This is the view of the Mount of Olives from the bus.
Time warp. We are at the end of the day. I sit here on my hotel bed listening to some music and feeling my legs. Boy did we walk a lot today. But I am sure you want to hear all about it :) Well at least I hope so. However once all is told you will understand why a blow by blow option would not work!
Back to the bus. Early morning traffic. Well fighting that meant we got to the Dung gate early. The line to enter the Kotel was very short and we got to the Western Wall without much of a fuss. But that was not our destination yet! We were going under the ground. The Western Wall tunnel. I am still amazed at how Herod managed to get those stones in there. Inside the first building we looked at a model of the Temple Mount. The mount was then modified to show what Herod did to expand the hill itself. The temple was then placed on the platform. Then of course it was removed and replaced with nothing to indicate that it had become a rubbish dump. And then last of all the Dome of the Rock was placed on the model. Now we had a view of how the temple mount had changed over time. Then as is common in Jerusalem we began our descent. I can never get over the fact that to see back in time to what was built in a previous era we have to dig. And not a little bit either. We looked at a few underground arches that had been above ground once. We went down to Herodian times and even lower to the time of the Hasmoneans. Who were they you ask. They were a Jewish kingly dynasty that was set up for a time after the Maccabean revolt. So they predate Jesus.
We were shown to a model of the temple mount that was more ornate than the one at the entrance. It had a remote that controlled the lights so that one could light up sections of the mount to point them out. Yes the area we were in at the time was a little dark. So some creative tricks had to be pulled to get decent photos. Which of course explains why there are no iPhone shots. Not enough light for the poor camera. :( One particularly interesting thing we saw before reaching the tunnel was a mikva that was two small for anyone to wash in. They suspect it was a ritual bath for dishes. Weird huh?
Now it was time to face the tunnel. It took us all the way along the wall away from the Kotel. There were some places where it was fairly low and the authorities had kindly provided cushioning so that one would not hurt ones head. We headed for the surface through what looked like a water cistern. We heard how the Muslims had kicked up a fuss when the extention was build claiming that the Jews were trying to undermine the foundations of the mosque. Which was nowhere near the tunnel. But it started riots that ended in many deaths. Which were reported as "Those horrible Israelis suppressing the peaceloving Muslims" Yeah right.
Our exit was surprising. It was surprising because I recognized where we were. Outside the entrance to the Church of the Flagelation on the Via Dolorosa. Since it was still early we encountered little pedestrian traffic in the city. Heck most of the shops hadn't opened yet. One Arab seller who didn't buy our excuse that we were coming back later (we were in a hurry) started to say that "all South Africans are liars" I called back to him that he wouldn't get much business from us by calling us liars. Anyway. We did a quickstep all the way back to the Kotel. Through the metal detectors yet again! :). Now we had twenty minutes to look around before our next stop. Since today was not the Sabbath I could take photos for which I am very grateful. I think I got a few good ones. It was very special for me to wear Dad's kippur on the temple mount. I wish he could have been there with me! Even now I cry just thinking about it. I think he would have really liked being there. Today was a special day as many boys were having their Bar Mitzvas. So there was a lot of rejoicing and singing and dancing and such. Quite a few broadcast quality video cameras on the scene too. All the moms were at the dividing wall between the men and women looking over the partition watching their boys go through the motions. I even took some video. I'm sure you will want to see it :) In many ways this iPhone really has been useful for this trip. Will have to upload all these videos to Youtube as well. Just need some editing. I also got the priviledge to go into the synagogue at is right at the wall. Got a few pictures there too.
After all that writing one would think we were done. It's only 9am. So we leave the Western wall plaza to climb temple mount. Problem. By this time the line to go to temple mount has gotten rather long. We enter that line but before long Shela our guide is jumping out of line. As David one of my fellow travellers noted later, one hour in a line is a really bad idea when you are on a schedule. So we changed our plans and went to the excavation museum
( I forget the name) and check out some of the excavations made at the one corner of the Western Wall. Here again there was violence in the past as the Muslims maintained that the work was undermining the Al Asqua mosque although it is more than 70 meters away. John told us that he was at that stop when an Al Jezeera reporter was telling lies about the site while looking at it and knowing she was lying in front of all the other media outlets. He called her on it and her attitude was how dare you tell me what to report. Anyway we see again an example of how the land has risen over time. After much digging they actually found rubble from the Romans destruction of the temple. It was depressing to look at actually. Here was visible proof of the fullfillment of Jesus' prophecy. Here was something of interest. High on the wall there was some Jewish graffiti from the Byzantium era. One problem. There was no Jews allowed near Jerusalem at that time. Except for two years when one of the emperors who hated Christians tried to encourage the Jews to rebuild their temple which would prove a prophecy of Jesus false. Poor bastard. He was assasinated and the next guy in charge was not anti-Christian but anti-Jew and the window was closed. They think the graffiti happened in those two years. Near the corner you can see what is left of Robinson's arch. It must have been magnificent when whole but there is little to see now. It led to one of the entrances to temple mount that was closed up. Following along the wall we came to a set of steps on the south side of temple mount. There were two entrances to the mount here. It is believed (And I concur with this idea) that the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost happened here on these steps. The street below the upper room would not accomodate 3000 people let alone more but the steps outside the temple would. Also it says they were in the house and one name for the temple was "The House" Possible. I think so :) We then went to the museum on the site which houses old coins, ancient artist impressions of what they believed the temple looked like and another model of Jerusalem.
Lunch was now fast approaching so we left the museum and walked up to the Jewish Quarter and made use of the excellent options there. I settled for a burger chips and a coke for R108. It was a big burger :) Kosher pizza didn't appeal to me as that means vegetarian pizza. Remember that kosher means no meat and dairy and cheese which is an integral part of pizza is dairy. Found some free wifi which was handy for downloading a few things. Checked out a bookstore but there was little that appealed to me so I didn't buy anything.
Guess where I was. :) yes I was on Temple mount. We waited in a much shorter line after lunch and made it to the mount. This is where I received a most unwelcome phone call informing me that El Al cannot find my stuff. So that is a flash and battery charger down the drain. I am really angry about that. Not sure where to go from here.
So we explore temple mount, get a view of the mount of Olives and discuss various possible sites for the temple. Now we have to rush to make our next appointment at the City of David site and we exit the Temple Mount from a different place to that which we entered it from. Again we find ourselves in the heart of old Jerusalem and again we hurry. :) We end up back at the Kotel, cross it quickly and exit at the dung gate. We pick up our wet gear at the bus and walk a block to the City of David excavation. This is on the site where Davids original Jerusalem was outside the walls of the city of today! We look at various ruins but are distracted by a rowdy bunch of school kids. They make it reaaly hard to hear our guide and so we miss much of what is going on. The wet gear was for Hezekiahs tunnel. Boy was that a long dark walk. That place was not made for someone as wide and tall as me. But I got through ok. Where we finally exited the tunnel we reached the Pool of Siloam. This was where Jesus told the blind man to wash the mud off his eyes. I really enjoyed seeing and photographing the pool. This concluded our day in Jerusalem. On to the bus and back to the hotel.
Here since my legs were really sore I decided to make use of the jaccuzi and a massage. Both felt wonderful. Then to dinner and to bed. I finished the last few drops of my wine tonight. Ah well, it was good while it lasted!
Now with sore legs I will bid you all good night and look forward to seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls tomorrow. Sweet dreams.
This is Robert le Clus reporting from Jerusalem, Israel!
-- Post From My iPhone
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