1995 Israel: Jerusalem I (12/21/1995)

Thursday, December 21, 1994
A telephone call at 2:30 turned out to be Kent’s mother wanting to be sure we had arrived because she had heard about the East Coast weather. Could only doze on and off after that. Up at 7:00 and prepared for the day. Got Kent up at 8:00, then Brynne. Breakfast of cereals, toast, fruit, and juices. Shortly after 9:00 we left the apartment, armed with two keys, one for the apartment door, and one for the outside apartment building door. We walked to the bus stop at the top of the street. Despite cautions against it, we decided to use the bus system. Bus #15 came quickly and when we boarded, we pointed to the multi-ride ticket we wanted, 11 rides for 33 shekels (new Israeli shekels). The driver punched two, and I pointed to Brynne. The driver asked something, and I figured I should say “6 years old.” So he punched once more. We rode backwards in an articulated bus, careening around corners. Saw the wall of the old city and knew we had to get off as the bus turned the corner. Someone had already rung the “stop” bell, so we disembarked with others at City Hall. We walked toward the wall, took a right at the corner and followed the wall to Jaffa Gate. The walls were built by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman in 1536/1537-1541/1542, but has since been renovated. The wall includes older Hasmonean period stones, some not in line with the Turkish wall. It is believed the delay in building the south wall was a dispute on whether Mt Zion and the Last Supper Room should be included. Authorities decided the Franciscans should pay, which they could not, for the extension, so Mt Zion was excluded. Suleiman is said to have been so angry, he had the architects beheaded. It is also said that he had them killed to prevent them from repeating the design anywhere else. Jaffa Gate (1538) was restored courtesy of South African Jewry. Here was the start of the old road to Jaffa, the port for Jerusalem, and the main route for traffic. Its original name was Arabic, Bab el-Kahlil (Gate of the Friend), referring to the holy city of Hebron (El Kahlil in Arabic) and Abraham (Friend of God). Part of the wall was torn down so that visitor German Kaiser Wilhelm II could enter comfortably in his carriage in 1898. The moat was filled in, under order of Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid. Wilhelm II was here for the opening of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.
We entered through the gate and could not find the wrought-iron fence behind which are two Muslim tombs believed to be those of the architects. We headed to the right to the Tower of David Museum in the Citadel, but it did not open until 10:00. After checking the map we decided to head to the Wailing Wall. Headed to a right down David Street, a narrow stepped street that was the main street of the souk/market, with little shops on both sides, some just opening up, selling all kinds of goods: beads, carved wooden items, leather, mother-of-pearl, brass menorahs (with six branches), beaded clothes, woven clothes, spices, olives, some meat and fish stalls, etc. Very few tourists at this time. There were tractors pulling narrow trailers filled with boards or rubble, and they were climbing the steps. Some of the steps had two parallel narrow ramps, but they were farther apart than for the tractor tires. Happened to see an alley to the right called Western Wall Road, which we took past a security guard, down steps to a large plaza leading to the Western or Wailing Wall (Kotel in Hebrew). The area immediately in front of the wall was sectioned off into men’s (being larger) and women’s areas.

Western or Wailing Wall

Men's section

Women's section

Several bar mitvahs in progress, most near the divider so that women could see and participate. This wall is the holiest site in Judaism, as it symbolizes the lost second Temple. Jews come to mourn the Temple’s destruction. It was part of the retaining wall built by Herod in 20 BC to support the Temple’s esplanade. The upper stones were added by Muslims and Byzantines after the Romans pushed out the stones above floor level. The original Herodian stones can be identified by carved frames. People faced the wall and bobbed forward as they prayed. Brynne and I went in close in the women’s section, to stand on a chair and look into the men’s section for a close-up of the wall and to see the many supplications on paper notes stuffed into the cracks between the stones. Jews have lamented and prayed for centuries here. Under some rulers they had to pay a fee, and under others they were forbidden. Until 1967, houses were built up against the wall, but after the Six-Day War reuniting Jerusalem, the houses were pulled down and the plaza was created. Religious and National ceremonies take place here, including the swearing-in of paratroopers (parachutists recaptured the wall in 1967). The wall is 58-feet high, with the lower five courses of massive limestone blocks from Herodian times, then four courses from the Roman period, and the upper courses are Muslim and up to the 19th century. There are 19 subterranean courses.
After some photos, we hiked up the ramp next to the women’ section to enter the Temple Mount of Noble Enclosure/Haram esh-Sharif, which is the temple precinct on Mount Moriah, and covers 40 acres (1/6 of the old town). The vast and holiest of esplanades dominates the whole country. Mt Moriah is from the Hebrew words for awe and light as it was thought when the world was created, and God said “Let there is be light!” the light first shone on this spot. It was here that Abraham came to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Later David bought a threshing floor to build a temple, but it was his son, Solomon, who built the First Temple (964-957 BC) on that site to house the Ark of the Covenant brought to Jerusalem by David. The prophet Isaiah had the vision of the destruction of the Temple, and it was destroyed by the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar in 586/587 BC. After Persia conquered New Babylonia, Jews recovered Temple items and returned to build the Temple of Zerrubbavel/the Second Temple, but without the Ark of the Covenant. Later the Seleucids/Greeks set up the statue of Zeus and the Temple was plundered. In 165 BC, the Maccabees seized the Temple and re-consecrated it in the story of Hanukkah. In 63 BC Pompey conquered the area, but plundering was not allowed. But when Herod was named King in 37 BC, the Temple was plundered. Herod rebuilt the temple in his name, but it was still known as the Second Temple. It was completed in 65 AD, but destroyed in 70 AD by Titus, who burned the city. Hadrian razed the city in 135 AD and constructed the city of Aelia Capitolina, and built a temple to Jupiter. This also was destroyed and the area deteriorated. Caliph Omar took Jerusalem in 638, cleared the square of rubbish and debris, and declared it a sacred precinct of Islam. He built El Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, and it has remained Muslim to today. The Crusaders took over for short periods. The order of knights who served to protect pilgrims took the name Templars. But the Mameluks regained the Temple Mount. We entered the esplanade that was filled with playing school children, and were almost immediately accosted by a guide who did inform us that the mosque closed in 20 minutes, but hounded us to allow him to guide us as he had thirty years of experience. We did not have to pay him if we did not like and his friend would watch our bag. We declined and went to buy the 22 shekel each tickets. The guide kept after us right up to the El Aqsa Mosque, when he was finally convinced we were not using his services. At first he called us “silly,” but then it became “bad, bad, Zionist man” and “Zionist pigs.” We continued to ignore him, and he finally left. At the mosque, we removed our shoes and left our backpack along the wall. Barefoot we entered the mosque proper, and the man at the door worried that Brynne (in shorts and bare feet) was too cold and would get sick, not realizing we had come from a cold climate! El Aqsa, facing Mecca, is Jerusalem’s largest mosque, with a dark gray cupola covered in lead. El Aqsa means “furthermost point,” meaning Jerusalem was the point where prophet Mohammed came one night on a winged horse, Baruk/Lightning, from Medina. He rode up into heaven to receive the laws of Islam from God, and returned to earth and his home. The first mosque, Mosque of Omar, was built on Herodian ruins, and over the years was reconstructed and altered. In 715 AD, it was destroyed by an earthquake. Today we see the rebuild of 1033/1034 under Fatimad ez-Zahir. The Crusaders added other buildings, now the Islam Museum and Women’s Mosque, which Saladin recaptured. It is the third holiest site in Islam. In 1951, King Abdullah of Jordan (grandfather to the present King Hussain) was assassinated in this mosque.

El Aqsa Mosque (from a postcard)

The entrance is a seven-arched porch, corresponding to seven naves in the mosque. There are 12 smooth Carrara marble columns, presented by Mussolini in 1938-1942, supporting the ceiling, which was a gift of King Farouk of Egypt in 1936-1952. To the right were the women, and to the left were men. Persian carpets were in the center where we walked, and they had a design of individual prayer rugs. In the front center under the cupola was an arched niche, a mihrab (1187 from Saladin) indicating the direction of Mecca. The mihrab wall is the only remnant of the original 8th century building of the Umayyed dynasty. The cupola was covered with mosaics. To the right was an ebony pulpit (1168) inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl. This pulpit was set afire in 1969 by a fanatical Australian Christian tourist who believed he must destroy all "heathen filth." It has been restored. We left the mosque, retrieving our shoes and bag. We walked to the prominent Dome of the Rock, passing El Kas, a round basin where Muslims wash before prayers (ablutions to hands, feet, and face).

El Kas Fountain for Muslim ablutions

For reasons of hygiene, water cannot be scooped from the basin, so there is a metal grill or fence around it. There is a low circle of stone seats with a water tap in front of each.
The Dome of the Rock was founded by the Umayyed Caliph Abd el Malik (685-705). An inscription inside dates the founding to 691 and claims it was by Abbasid Caliph el Mamun. However, he did not rule until 813-833, and he forgot to alter the dates!

Kent and Brynne
near the Dome of the Rock

Some of the 45,000 faience tiles

The Dome is octagonal at the base with the lower part of marble and the upper part covered with 45,000 faience tiles. Some of the tiles (from 1963) have verses from the Koran, and others are Persian from the 16th century. The design is mathematical. We removed shoes and left the backpack outside. The guard at El Aqsa allowed me to take my camera in my fanny pack, but not this one. We tread upon Persian carpets. There was some 16th century stained glass. The large rock in the center surrounded by a curved railing is supposed to be the summit of Mount Moriah. At this spot is where Abraham was said to have readied his son for sacrifice, where the altars of the First and Second Temples were located, and where Mohammed took off on his nocturnal ride (the same as for El Aqsa!). It is said that when Mohammed ascended (to heaven with the angel Gabriel?), the rock broke loose to follow. Stairs lead to a space underneath called the Fountain of Souls, as it is believed the dead come here to pray. Nearby is a large reliquary said to contain hairs from the prophet’s beard, which is opened once a year during Ramadan. There is a hole in one side to allow you to reach in a hand to feel the footprint Mohammed left behind in the rock. The interior of the dome is covered with mosaics of predominately gold, done by Syrian Christians, in arabesque. The drum beneath the dome has mosaics on a gold background depicting plants. They were restored in 1027. The rock is surrounded by two circles of marble pillars with gilded capitals. The dome was covered with gold sheets, but collapsed in 1016 during an earthquake. It was said the dome was originally solid gold, but was melted down to pay caliphs’ debts. The gold was replaced with lead. Now it is made of aluminum sheets covered with thin gold leaf, 80 kg/176 pounds of 24K gold, thanks to King Hussain of Jordan. We exited and Brynne was hot and tired. We had forgotten water, but did have an apple juice.

Dome of the Rock seen through the mawazin/arcade,
where to the left is a sundial

At the top of the stairs leading to the Dome of the Rock is a series of arched columns called mawazin/scales arcade, based on the belief that on Judgment Day, scales will be placed here to weigh the hearts (or souls) of the dead vs the truth. We went down the steps to be shooed off by the guards. So we headed north along the western edge of the Mount. Passed the Qaitbay Wall and work of Egyptian craftsmen, built in 1482, more in the style of tombs.

Qaitbay Fountain

We tried going towards the northeast corner, but were told the Temple Mount was closing. So we missed seeing the Golden Gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem, and where the Jews believe the Messiah will enter. The Muslims have blocked the gate. Nor could we leave according to our planned tour! We were shooed out through the Prison Gate and found ourselves in a narrow street. We turned right when we could and ended up in Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross. We followed it back to the City Wall to do it in the right order. Tried to find the Pools of Bethesda, but did not even find the secured northeast gate to the Temple Mount. A 10-12 year-old boy, sucking his thumb, begged us for baksheesh/shekels. We saw a sign for the “Birthplace of Mary” and entered. A quiet old man took us down some stairs into a small square stone room. There was a cordoned-off area, the size of a bed where we were told Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was born. We were given three candles to light and prop in sand in a small stand. The man also anointed Brynne on the forehead with oil. There were stairs that led below this room, to where Anne and Joachim, Mary’s parents lived. We left five shekels and went out to look for the Church of St Anne and the Pools. Finally went back and asked the man at the birthplace, who may have been Greek, because his grotto was decorated in Greek Orthodox style. He pointed to a door a couple doors away from the wall, and so we went in. Paid a French-speaking nun about 3 shekels each for admission.

Garden of the Church of St Anne

Kent and Brynne next to
an orange tree in the garden

Portal to the Church of St Anne

The Church of St Anne traditionally stands on the spot of the house of Anne. It was originally a shrine, then a 5th century basilica that was destroyed by the Persians. It was rebuilt, but destroyed again in 1009 by Fatimad Caliph al-Hakim. Crusaders built the chapel, and then a church in 1140. It is considered the most beautiful and characteristic church of the Crusader period in all the Holy Land. Built in Romanesque Burgundy style, it was turned into a mosque by Saladin, or rather a madrasa, a Muslim house of study. In 1856, the Ottomans gave it to the Catholic “White Fathers” to thank the French for their support in the Crimean War. The inscription over the main portal indicates a Koran school under Saladin. A small “austere” church with great acoustics. Someone was decorating a Christmas tree; there was a pair, one on either side of the altar. To the right, we took steps down to the crypt that was older than the church, with pillars aligned with an older church. It is the Byzantine tradition that this is the site of Mary’s birth, or at least the site of Anne’s birth. Thus, Byzantine decorations. Was the "Birthplace of Mary" below this church, or another site also believed to be the birthplace?

Excavations over the Pools of Bethesda

Lots of drooping pepper trees and flowers. In the same area were the two Pools of Bethesda, which were medicinal baths for worshipers of the god Seraphis, hoping for a miracle cure. There were five porches for the lame and sick to lie upon, and they waited for an angel to stir up the water and then rushed to be the first one in. It was here that Jesus healed a man who had waited 38 years to be the first into the pool. From the first chapel of the Crusaders were steps into the northern pool to venerate this event.
From here we followed directions from my tiny self-made guide book to walk along Via Dolorosa/the Street of Sorrows/the Way of the Cross, traditionally the path Jesus followed when he carried the cross to Calvary, based more on faith than archaeological history. Originally had seven stations in the 18th century, while the next century added Stations I, IV, V, and VIII. It was begun in the 8th century, including the Garden of Gethsemane. In the Middle Ages there were two different routes, depending on where you believed the praetorium was located. Franciscans developed this route in the 14th century, but started at the Holy Sepulchre. Two centuries later it followed a chronological order and eventually the European stations were accepted as the standard. It is more likely that Jesus was tried at the Jaffa Gate, near the Citadel where Pilate lived, and then he went west to Calvary. The route we followed began at El-Omariyah College/School, built on the terrace of the Antonio Fortress, a Herodian fortress named for Marc Antony. The belief is that here was the praetorium where Jesus was condemned. On Passover the Roman governor would set a Jewish prisoner free. The people were given a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, an anti-Roman resistance fighter and terrorist. Chief priests got the crowd to choose Barabbas. Pilate washed his hands of responsibility. We could not enter because the Moslem school was in session.

Franciscan Chapel of Flagellation

We crossed the street to the Franciscan Chapel of Flagellation with Station II where Jesus took up the cross. A guard wanted to give a tour of the chapel as he had “25 years of experience,” but we said no thanks. Entered a small courtyard and went to the chapel to the right. First built in 1929, the Chapel of Flagellation was where Jesus was flogged and/or received the crown of thorns.

Station II

Next over to the Chapel of Judgment on the left with the pavement stones from the Pavement of Justice. This was the actual Station II where Jesus took up the cross. We walked up to El-Wad Road and turned left. Paid three shekels to enter the Convent of the Sisters of Zion to go through a museum that took us down to Roman remains. Saw an arched barrel vaulted cistern with water still in it, pavement with markings of games played by bred Roman legionnaires including a game of mockery of Jesus, and the Lithostrothos, the street of condemnation (?). The convent contains the three-arched Hadrianic gate (2nd century), with one arch over the street. Traditionally this is where Pilate said, “Ecce Homo” or “Behold your King.” We stopped in another doorway to look through a glass panel at the convent chapel with the altar under one of the arches.

Station III

We had missed the third station and had to backtrack. Station III was in remembrance of Jesus falling the first time. The Free Polish Forces built the chapel here, but these chapels are not open except during the Franciscan procession on Friday afternoons.

Kent and Brynne along the route
of Via Dolorosa

Station IV

Station IV was where Jesus faced or embraced his mother. Supposedly in the Armenian Patriarchate Church/Our Lady of the Spasm, there are prints of two sandals in the crypt to show where Mary stood.

Station V

Station V was where Simon of Cyrene (Cyrenaica, now Libya) was forced by the Romans to carry the cross. Farther along, the Via Dolorosa turned right up a stepped street of souk shops.

Olives

Station VI

We kept a lookout for a brown wooden door on the left, halfway up the street. We found one, then another that was clearly marked Station VI marking the spot where a woman wiped the face of Jesus, and his image remained on the cloth. Her name was given as Veronica, meaning “true image.” The church of St Veronica stands here, but the supposed cloth or shroud is now in Torino, Italy. There is still a debate over the true date of the cloth.

Station VII

At the top of the street across the cross-street was a brown metal door of Station VII where Jesus fell the second time. This chapel is supposed to contain one of the columns of the Byzantine Cardo (main street of 6th century Jerusalem). A disfigured beggar sitting in front made photo-taking awkward. While facing this station, stepping to the left, we faced a side street going uphill. We followed that street to a point in the wall with a small inscribed stone marking Station VIII where Jesus addressed the women, telling them to weep for themselves and their children.

Station VIII

Kent remarked that Jesus took a little detour along his route, as we backtracked to the main street (Sug Khan e-Zeit) to turn right to continue the route. We passed more shops until we came to a ramp on the right paralleling the street. Climbed the ramp and went down a small lane above it, but could not find the marking for Station IX, where Jesus stumbled or fell for the 3rd time. We did find a doorway to the left into the courtyard of the Ethiopian Monastery or Deir Es-Sultan, home of the Coptic monks. From where we were, it was hard to distinguish the medieval bulge of the Holy Sepulchre Church, or the multi-national skyline with the Russian orthodox gable, Lutheran bell tower, and crosses of the Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Roman Catholic churches rivaling to claim their areas of the Holy Sepulchre. Here on the rooftop of the Coptic monastery, monks live in cells. We meandered, following the other tourists, ducking into small doorways, to pass through a small chapel. A monk was intoning a prayer to a group of tourists, each with a set of headphones, which is how they unobtrusively listened to their group tour guide. One wall had “modern” paintings, one depicting the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. Ethiopian tradition suggests that they had a union to produce an heir to the Ethiopian royal house. The script is in Gehz, the ecclesiastical language of the Ethiopian church.
We continued down to a more highly decorated chapel with lots of woodwork. Came out a small wooden door into the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where it was difficult to see the church itself. We followed people through an arched doorway.

Entrance to Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The first church built on this site was in 326 AD by Helena, the mother of the Byzantine emperor Constantine the Great, the first Christian ruler. The church was destroyed by the Persians in 614 AD, rebuilt almost immediately, then destroyed by the Egyptian caliph El-Hakim in 1009. Restored as a cluster of shrines, and unified by the Crusaders in the 12th century. The church was located outside the walls of the city in the time of Jesus, which follows that this could have been the site of Calvary, as no executions or burials would have been held in the sacred precincts within the city walls. A stone carving above the entrance dates to 1149, a gothic entrance. We entered the church and turned right to climb very steep steps to Golgotha or Calvary, meaning the Place of the Skull. A small chapel to the right was Roman Catholic and is Station X where Jesus was stripped of his garments. It is also Station XI where Jesus was nailed to the cross. At the front is a mosaic showing Jesus being nailed to the cross, and on the wall to the right is a mosaic of Abraham binding Isaac (a symbolic parallel to the death of Jesus).Bronze disk

Bronze disk allegedly marks the spot where the cross stood

In the central chapel crowded with hanging oil lamps, lots of candlelight and decorated icons (characteristic of Greek Orthodox chapels), was Station XII where it is said the cross actually stood and where Jesus died on the cross. Under the altar that was on the cap of the rock hillock, there was a bronze disc with a hole in the center marking where the cross stood. We put our hands in the hole, but could not reach down far enough to touch rock. We then discovered it was apparently okay to take photos inside churches, and so started feeling bold enough to do so.

Station XIII

Between the two chapels was Station XIII, marked by an icon of Mary as the spot where the body of Jesus was taken down off the cross. We went down the stairs back to the area just inside the entrance where a rectangular slab of pink marble, called the Stone of Unction, lay under large hanging oil lamps. Here was where the body of Jesus was cleaned and prepared for burial. The Greeks rub their crosses and clothing on the slab. We touched the smoothed part of the stone. We were told that in the summer the stone is always wet, a miracle of tears or condensation!
Going towards the left of the entrance, we entered a large and very dark rotunda, where 50 feet above is the dome that is a landmark in the Christian quarter. There is still scaffolding blocking sight of the dome. Repairs to the church are difficult because of the rivalry of responsibility between the different Christian sects. In the rotunda is a small pink marble edifice called an aedicule, from the 19th century. It is a highly decorated tomb with hanging oil lamps and giant brass candleholders (now holding electric candles). We got in a crowded line, which was not terribly long, but moved very slowly, to enter the tomb. Critical structural repairs were done in the 1970s. Status quo agreements froze the possessions and privileges of the different denominations in the 19th century, but there are still squabbles. Finally entered the vestibule of the tomb, and a Greek Orthodox priest explained a stone slab on a pedestal in the center was a piece of the round stone that once covered the entrance to the tomb. We ducked into the tomb itself, fitting perhaps 10 people as the priest explained the ledge with the marble cover was where Jesus would have been laid. Now it is like an altar, with decorations from the different churches. Brynne and another child were given candles to light and place in sand. The priest spoke in English and Spanish for those of us in the tomb at the time.

Kent and Brynne in front of the Tomb of Jesus

Hanging oil lamps

We ducked out of the tomb and wandered around to check out the different chapels. We found steps down to a crypt of the Chapel of St Helena with fine Armenian mosaics on the floor. We could not find the ancient Byzantine wall etching of a ship. There were more steps going farther down. Tradition is that Helena found the True Cross here, in 326 AD. The nave is Greek Orthodox, and there is a Franciscan chapel to Mary Magdalene, who was one who discovered Jesus was gone from the tomb. We left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and tried to get our bearings to leave the courtyard in the proper direction. We tried to leave twice, dodging boys selling postcards. We decided to have lunch and bypassed a falafel stand to go to a restaurant with outdoor tables and chairs, and a pile of fresh oranges for squeezing into juice, and a sign saying “fresh falafel.” Kent ordered two falafels, and the guy went running up the street. Another waiter came, and he went off to see if he could get falafel! It was about 13:00. Across the street, Arab kids were gathered around a doorway to the Martin Luther Schule. We got 2 bottles of water and Brynne had something to snack on. Eventually we got our falafel, 4-5 ground chickpea balls, breaded and fried, in pita bread, with red cabbage, French fries, and pickles. Interesting! Brynne did not like the falafel. It was good, but we decided next time we would try a falafel stand where we could point out the things to put in the sandwich. It was only 14 NIS for the water and falafel.

David Street

Said ‘no’ to all the bead sellers and postcard sellers (including a large 12” x 36” postcard of Jerusalem). Got our bearings to head back to the souk and David Street. It was much busier now with tourists. Kent saw a group of Russians with the older men wearing their military campaign buttons on their suit jackets. A group passed speaking Italian, and suddenly all the shopkeepers were speaking Italian! Shopkeepers were inviting tourists into their shop in many languages. We just shook our heads and continued onward. I had gotten ahead of Kent and Brynne, and when I paused, a shopkeeper invited me into his shop. I said ‘no’, but he replied, “Not to sell. I just want to show you something.” Well, that made me even less inclined to go, and by then Kent and Brynne were passing. We came out by Jaffa Gate and headed to the Tower of David Museum. The tower is actually a Herodian tower and Turkish minaret. Called Phatza-el, it was one of three built by Herod in the 1st century BC, and it is all that remains of his fortress here. The Crusaders and Muslims fortified this spot creating the Citadel. We ascended a ramp, crossed the moat, and entered the museum. Had to open our backpacks for security. We paid the family rate admission of 38 NIS. The museum tells the 5000-year history of Jerusalem through state-of-the-art audiovisual displays. Saw a hologram, many pictoramas with layers of painted clear panels for a three-dimensional effect. But first we climbed to the top of the stairs to the roof. We skipped the auditorium with its introductory film, and climbed more stairs to the top of the tower for a view around Jerusalem.

View towards the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

View toward the Dome of the Rock

View from  Tower of David Museum; note the "garden" below

Tower of David Museum excavations

View of Phatza-el Tower

After taking many pictures, we noticed panoramic photographs on which major landmarks were identified. Down below we saw an oven on a roof. A garden was now an empty lot filled with junk. We followed red exhibit arrows to cover most of the museum, in chronological order, going indoors, then outdoors around a courtyard. We also saw a model of Jerusalem as it was in the 19th century, and an exhibit on Solomon’s Seal, the king’s seal. There was a children’s activity in this last exhibit, with papers and stamps at different stations. The papers were all in Hebrew. We used the restrooms, then checked out the small buffet, but Brynne was not interested in soups and quiche-like items. At the gift shop we bought 4 shekels worth of postcards.
When we exited the museum, we were outside the wall at Jaffa Gate. Walked south across the terrace, turned left towards the wall, descended some steps, and turned left into a ticket office. It cost us 17.50 NIS to go onto the Ramparts Walk. The ticket-seller was distracted by a tour group and its leader, but finally gave us our change. The ticket was good for two days of walking on the western side ramparts of the old city walls. We started at Jaffa Gate Moat and headed south toward Zion Gate.

Ramparts view of Tower of David Museum
and its Ottoman minaret

Kent and Brynne on the ramparts

Tamiko on the ramparts (KSS)

View of Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion

Had a glimpse into the Armenian quarter, but did not see much. A space away from the wall were the back walls of buildings and churches, and the land between the wall and buildings was filled with rubble and trash. As we walked along, we passed only one other family. At the southern corner, we looked down at the Mt Zion area outside the wall. Just before we arrived at Zion Gate, we passed a man with a large bulky backpack, who was peering through binoculars. He also had a metal rod and was not dressed like most of the military personnel we had seen, who wear dark green baggy uniforms like the many below Zion Gate. We quickly descended at Zion Gate, dodging dog droppings on the stairs. We came out through the L-shaped gate (so shaped to impede invaders), between two parallel walls perpendicular to the old city wall, which then make a right-angle turn before opening up. We thought we were to take a right-turn for a fork in the road, and we could see the tower of Dormition Abbey that was our goal. On the left we saw a large open gate to a church and thought we could cut through. A man came out and to inform us that this church was in the Armenian quarter (but weren’t we outside the city wall?!). He said something about the high priest Caiaphas and Jesus being imprisoned, and that he (the man) had 30-years of experience here as a guard. That was our cue that he would expect a tip if we entered this church. We asked how to reach Dormition Abbey, and he pointed us back the way we came. We thanked him and left, without a tip as we had only taken a couple steps into his compound. Later I read this was the site of the home of the father-in-law of Caiaphas, Annas, who was the one to arrest Jesus and bring him to Caiaphas. Farther was the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu (where the cock crowed three times after Peter denied knowing Jesus the third time), which was also the site of the house of Caiaphas where Jesus was imprisoned overnight. We did not get to this Assumptionist Fathers church. Everything is related to Jesus somehow!
Anyway, we went back through Zion Gate, turned right and took a right at the fork to Dormition Abbey, a large Benedictine church with a conical black dome and a tall clock tower, landmarks of Mt Zion. A round limestone building with ornamented turrets was built on the site the Turks gave to Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1898. Dedicated in 1910, the tradition is that Mary, the mother of Jesus, did not die, but fell into eternal sleep (dormition). Brynne exclaimed that death was eternal sleep! Couldn’t argue with that! Inside the circular chamber were six recessed chapels. At the east end was a Byzantine style apse with a wall mosaic depicting Mary & Jesus. The mosaic floor was in a design of concentric circles, the smallest being the Trinity, the next the four Evangelists, then the twelve disciples, then Old Testament prophets, and finally the signs of the Zodiac. We went to the basement and in the center was a cenotaph with a stone-carved figure of Mary in repose. We circled around to all the chapels, and in the last was the one donated by the Ivory Coast with wooden figures and motifs all inlaid with ivory. Very modernistic. We visited the very nice gift shop and bought postcards for 5 shekels. We left the very pleasant Dormition Abbey (anything run by Europeans seemed pleasant!) and returned to the fork in the road. Took the left fork towards the Coenaculum or Cenacle/Room of the Last Supper. We found an entrance and climbed stairs to an upper room where Jesus was to have celebrated the Passover seder with his disciples, and elements of this seder were to become the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist. It was a medieval chamber with flagstones and Gothic arches built in the 14th century. Tradition also identifies this room as the place the disciples gathered seven weeks after the death of Jesus on the cross, on Pentecost where they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The chamber also had the trappings of a mosque: stained glass windows with Arabic inscriptions, one window blocked by a mihrab/niche indicating the direction of Mecca, two plaques in Arabic on the wall, and a Levantine dome. Muslim interest here is because of the Tomb of David below.
We were directed through an archway where a man declared Kent needed a head covering and to follow him. We had a baseball cap for Kent for just this purpose, and he put it on but followed the man anyway. He signed something (a petition?) and received a pamphlet based on the teachings of Lubavitcher Rebbe/Menachem Mendel Schneerson, an ultra-Orthodox leader based in Brooklyn, NY. We entered a courtyard surrounded by flowerpots and a colonnaded corridor that was a medieval cloister with the arched windows of the Cenacle above. Beneath this cloister was supposed to be the Tomb of David, Medieval Jews called this hill the City of David, the site of Jerusalem in the 10th century BC. They assumed David would be buried within the city, and found a tomb here. Later they discovered the real City of David was east of Mt Zion, but tears and prayers had already sanctified this place for nine centuries. We first entered a room with Jewish men gathered praying around a table with holy books. As this is considered a synagogue, the men had to have their heads covered. Many of the male tourists had cardboard yarmulkes on their heads. We followed a group into the antechamber, behind a painted wall, with barred windows. In the back of this room was a mihrab with green ceramic tiles around it, in honor of Nebi Daoud/Prophet David, whom Islam retroactively beatified. Through the barred windows we glimpsed the cenotaph, and later went for a closer view. We were allowed to take photos despite reverent Jews bobbing in prayer.

Tomb of David behind gate

Tomb of David

The cenotaph (massive stone tomb marker) was covered with a blue velvet cloth embroidered with stars of David. In Hebrew inscriptions read “David, King of Israel, lives forever” and “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand lose its cunning.” On top of the cenotaph were several ornaments that crowned Torah scrolls and two engraved silver canisters used by the Sephardi to contain scrolls. Behind the cenotaph was an age-blackened stone alcove thought to be a remnant of a 5th century AD synagogue. Back to the room with the Jews around the table was a cloth-covered booth, I guess at which women could pray as we saw a woman bobbing in there. We exited the cloister through a back door, and across the road was the Chamber of the Holocaust. A Hasidic with an American accent got some shekels from us (6+6+3?) and we entered a dark dusty office with a case containing some Nazi artifacts. Went into various chambers with ceremonial plaques on the walls, each commemorating Jewish communities wiped out in the Holocaust. It also seemed that families had plaques made. There was a model of Nazi death camp ovens, some death camp artifacts (uniforms, etc) and lots of photos. We briefly explained the Holocaust to Brynne who declared that she just ignores people she doesn’t like. We clarified the point that she did not like these people just because they were different, and that was the crux of the problem of the Holocaust. We left for a breath of fresh air. Apparently at one time women were not allowed in the chamber.
We nibbled on some snacks and sipped water, and consulted our map. It was hard to figure which direction to go, so Kent went to ask a Chamber fellow. Another man was sitting near Brynne and me, waiting for a friend. When Kent came back, the guy asked if the man giving directions was of any help. Not really. So this guy pointed out where we were on the map, which we knew, but we needed to know which way to leave. So he pointed the way for us, and off we went. Sundown was at 17:00 and we wanted to get back to the Ls' before dark. We then figured we were equidistant between the Ls’ and the bus stop for the return, so we opted to walk home. We returned to Zion Gate, followed the path along the wall past the Armenian “Caiaphas house.” At the corner of the old city wall, we found a path going downhill into the valley below the wall. The path along the wall was marked as being made possible by some American family in honor of some family member. There are lots of plaques and markers thanking donors and contributors. Was this the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which the Jewish guy kept remarking meant “hell”? (No, that is part of Kidron Valley on the east side of Jerusalem!) The path took us down the hill to a busy street with cars, buses, trucks, and a man on a donkey. We crossed a bridge and climbed the hill on the other side, heading towards an old windmill Kent had noticed from the bus this morning. We arrived at a park with a huge modern fountain.

Lions Fountain (PBB - Photo by Brynne)

Walked up King David Street to Jabotinsky Street and followed that past a circle with the Belgian consul-general’s residence. Then past the President’s House with modern wrought-iron fencing and a squat squarish guardhouse on HaNasi Street. A zig (HaNasi turned left) and a zag (right on HaPalmach Street), another zig and we were on Ha’gedud Ha’ivri, the Ls’ street. There were lots and lots of cats roaming around. We hear them meowing and screaming at night. They get into the garbage cans.
We used a key to enter the six-story apartment building. We thought we were pushing the button for the elevator, but it was the light switch! Another fellow waiting for the elevator noticed the button hadn’t been pushed, as he greeted us with “Shalom!” He was going to the 6th floor and we got off at the 2nd. We used a key to enter the Ls’ apartment. Learned Tom had been discharged from the hospital and he went to work. He was on the late shift, so we would have dinner after 19:30. It appeared that an angiogram showed that Tom’s condition had worsened and now surgery was recommended. Dot made an appointment with his doctor for January 1st! Tom arrived home and we soon sat down to a dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, mashed yams, cauliflower, and salad with bread. Delicious and filling. Dessert was a choice of chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and ice cream. Sitting at the dinner table still, we noticed it was 22:00! It took a while to get everyone to bed, as we all took showers. Brynne was in her “own” room, and Kent and I were in twin beds in the third bedroom. Tom had exchanged $300 into NIS for us.
Next: Jerusalem II.