Day 7

Today is Shabbat and we are in Jerusalem, so pretty much everything in the city comes to a stop. However, we are able to get up early and drive into Arab East Jerusalem, where the Garden Tomb, Mount of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane are. Before we left, Patty was able to capture a beautiful picture of the sunrise over Jerusalem from our hotel room window.

The Garden Tomb is a rock cut tomb considered by many to be the actual site of the buriel of Jesus because of it's it's age, location and proximity to the Old City and biblical reference points. But no one can be sure. In any case, it is a very quite meditative and beautiful garden facility which looks like it would have in the time of Jesus. It is a very powerful and spiritually stimulating experience!

Next, we drove to the top of Mount Scopus and into an Arab neighborhood which took up to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. We were able to get some great pictures of the Temple Mount from this location. There is an ancient Jewish cemetery now located in the spot where the Garden one was. Tradition has it, the Romans cut down the trees in the Garden to make siege engines to destroy the city in 70 A.D.

After the Mount of Olives, we returned to our hotel for lunch because very thing is closed. After 8PM we will go to the Jerusalem Mall and hang out. The city comes back to life after sun down, the end of Shabbat.