Day 4 - Further Delay

I apologize for not writing for the last few days. I've been busy here. They've found tasks to fill my time and I spend my extra time roaming the streets of the Old City. I'll let you know what I've been up to in detail in the near future. For now, I'll give you a list of things you'll have to remind me to tell you about: my run-in with Kha'im, Ministry of the Interior official, my public transportation fiasco and scenic ascent through the Old City in my search for the Notre Dame Center, my first night in the Center and meeting the priests and workers, my second day trapped in at Notre Dame learning how things work around here, my third day, my wandering into the Muslim Quarter from Herod's Gate around to the Damascus Gate, my roaming the streets of the Christian Quarter in a failed attempt to find the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, my finding of the Holy Sepulchre later in the evening upon recognizing its proximity to the Mosque of Omar, my first visit to the Holy Sepulchre, my fourth day working on the Magdala Project blog with the archaeologists, and my walk through the streets with Christian and Jewish shops to the Western Wall. I don't have time to explain more, I have to get to sleep, tomorrow I wake up at 5AM. I'm altar serving at Fr. Sergio's Mass tomorrow at 6 on the holy tomb in the center of the Holy Sepulchre, the location where Christ rose from the dead. After that, I accompany Felisa to Bethlehem to talk with a supplier for the store and stop by the Church of the Nativity.

I'd also like to explain the pics. First, I'll let you know about the unexplained pictures from the last post. The first is a picture of the Dung Gate that enters into the Jewish Quarter at the southeastern corner of the city walls. This is a view from inside the walls, of people entering. Not the most glamorously named of all gates, this was the location where the Jews from time immemorial would take their trash out of the city. The second picture is of a path near the Dung Gate. The third shows the Jerusalem Archaeological Park to the left upon entering the Dung Gate with a view of some buildings in the Jewish Quarter on a higher level. In the fourth, to the right of the banners is the El-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.
Today's pics (which are actually more pics from my first day's cut across the Old City, dragging my luggage): 1) The entrance to the Burnt House Museum, as evidenced by the writing over the doorway. 2) A covered tunnel-like area by the bazaar in the Jewish Quarter. 3) A street with a couple shops and food stands, around lunchtime. 4) A lion statue in the Jewish Quarter, up a couple flights of stairs from the gate. This is where a bunch of Israeli soldiers crossed my path. 5) A menorah and Israeli flag on top of a building near the giant menorah in the next pic. 6)The giant menorah I promised you in my explanation of the last pic. I guess they don't want you to touch it. 7) To the right, the El-Aqsa mosque and in the background, the Israeli flag on top of the Mount of Olives. 8)Development in the Kidrom Valley beyond the walls, southeast of the Old City. You can also see those banners I took a picture of earlier. 9)Here is a security wall that caused me to walk up a ramp to upper levels of the Jewish Quarter rather than continue forward. In the background,there is the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. Just above the parking lot, where a crowd is gathered is the Wailing Wall. To the left of the tunnel-bridge that leads up to the Temple Mount is a metal fence beyond which one can walk up to the remaining wall of the temple of Herod the Great, destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. 10) Here's a pic of the Dome of the Rock. The people on the ground at the lower left are at the Wailing Wall.