Day 3

Saturday 12th December

JERUSALEM – Rampart walls and Western Wall

Synopsis of day: Intro to the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls.

Highlight of the day: Lunch at this lovely French/Italian place which felt like a little chalet. Perfect contentment after a morning of clambering walls.

Lowlight of the day: The heckler who wouldn't leave me alone near the Jaffa Gate.

Favourite photo: The Hannukah Menorah at the Western Wall, or the Orthodox Jew at the Jaffa Gate

Cultural-shock moment: The first few minutes in the alleyways off the Damascus Gate. Raw meats jostled with scarves, trinkets, clothing, sweet pastries and religious artefacts and icons, seeds and plants and groceries. The place is packed and shopkeepers call out and try to beckon you in from the crowded streets. I loved it but it was frenetic.

Favourite purchase: Sarah's Christmas present.

New food consumed: Aubergine stuffed cheese rolls. Loved that too.

Random act of crazy: Arthur, the group member who could not stay still so we lost him every few minutes. Or the shopkeeper who changed his asking price from 200 shekels to 60 in a blink when I said I knew I could get it cheaper elsewhere. Dad, you'd be impressed with how much bargaining I've been doing. Or seeing a maths textbook which had been flung onto a roof from the school below when we were walking the walls.

Something I want to remember: How positive my feelings have been towards Jerusalem to this point. I love the walls, the ancient architecture, the Jewish clothing, the smells of the foods, the frenzied pace of the markets, the kitsch religious relics, seeing Arabic and Hebrew scripts everywhere but knowing everyone can communicate in English and seeing places I have heard of for many years but never even visualised.

What a busy day this has been. I don't know that I have been in a Western fortified city before, or certainly I can't remember being within the ramparts of a city. It was a lot of fun scaling the walls and clambering along the steps which were (some of them) as tall as my knee (or at least it was fun until I started getting blisters from my new boots which I had apparently not worn in well enough). The white walls of Jerusalem encase the hybrid 'old city' which is divided into four quarters (the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim) *footnote: Gila the guide says the Temple Mount could be considered the fifth quarter but I have not bothered to deal with the mathematics of that. It would put out all the tourist guides too.

Me @ the New Gate

Kerri on the ramparts

The broken glass bottles and barbed wire  would deter me from attempting to jump from the ramparts onto this building.

Most of the time I have had no idea where I really was, but once we got the tourist guides that did help immeasurably. We broke up into groups after we had done the ramparts walk and had to find an icon/souvenir which exemplified the quarter we had been designated. Kerri and I were part of the Christian quarter group so that was easy since there is plenty of kitsch stuff about. She bought a baptismal gown (like a hospital gown only with a hideous depiction of John the Baptist in front) and I bought a little wooden statue of the Holy Family (well the Catholics have termed it that. I just called it Jesus, Mary and Joseph).

Some of the streets have little plaques of Bible verses or other religious information. This one was a quote from Psalms I think.

We escaped from the rest of the group after a bit (mainly because keeping track of Arthur was getting really annoying) and came across this simply amazing restaurant which blissed us out. I think Kerri has blogged more about that. The balsamic vinegar in my salad was so strong that my eyes were watering, but the food to this point has been a positive experience.

We finished off with the group at the Western Wall. More about that locality in later days.
 

 
 
Later in the evening we went to a service in the Chapel which was within Notre Dame, and I was witness to my first Latin mass (Kerri says that tradition has become a more common occurrence since Pope Benedict). Levi you would be delighted to know they sang “O Come O Come Emmanuel” and the sound was really something. There was nothing bad about the sermon (conducted in English) and overall the experience was quite a nice one, but I had wished I knew more of the music – I only knew the one song of four. (Though I don't think Kerri knew many more of them either). I think I'm supposed to be reflecting on the spiritual experiences of the trip, but for the moment it hasn't been too profound, more just a really interesting experience. Jerusalem truly is a melting pot of cultures and religions, and while I know it might even be very temporary, for the moment I don't observe too many signs of inter-faith conflict.