Day 6

Now that Patty got that out of her system, I will describe our day today. We got up early and caught a cab to the Jaffa Gate in the Old City. The first thing we did was walk the ramparts of the city wall which were re-constructed by the Ottoman Empire. It provided some great views of the city and Patty was able to get some great pictures there.

Next, we went to the Western (wailing) Wall. Being the eve of Shabbat, it was crowded with  Jews with their heads covered with their Tallits and Teffilin (phylacteries ) on their foreheads and arms. We had Shwarma for lunch in the Jewish quarter. After lunch we went to the Temple Institute, where they have faithfully recreated all the furniture and instruments for Temple worship, including the Great Menorahs, Tables of Showbread and the High Priest's garments.

We saw Hezekiah's Broad Wall, written about in the Bible (Isaiah 22:9-11, 2Chronicles 32:5) and The Cardo - A Roman era boulevard. We walked all the way around the old city walls into Arab East Jerusalem, in attempt to go to the Garden Tomb, but the hours had changed. We got there at noon and they were closed until 2PM. So, we decided to take a cab back to the hotel and take a nap. We will try again tomorrow. After our nap, we went for a drive to see if we could find the Jerusalem Mall. We did find it, but it was closed as well. Everything in this city closes for Shabbat. We did find and take a picture of the new soccer and sports stadium that is mentioned in the Left Behind book series!  Tomorrow we will See the Garden Tomb, The Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane.