Jerusalem, Israel, Asia

Today was by far the busiest day we’ve had so far. It started with a 5:30am wakeup call to get ready for our tour. We were out of the house by 6:15am and Dorita drove us over to Hyrzliya for our pickup. Our bus driver showed up a few minutes late, but nothing drastic. We got to our meeting place in Tel Aviv where we picked up the rest of our group. We took a drive to Jerusalem and got our first look at the city from the Mount of Olives. It was a pretty great view, if only it had not been so hazy it would have been perfect. We got some great views of the Garden of Gethsemane, the Dome of the Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

We drove up to the Jaffa gate and began to walk around the old city of Jerusalem. Our tour guide, Isaac, was excellent. He was funny, knowledgeable, and very kind. He pointed out a lot of things in the city that I never would have known about otherwise, so I was really thankful we had him there. He brought us down to the Western Wall (or Wailing Wall) and we were each able to write down a wish or a prayer and put it in the wall. It was pretty amazing to see up close.

We moved on from there to the Via Dolorosa, where Jesus was forced to carry the cross to the site of his own crucifixion. It was marked by a number of signs to show where certain things happened along the way. He fell down, he was helped by a woman, he fell down again… that sort of thing. It was interesting to see. And it finished at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is where Jesus was actually crucified and his body was readied for burial. It was a very busy place, since this is one of the holiest places on earth.

We left Jerusalem and headed over the border into Palestine to visit Bethlehem. We didn’t have any problem crossing the border, in fact, they never even looked at our passports. It was pretty amazing to see the wall between Israel and Palestine. This is a seriously big wall covered in razor wire at the top. We had to get a new tour guide in Palestine because Isaac’s “tour guide” status meant nothing there. We met Joseph as soon as we crossed the border and he came with us up to the Church of the Nativity. This is the place where Jesus was born.

There are shrines set up inside to show where he was born, where he was placed in a manger, and a few dozen other places. We didn’t think we would be able to see the place of birth because it is in a kind of cave under the church and you are supposed to queue for over an hour to get into it. Luckily our tour guide Joseph had some pull and he managed to sneak us in with less than a 10 minute wait. It was well worth that wait. It was very interesting to see. We made our way through the rest of the church, visited a shop that a tour company is mandated by law to bring us to, and then said bye to Joseph.

We drove back into Jerusalem, breezing through the Israeli border again, and were dropped off at our hotel for the night. Lee and I were both expecting a B&B, so we were very impressed when we showed up to our Park Hotel. It is in a good location, nice room, and free wifi. What more could we ask for??

We dropped our bags in the room and headed straight back out. We hopped on a tram to bring us back to the Old City and we entered through Damascus Gate. We walked through the Arab market, got a bite to eat, and then went back to the Western Wall. It was cool to see it at night with all the lights on it. We walked around for another hour before hopping on the tram to come back to the hotel. Even though we are back pretty early, it has been a really long day and we are both ready to crash. Tomorrow we have another day of touring, but luckily we don’t have to wake up quite as early as today!