Day 8 - Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, Israel Museum & Bethlehem: Church of the Nativity, Shepherd's Field

The next 3 days we spent in and around Jerusalem.  As our bus left our hotel and headed to Yad Vashem, the memorial to the six million Jews who perished in the holocaust, we saw many men who looked like this:

At the museum/memorial there was a separate children's memorial.  It was very sad to see the smiling faces of cute children who perished in the concentration camps.

 Another interesting piece of sculpture:

One of my favorite stops was at the Israel Museum to see the model of Jerusalem as it was at the time of Christ.  It was amazing to see how large the temple mount was at that time.

Our bus then took us to what I would call a "suburb" of Jerusalem, Bethlehem.  We had to cross an armed checkpoint because it is in the Palestinian controlled area.  We visited the Church of the Nativity.  The front door was a tight fit.

St Jerome:

 We were amused by this almost copyright infringement.  I don't think Starbucks will be pressing charges.

 This mosque was across the town square from the church.

We also went to shepherd's field.  Of course there was a church built there as well, but I liked the fountain better.

The view from shepherd's hill:

 That evening after dinner, a few of us walked into the Old City to the Western Wall.  On the way back it was interesting to see the bedrock of the city and then the city walls built on top of that: