Busy Days In Jerusalem

Greetings from the capital of Israel!

Dad and I have been here in Jerusalem for two days and we have two more days to go.  We have seen some interesting things and I have learned a lot in the past 48 hours.  Seeing a lot of the holy sites has been...underwhelming?  overwhelming? I'm not really sure at this point-there have been many different thoughts and lots of processing still to do.  It's certainly not what I expected.  Then again, I have been told that I have very high expectations.  It is not that the sites themselves are uninteresting or disappointing, it's just difficult to appreciate them and reflect on their importance when they are in the middle of a modern, loud and busy city such as Jerusalem.  Not only are there lots of tourists at these sites snapping pictures, talking loudly etc. but the majority of people at the sites are either Muslim or Jewish which, for some reason I wasn't expecting and it has been interesting trying to reconcile my expectations with reality.

In shock that I didn't get hit by a car

On Tuesday, we took the bus to Jerusalem and got dropped off in the middle of the city with no idea where to go on our bikes.  Dad tried asking for directions, but it was a little difficult because, again, people are not so friendly here and unwilling to help.  Still trying to get used to that.  Still don't like it.  Anyway, we were actually quite close to the hotel and we arrived safely.  This was actually surprising to me because I felt like I was going to die a million times.  People here LOVE to honk their horns.  For no reason.  I can't tell if they're mad at us, if someone in front of them is supposed to be moving and they're not, or if they are just bored and think to themselves "I might as well lay on my horn for 10 seconds just for fun".  Perhaps I am a bit paranoid because when I was in the 10th grade, I was hit by a vehicle while I was riding my bike to school (Postal Truck Incident, 2006.  #neverforget).  Anyway, we made it to our hotel by 10 AM and they actually let us check in despite it being so early!  Woo hoo!

We didn't waste any time getting settled in and decided to check out the famous "Western Wall" (commonly referred to by Americans as the "Wailing Wall" due to the lamentations of the Orthodox Jews).  The Western Wall is a portion of the retaining wall built by Herod in the 1st Century BC to encompass the second temple.  Jews view the temple as the holiest site on earth and the western wall is a particularly important wall because it is closest to the location of the "Holy of Holies" (a chamber in the temple where only the high priests could enter once a year as per God's command).  Jews come from all over the world to see the wall, pray, and leave notes in the cracks.  All over Jerusalem, we saw men wearing black suits, white shirts with no ties, and large fedora hats.  They also wore tassels that hung from their waists.  Non-Orthodox Jews included men wearing yarmulkes which serve the purpose of  reminding them that God is always above them.  The wall is divided into two parts: one for men and one for women.  It was very common to see men rocking back and forth on their heels, bobbing their heads, touching their hands on the wall, and speaking and singing prayers out loud.

 Old Jerusalem

While we were watching people at the Western Wall, we saw a group of women that were part of the Israeli army come to the courtyard.  Again, they were pretty casual taking selfies at the wall while holding their machine guns.  It is still very strange to me!

As I mentioned before, the Western Wall was one of the four walls that enclosed the second temple, the most famous site in Jerusalem.  Although the second temple was destroyed by the Romans in 66 AD, the foundation still remains.  Tourists can visit the foundation of the temple which is referred to as the "Temple Mount".  I was excited to see this as I read the Bible before I came on this trip and scripture mentions Jesus in the temple many times.  One scripture that came to my mind, however was Matthew 21:12-13 "Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.  And He said to them 'My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves".

It was a strange experience getting to the top of the mount.  The temple mount is controlled by the Islamic religious authorities despite being located on Israeli soil. In order to go to the mount, security searches through your bag to make sure you don't have a Bible as they don't allow any non-Muslim religious materials on the temple mount.  This was so weird to me and unexpected.  However, when I got up to the temple mount I also wasn't expecting to see a mosque and a shrine to Mohammed's ascension.  But that's what was there.  There were hundreds of Muslims gathering to enter the different Islamic holy sites.  I quickly realized that the temple mount was not only a special place for Christians, but it was the third most holy place in the world for Muslims and it is such a holy place  for Jews that they cannot even set foot there for fear that they may accidentally step on the "Holy of Holies".   Needless to say, it was difficult to reflect and imagine the temple during Jesus' time. However, I am happy I got to see it. 

Temple Courtyard

Temple foundation overlooking the Mount of Olives

Dome Of The Rock: A Shrine to Mohammed's Purported Ascension

You're not allowed to go in unless you're Muslim, but Dad tried to sneak a peek!

One of the many school groups that came to see the Islamic holy sites

Later that day, we walked around Old Jerusalem and, again, I was unimpressed with people's level of friendliness.  We went into a supermarket to buy some groceries for dinner and this guy was on his cell phone the entire time he was ringing us up.  We were trying to buy nuts (which you do over the counter) and he's rolling his eyes at me like I'm interrupting his conversation.  Um...SORRY that I'm giving YOU business.  He also charged us $6 for less than 20 cashews.  Dad was NOT happy.  We also did a tour of the undergroundtunnels that run along the foundation of the Western Wall.  We learned about the construction of the walls, the history of the temple mount, and learned a lot from our tour guide.  We spent the rest of the night walking along the streets of the old city and returned to our hotel in modern Jerusalem.  The following pictures are a few shots that I took throughout the day to give you a taste of the different culture here!

With their outfits, the boys walking together always remind me of miniature businessmen.  They are often walking alone without any parents!

See what I mean??

So much dried fruit everywhere!

This latte was the best part of my day

View of the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, and the Dome of the Rock

Navigating the old streets of Jerusalem

Buddies

One of these is not like the other...

 Today, we rode our bicycles to Bethlehem so that we could see the reputed location of the birth of Jesus.  It was a lot of city riding (which I hate), but we didn't have any issues getting there.  In order to get to Bethlehem, we needed to technically leave Israel and enter the West Bank which is an occupied territory of Israel administered by Palestinian authority.  It was definitely a weird experience at the border.  They asked us where we were from, we said Canada.  They asked us if we had our passports (which of course, we did) and as Dad was getting them out, the guy said "It's fine, just go."  I guess we look pretty trustworthy!  Before we knew it, we were back with the Arabs again.  It is crazy to keep going back and forth between cultures that are so different from each other, but so close in proximity.  In both cultures, we stick out like sore thumbs!

The place where Jesus was born has been preserved and protected in a church that was built in 336 AD.  The church above the grotto is the oldest continuously used church in the world. Obviously, I knew that this site was not going to look like a nativity scene out of a church play.  It's been thousands of years since Jesus was born and what used to be caves and shepherds' fields is now apartment buildings and Arabic restaurants.  However, I was surprised that I felt less emotional being at the actual spot Jesus was born than reading about it in the Bible.  I think it is difficult to try and imagine Jesus being born when you're looking at a preserved rock surrounded by ornamental fixtures and a bunch of tourists taking pictures.  Some people were kissing the rock, bowing down and saying prayers.  I have no doubt that it meant a lot for them to see this place "in person".  However, in my case, seeing the physical location where Jesus was born (based on the available evidence), had less impact on me than scripture.  To be fair, I was also just really annoyed with the whole thing because this stupid tour group full of old people who were taking FOREVER to go through the site were getting on my nerves.  I was also denied entrance to the church at first because an Arab guy told me I wasn't wearing appropriate clothing.  I wanted to say "Umm...I don't know why you're so upset about this.  I'm pretty sure Jesus is fine with my legs and he doesn't need them to be covered. Oh and also CAN YOU CALM DOWN."  Thankfully, Dad and I managed to make something work...

This is my life.

This woman tried to take this picture of  NOTHING 8 times.  Each time it was blurry.  She was also recording a video half the time thinking she was taking a picture.  The whole ordeal was a disaster.

I love it when people use iPads as cameras.  For the convenience.

Making a skirt out of my windbreaker

Dad didn't really pull off the look as well as I did...

A woman kneeling at the site of Jesus' birth

This is it! The piece of earth protected inside the star is where Jesus is said to have been born.

View of Bethlehem

Outside the Bethlehem city walls

After we got back from Bethlehem, Dad had a nap and I explored the streets of modern Jerusalem.  I went to a fabulous market and wanted to buy ALL THE FOOD.  Jordan may win the award for "Best Tea" but I think Israel wins the award for "Best Pastries".  I had some amazing fresh pastries as I walked through the market.  It was full of fruit, candy, tea, spices and so much more!  I will take Dad there tomorrow (hopefully I can convince him to buy some treats for the two of us)!

Clearly this store owner was really happy I was taking his picture...

Our final stop for the day was the city of David.  This is an area of Jerusalem that was the original site of Jerusalem in King David's time before the temple was built.  We were able to see the foundation of David's palace, the underground water system, the pool where Christ is reputed to have healed the blind man, and other remnants of physical structures during that time.  My favourite part of this excursion was walking through Hezekiah's tunnels.  When the city was defending itself from the approaching Assyrian army in the 8th century BC, King Hezekiah decided to protect their water by diverting its flow deep into the city with a tunnel system.  "Hezekiah also plugged the upper watercourse of the Gihon waters and brought it straight down to the west side of the City of David.  And Hezekiah prospered in all his works." (2 Chronicles, 32:30)  

Tourists can walk the tunnel which is about 500m long.  The water went up to above my knees and Dad and I were sharing a small light so it was quite the adventure, but we had a good time!

Part of the foundation of David's castle

Kidron Valley (Mount of Olives on the left hand side)

Beginning of the tunnel people would walk down to get water during times of siege

Dad getting prepared for some water activity in the tunnel

Water level creeping up

The tunnels were very narrow and we were crouching while walking for most of it!

Jerusalem streets at night

So happy to have a vanilla latte in my hands

Well, folks, that's it for now!  I took 230 photos in the past two days and have tried to condense a lot into one post.  I'm sure the next two days will be full of sightseeing and new experiences.

Sending love to you all!

Annika