Day 3

Argh! This schedule is killing us! So much to see! With temperatures hitting 105, I feel I could just plotz!!! and am only refreshed by reading your comments on the blog. Thanks! Inger and I love 'em!

But nonetheless, Shalom!

The day started w/ us heading into the Jewish Qtr. You can see how the locals viewed our bus group.

Let's just say we just weren't dressed appropriately . . .

. . . like the Men in Black.  Just before you entered the Jewish Qtr, was this sureeal scene the made you picture what it must have looked like back in Jesus' day, and earlier.

Once inside, we went straight to the "Dome". It's obviously controlled by the Muslims. Actually a pretty structure that has much history.

The shawl you see Inger wearing was because her arms were just too sexy and the Muslim authorities told her to cover them up. Though I agree, we think it was just a way to get a few extra bucks from us because they directed us to a guy selling scarves off a plastic chair.

Anyways, I digress . . . We took the picture above from the outer courtyard. This courtyard was pretty big like the pictures in our literature show. But we are told that every Friday around 50-70,000 Muslims congregate in this outer courtyard to pray at sundown. In the past they would then proceed to throw rocks over the courtyard wall on the Jews praying at the Western (Wailing) Wall. Which is where we headed next. But before we left the "Dome" we walked into the inner courtyard and looked through this opening across the valley. There, less than a quarter of a mile away was the Garden of Gethsemane and the Mt of Olives, right where we were the day before. Very close!

Now, onto the Western Wall!

Because I was wearing a hat, I was able to enter into the area.

Here a man was teaching his son to participate in the prayers. I also have a very cool audio/video of it if anyone knows how I can upload a QuickTime video to this blog. Stinkin Apple!!!

In the foreground is where the women would pray. Inger checked it out. Below is a diagram of where this part of the wall was located on the temple. Remember, this is the second temple, the one that  Herod built. 

While the above pictures show the only remaining part of Herod's temple, there are actually still a few parts of the original wall from Solomon's temple in the Jewish Qtr, like here . . .

and here . . .

The Jewish Qtr. was by far the cleanest of the four quarters. Even had lights guiding the way.

There were small playgrounds with children too. We were surprised how many redheads there were. Made me feel at home. Yes I had red hair once. And yes, I had HAIR once too! Hehe!

Could not believe how many cats we saw. Of course Inger never met a cat she didn't love. She also got a chance to feed some chickens. They weren't hungry tho!

Funny but we would occasionally see soldiers walking through the city and wondered what was up. They were just on tour like us!

Next, we went to the City of David, just outside the city walls. This was especially interesting. This is where Hezekiah's Tunnel is (which sadly we couldn't go through because of difficulty it would be on many in the group). But, we were able to go through the remaining structure of David's house, where they were still doing excavation.

Now where was the house of Uriah and Bathsheba? No one knows for sure, but remember Uriah was one of the 30 mighty men so his house would have been close to David's house. Too David had to be close enough to see Bathsheba. Check out this next picture.

Archeologists found these houses in the foreground just below King David's. His house was located just underneath the top of the sheeting you see in the picture above. Perhaps Uriah and Bathsheba's house may have been one of these little one room houses in the foreground. Her bathing on top of one of the rooftops would be easily seen by the king. Hmmm? By the way,I  have great video of Mt Moriah where David originally built his house. You can see why it was impregnable. I would love to show it to you but can't seem to upload it. Help!!!

One last place we went to was the Spring of Gihon. This is where Gideon separated his men down to 300. We couldn't help but take a little dip in it ourselves. What a great way to cool off after touring and hiking in 105 degree weather.

After all our touring we checked into our hotel, the Leonardo Plaza on the Sea of Gallilee. Here is the view from our room right on the Sea. Learned that it's called the"Sea" of Gallilee because the Jews had no word for "Lake." Those funny guys!

The Sea of Gallilee is a beautiful and lush area. We are on a boardwalk much like Pier 39 in San Francisco, but smaller. Cool light and water show at night too. Kept waiting for Ariel and Snow White to appear but the closest we got were dreidels. But actually an impressive show.

Anyways, it's been a long day and we are wiped out. See ya in a day or two!