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Thursday, March 13, 2014

February 27, 2014 Thursday in Jerusalem

We were up again early and out the door at 6:15AM.  We met Dvir at the coffee shop and headed out for our last day in Jerusalem.  We headed down the empty streets as the vendors were not open yet.  What a difference!



We started at the City of David, and it was a beautiful walk through the city along with a movie to tie into what we were viewing.  We also spent some time in the gift shop.  From there we headed past a current excavation site, which used to be under a parking structure.
They found a whole pot while we were there.  It was pretty interesting to know that history has been buried for over 2 thousand years. They still have a long way to go...notice the doorway, still unburied. 
We headed down an old tunnel along the old city wall.  it was a long tunnel and took us about 15 minutes.  It was very narrow, and used to be an old sewage tunnel.
We came up on the other side of the waling wall, although the culture here does not recognize this as part of the wall, because it was not exposed during the time that their families began to use it.  Tradition keeps them from recognizing the entire wall.

Once out of the tunnel we viewed the ruins of the archway and market places outside the temple.   We also looked at the incredible size of the stones that made up this place.   Some were more than 50 Ft long. 
Next was the wall….the women and men are separated here, Women on the right, men on the left, and traditionally men stay longer at the wall, as it is said they have more sins to confess than the women.  We left the wall, and headed to the Jewish institute, where we hit the rooftop for more beautiful views of Jerusalem. 
We explored Richardson’s museum that was filled with small artifacts from the excavation.  Coins and pottery were among the things in there. 
Lunch was next on the agenda—one of the favorite time for “Calorie Chapel” as our tour guide Dvir called us.  We went back to the coffee shop from yesterday, and had lamb and beef kabobs, Swarma (chicken with curry) Tahini salad, babaganooche and humus with pitas.
 Everything is so fresh…never will humus taste the same to any of us. 
After lunch we headed through the Valley of Gehana on the way to the Temple Institute, where all the things that need to go into the last temple were housed.  We were not allowed to take pictures but we learned of the items and how there were used, and how someday, they will all take their rightful place in the third and last temple.

We passed into the Jewish district and from there we headed to the Upper Room.  So many different cultures have tried to claim this room, and there is a mosque in there as well as many catholic artifacts.  While we could picture the scene, it was hard with all the items that were in there, as well as how busy it was with people and talking.  King David’s tomb was below, but was closed due to some big prayer meeting happening there. 
We passed through several other catholic churches, including one of the many that claim Mary fell into her eternal sleep there.  It was a bit overwhelming to see how much the Catholics put so much emphasis on Mary and the idols they have. 

We passed outside the city walls and followed it down to the Jaffa gate, where we said our goodbyes to Dvir, and prayed with him.  He was an awesome tour guide and I could not imagine touring Jerusalem without him.  The things he showed us, the history he gave us, including our Christian history was something we will never forget. 

After saying goodbye to Dvir, we spent some time listening to the street vendor playing his music. 
We then headed back down into the streets of Jerusalem to do some shopping.  Our goal was to stay until dark to see the city walls lit up.

It was beautiful.
God has certainly blessed our time here with Dvir and in Jerusalem.

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