Exploring the Best of Jerusalem

So today (Sunday) I went exploring!  Well first of all I had to help move boxes for my Humanitarian Committee, but it was so awesome because I just made an announcement just before it started as people were starting to form groups to go into the city and they like 20 people volunteered!  It took all of 5 minutes it was so awesome!!  

So then I went to Aladdin’s to exchange my money, and then we walked into the Old City.  We saw the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and then we looked at the view from the top of the Austrian Hospice.  This city is so amazing it constantly blows my mind!! 

Ok so to elaborate on the Western Wall and the church.  So the Western Wall was amazing!  

Welcome sign to the Western Wall

I even wrote a prayer and stuck it in the cracks of the wall and was able to touch the wall while I said another prayer.  

My prayer is the little tiny one with black writing above and to the right of the big huge piece of paper

This is the wall from far away... The wall is divided into two sections, the men enter on the left and the women on the right (and the women's section is so much smaller), its amazing to see the gender differences in different cultures.

The spirit is so amazingly strong even though it’s not even my religion I absolutely love it!  Its also a tradition that you never turn your back on the wall so we left walking backward until we couldn’t see it anymore.  

Then we walked to the church and I just had to include a picture or two of the roads along the way to the church... its so cool and different I absolutely love being in the old city!!

Ok so this one is my favorite!  All the different colors are so amazing, and I love how most of the trees are actually made into little tunnels and keep it so much cooler!

And then the church was also amazing!  There isn’t a nook or cranny left untouched it’s all decorated!  I saw people kneeling down under an altar to put their hand in a hole that supposedly is where Christ’s cross was dug.  I was able to touch the rock that formed Golgotha.  I also got to kneel and touch the marble slab that Christ’s body was supposedly prepared on. 

So this is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre from the outside...

 Cool view of the ceiling with Christ and his 12 Apostles around him, the light was coming in the window too and it just looked perfect

So the church has the tomb where they claim Christ was laid for his 3 days, and after you go in you can give a donation and light a candle around the tomb... I haven't gone inside the tomb yet but its high on my list of to do's!

And honestly what does it matter if it is all wrong, and it’s all made up?  I think what it signifies is amazing and makes the story of Christ all the more real.