Journeys with Jane

What a full day! After breakfast we loaded the bus, but before we did that we purchased some semi-authentic first-century coins from a man who was probably around during the time those coins were in circulation. His coins are probably authentic, but not museum-quality. He says he buys them from Bedouins near Bethlehem, which might or might not be legal. Not asking questions on this one. Here he shows his selection to Barry, Gus, Marsha and Joyce (R).

On the way to the old city Barry told us what we were going to see, and made the statement that this was the time when everyone usually realized how tired they were. From the back of the bus Joe said, "I must be a fast learner. I knew I was tired three days ago!"

We entered the old city through the Dung Gate, went through security and walked directly to the Western Wall, or the wailing wall. We took a few minutes to go close to the wall and observe the worshippers. I was fascinated by some little girls who chose to play while their mothers were praying.

From there we walked to the tunnel that runs below and beside the western wall. Tunnels are not the best sistes to take photos, unfortunately, but the walk was fascinating. It is difficult to believe that people were able to move those huge stones during Herodian times.

When we exited the tunnel we went to the Pool of Bethesda and then walked the Via Delorosa from the area of the Antonio Fortress to the Church of the Holy Seplucher. This is the supposed route Jesus took to the cross. Actually, the streets He walked on were several feet below the current street, and there is some discussion as to the authenticity of this route in the first place. All that being said, it is a fascinating walk.

We were at the church at noon when all the church bells in Jerusalem began to ring...an interesting exerience. The church was extremely crowded, stuffy and dark. It did not take long to take in this site. One interesting fact about the church is that none of the "Christian" religions could agree on who should lock and unlock the door, so they gave the key to the Moslems, who are in charge of locking and unlocking the door. Strange solution.

When you write a blog on a trip like this and post embarrasing comments and photos of the tour members, it makes the author a target of random embarrasing photos and comments on Facebook, so I have to tell an embarrasing incident on myself to beat all of Facebook World getting the incident. At one dark stop in the tunnel this morning I wanted Shawn to move a little so I could get a photo. I made a mistake and called him Jeremy. They are about the same height and body-build. It was an honest mistake in a dark area, but my mistake was enjoyed by everyone. So, when we got to the church I asked the two of them to pose together to show how similar they look. Now if I could just think of one distinguishing characteristic... Do you see why everyone laughed...even Shawn???

We were given almost two hours for lunch and shopping. Several of us when to Jacob's Pizza, a little hole-in-the-wall (ancient city wall!) establishment. Our group filled the few tables inside and spilled outside into tables on the street.

After lunch I decided to go rogue. I left the group and went to the Church of the Redeemer where I gave the caretaker $4 which allowed me to climb to the top of the bell-tower. It is not a climb for the faint-of-heart as the tower is reached by a stone spiral staircase that is no more than 2-feet wide. I was pleased that I did not see anyone going up or down when I was there, since passing in that limited space is difficult at best. I was almost at the top when I heard someone else, but I could not tell if that person was going up ro down, so I called out, "I hear someone. Are you headed up or down?" There was a brief pause and a voice replied, "Is that Jane Britnell?" I recognized the voice as Barry's and I knew I had been discovered. "I am afraid so," I replied. I figured I would get a lecture about heading off on my own, but by the time we reached the top he got so involved in taking photos that he forgot all about my departure from the group. The views were fantastic.

Once back on the ground, I managed to talk a vendor down from $45 to $10 for a shofar. Dan and I found a man who juiced oranges and sold us a cup of fresh-squeezed orange juice for $5. We toasted our beverage find. A perfect lunch break! Jacob's Pizza, shofar, tower-climb, orange juice...check!

Several interesting items were purchased during our lunch/shopping time. Paul bought an Alabama T-shirt.

Several bought scarves, placemats, shofars, and a variety of items. Joyce (R) won the bargain award for getting the most items for the least money. Andrew bought a flute and attempted to learn to play it. We may ban him from using it on the bus!

We walked through the spice market, an interesting and aromatic experience.

We walked by the broad wall, built by Hezekiah, and through the Jewish quarter of the old city until we arrived at a nice area that overlooked the Western Wall again. From there we went to the Archaeological Park where we watched a brief video about the site. Then we walked to an area where we could view the stones that the Romans threw down from the top of the temple area during the destruction of Jerusalem. Our group enjoyed getting a close-up view is this area.

We arrived at our next stop at the same time we heard the eerie Moslem call to prayer. Our final stop was at the southern steps that led up to the temple. We took another group photo there.

After Barry described what we were looking at, we had a few minutes to explore the site. We took a photo of LJ' feet on the steps that were there during the time of Jesus.