Today my mom went out and got us some delicious pastries for breakfast at a corner store that advertises the fact that it is open “24/6″ . People in this country really take shabbat seriously. Another interesting thing is that people are much more used to soldiers with machine guns, just walking around on the streets. Also, there are much more beggars here than in New York. We met our insanely awesome(and also slightly insane) tour guide for Jerusalem, Gil. After a slight hotel mishap, we met up with our other cousins, Michelle and Amy, and let our grandparents, Aaron and Thelma, sleep in. So far, thats me my dad, my mom, Rebecca, Samantha, Michelle, Amy, Aaron, and Thelma(I’ll be quizzing you on this next week(sorry Ben)).Gil, who seems to know everybody in Jerusalem, took us on a walking tour of the ramparts around the Old City of Jerusalem.
Part of the Wall From Around the Corner
We passed through the Christian quarter, then the Muslim.
A view of the Muslim Quarter, with the Dome of the Rock in the Background
The Mt. of Olives, a huge cemetery that is said to be where the messiah will first come from, and resurrect everybody in it first. As you can see, it's a popular spot to be buried because of it.
The holes in the wall that Muslim women have to look through because they are not usually allowed to have any interactions.
The stunning church next to Mt. of Olives.
A photo I took from the wall of an olive tree.
At least twice, we heard Muslim prayer time, and a voice on a loudspeaker began singing. Then,we got into our van and picked up Aaron and Thelma. We drove to Mt. Hertzl, a vast military cemetery, and Gil spoke for a while. Then we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. It was pretty intense. The way they designed the museum was really cool, because at the end, they’re talking about how people wanted to give the Jewish people a homeland, and then the museum ends on a balcony overlooking the entire city of Jerusalem and the 6 million trees they planted in memory of the Jews who died. Then we drove to the King David Hotel to have a drink and enjoy the view over the Old City.
Our extended family at the King David Hotel
We ended with a tour through the tunnels under the Western Walls(which I decided wasn’t respectful to take pictures during), and had a pleasant dinner before we ate some tasty gelato and went to sleep.
