Day 9 - Jerusalem

We began the day by visiting the Western Wall.  It is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish temple's courtyard and is one of the most sacred places in the Jewish faith.  There is a division wall between the women's side and the men's side.  The day we were there, there was a Bar Mitzvah going on and the women of the family were standing on chairs to see over the dividing wall and take pictures.

 Notice the phylactery (prayer box) on his forehead

 Mark touching the wall.  Notice the prayer papers stuck in the crevices of the wall.

 Bar Mitzvah just finishing up

 I'm on the women's side

 This is on the south side of the temple mount.  

 These steps lead up to the south side of the temple mount (which has been sealed off)

 The line was so long to go onto the temple mount that day that we put it off for the next day.

 Street scenes in the Muslim Quarter.  Actually, I thought they said it was the Jewish Quarter, but all the shops were run by Muslims, so I wasn't sure.

 My lunch

We next visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is built over the sight that the Catholics believe Jesus was crucified and buried.  Inside it was very crowded and the priests kept coming through with incense.  

 This slab is thought to have been where they bathed Christ's body after his death and before they put him in the tomb.  People would put trinkets on the slab and then bow down and pray and then collect the trinkets, presumably to take home for gifts for people to be able to touch something that had touched where Jesus had lain.

 This church is built on the site where Christ was scourged and Pilate washed his hands of the matter (stained glass window.)

 Nearby was the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed a crippled man.

 The Room of the Last Supper:

 The caves beneath the House of Caiaphas where Jesus was imprisoned:

 Church built on the site:

 On the front of the church:

 Later that evening, Mark hired a cab to drive us up to the Mount of Olives because I really, really wanted to get a night shot: