). Ferrell arranged us and the photo will probably show up on his blog, so look for it there.

After the group photo, Olen and I left the group, so if you are reading this to keep up with your friend or loved one, the rest of the blog of this day contains only the information about what the two of us did with our time. You will have to check the other blogs to find out what the group did.

Olen and I walked down from the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane and were reminded that Jesus made this walk the night He was arrested. Even though the group rode the bus to Gethsemane, Olen and I arrived at the same time they did. (Sometimes feet are faster than busses in traffic!) From there we walked down into the Kidron Valley, which is much deeper and steeper than you might think.

We entered the Old City through the Dung Gate which leads to the Western Wall. We went through security, but have no photos to post of that area today because it was the Jewish Sabbath and no photos are allowed at the Western Wall on the Sabbath. (We will be back there with the group tomorrow, and we should be able to take photos then.)

We headed across the Old City toward the Jaffa Gate, but by that time it was 11:00 and we had only cold cereal for breakfast since it was the Sabbath and even in the hotels there is no cooking on the Sabbath. So, we were hungry and we stopped at a little “hole in the wall” restaurant that was literally “in the wall” (around Jerusalem), for a bite of lunch. The place was called Jacob’s Pizza. It had three tables and very good pizza served on a piece of cardboard. However, Jacob was big on culture. He had classical music playing in the background, but that is not the best thing! Jacob had by far the best bathroom (WC) in all of Jerusalem, or Israel, for that matter! It was spotlessly clean and there was toilet paper, a toilet that worked, soap, and even paper towels! If you are not impressed with these facilities, I am sure our tour members will be. If AAA ever rates Jacob’s Pizza near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, I am sure Jacob will get several stars.

Refreshed with pizza, we went to the ticket booth for the Ramparts Walk. The Ramparts Walk is something I have read about and dreamed of doing. Basically, it is an opportunity to walk on the top of the old walls around Jerusalem. But wait! This is Saturday…Jewish Sabbath. When we got to the ticket booth the operator could not sell us a ticket, but he sent us around the corner to a business called “Old City Net”. The man there was not Jewish and could sell us tickets. Whatever works. Then, back to the ticket booth where the man there was able to reach out and take our ticket. Ok…here we go up on the walls of Jerusalem! We walked the route in two directions (because you can not walk on the section closest to the Temple Mount). First we walked from the Jaffa gate to the Lion’s Gate (St. Steven’s Gate) passing views of the city on one side and basically people’s backyards on the other side. At one point we passed a school playground and stopped to watch a tug-of-war. We could see the area of Gordon’s Calvary and the mountain known as the “place of the skull”. Our group was scheduled to go there today, but we saw it from another angle. At one point we saw several cranes being used in the repair and update of the buildings of the new part of the city. I took a photo because Elie says the “crane” is the national “bird” of Israel.

We were in the Arab section when we got down from the wall, and we stopped to eat a snack and refresh ourselves because it was very warm today. While we were there we watched people set up carts selling bread, fruit, toys…you name it. We thought it was strange timing, but while we sat there, suddenly droves of people began flowing into the area and the hawkers started yelling at them trying to get them to spend money at their booth. It was extremely loud with lots of yelling and screaming, and an amazing amount of money changing hands. I stopped a young mother with a small child an asked her what was going on. Since she could communicate only basic English and I know absolutely no Arabic, the best I could understand is that there was some sort of religious gathering that had just ended, and they all passed through this area and shopped on the way home. Fascinating.

After we finished watching the “free enterprise”, we walked across town again to the Lutheran Church building. I had read that there was a fantastic view of the city from the top of the bell tower there. The details of the description did not describe the 178 stone spiral steps to the top that were crammed in a space only about two feet wide. However, the information about the spectacular view was exactly correct. We had a great view of the Dome of the Rock in the afternoon sunlight, and other sites all over the city.

By 2:30 we were back at Jacob’s Pizza to share another slice of pizza and use his outstanding WC facilities. Then we went up the second portion of the Ramparts Walk. The Ramparts Walk is exciting, but not dangerous. There are handrails or walls to protect walkers, but the stone steps up and down (and there are plenty of these!) are very steep and narrow. This part of the walk started at the Jaffa Gate again and ended at the Dung Gate, where we had entered the city earlier this morning. While we were walking and taking in the views of places we had visited yesterday, from time to time we heard the lovely sounds of church bells, and several times heard the unusual moaning sounds coming from Moslem houses of worship.

When we finished walking the second section of the Ramparts Walk, we went through security again, and entered the Western Wall area, which was not nearly as crowded as early this morning. This makes sense. Since the “Western Wall” is on the west side of the Temple Mount, it is entirely in the sunshine in the afternoon. The area is mostly shady in the morning…much more appealing for worship, I am sure.

We walked around in the Jewish section of the old city. It is definitely the neatest and best-kept section of the city. We also walked to the Hurva Synagogue, which is fairly new and has been built under quite a bit of controversy. By this time is was about 4:30, and since we had done so much walking, we were pretty tired. We took a taxi back to the hotel and used the time for some R & R.

So, ask your friends what they did today. I am sure it was full of interesting sites that any first-time visitor to Jerusalem should see. There is so much to see and do in this fascinating city. Life is full of things to see and things to learn. We hope you learned something today. We certainly did.