Jerusalem, Israel (Take Two!)

Gah, this trip was just so amazing the first time I went back in 2017!  I was just so excited that Todd and the kids could finally visit the holiest pilgrimage site in all of the Catholic world... Jerusalem!

Like every morning, we had to walk to a nearby hotel pick up point to hop on a mini bus that took us to a much larger bus.  On our way to Jerusalem, we stopped at the Elvis American Diner.

For REAL. This was a real place.  Grant, do you even know who Elvis is?



Drunk Elvis at a truck stop in Israel.



On the way to Jerusalem, you stop by the ONLY 9/11 memorial outside of the United States.  It's really hard to see it but it's just to the left of the far side of the bridge, and it's of an American flag transforming into an eternal flame.

I labeled this photo, "Does the Kraft Family really have a sports complex in Jerusalem?"  And the answer to that is YES.  Bob Kraft really does have a sports complex here. While many people make religious pilgrimages to Jerusalem, the Kraft family said this complex would be a "sports pilgrimage" for many.  (Insert eye rolling here.)  It interestingly sits on Route 1 - as does Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Our first stop of the day (after grabbing a coffee at Elvis's place) was the Mount of Olives.  It was a slightly different lookout point than the one I stopped at a few years ago, but you can still clearly see the Temple Mount.

Natalie with her first glimpse of the Holy City of Jerusalem.  An American girl, who lives in a German city, repping a South Korean band, hanging out in Israel.

You can see the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - it's the double gray domed church in the middle. More on that later, when we visit!

We next drove over to the Church of All Nations, where you can get a great view of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

I really love the Church of All Nations with all of its symbolism on the facade. The four gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) stand on top of the columns.



Our guide for the day, Eva (pronounced Hava) told us a bit about the Church of All Nations, which sits across the Kidron Valley, opposite of the Golden Gate.  It is said that Jesus passed through this gate on Palm Sunday.  It was sealed off by the Muslims in 810, reopened by the Crusaders in 1102, walled off AGAIN by the Muslims in 1187 and although the Ottomans rebuilt the wall in the mid 1500s, they kept it sealed off when they did the reconstruction.  There has definitely been a religious tractor pull going on with many of the holy sites over the last 2,000 years.

The Garden of Gethsemane from the street below - it was PACKED.

But we managed to get in and were able to check out the old olive trees that Jesus prayed under.

If you read the post I wrote about Jerusalem a few years ago, you'll know that a) these olive trees are likely not ones that were around when Jesus was alive, but are probably descendants of those trees and b) this entire hillside used to be covered in olive trees but over the years, they were cut down by the Romans (and later the Crusaders) when they invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in 70 AD.

After the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples went to the Mount of Olives to pray.  Jesus asked James, John and Peter to stay awake with him while he prayed, but of course, as you know, they fell asleep.

The Gospel of Mark says, "He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.”  Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”"



The rock here is said to be the place where Jesus threw himself on the ground in the gospel I quoted above.

The inside of the Church of All Nations is very pretty, but very dark.  The night sky you see above is reminiscent of the night Jesus prayed here before his death.

I love me some Pope Francis!  Many Popes have planted olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, and his was planted in 2014.

"My Father, I do not understand You, but I trust You."



Among the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane.



Peace Rocks!



By the time we were leaving the Garden of Gethsemane, it had kind of cleared out.

I love FINALLY getting to see the Garden of Gethsemane with my family.



Ok, just ONE more picture of these glorious, old trees.  When olive trees age, they hollow out in the middle, making them (at times) very difficult to age.

Even in November, Jerusalem was blooming.

We hopped on the bus and drove to our next stop, which was the Dung Gate.  When I came here last time, I got 20,785 steps.  Today, I only got 10,141.  We drove a lot of places we could have easily walked.  As we drove though, we got a nice view of the Garden of Gethsemane (far left next to the Church of All Nations.)  Interestingly, you can see the golden onion domed Church of Mary Magdalene in the center of the photo (Two o'clock to the Church of All Nations.)  This is where Princess Alice of Battenberg - the Duke of Edinburgh's mother and the Queen of England's mother-in-law - is buried.

The Jewish cemetery here on the Mount of Olives is VERY impressive.  Nine huge buses seem dwarfed when surrounded by the graves of thousands who believe that at the second coming of Christ, they will be the first to rise to heaven.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of the most important religious sites in all of the Islamic faith and sits very near to the Dung Gate, which is where we entered the old city of Jerusalem.

There are three levels of wall here near the Dung Gate.  You can see the rock that is nearest to the ground, which is the oldest.  Built on top of that is the rock in the middle, which has a bit more formation to it.  Behind/above that is the newest part of the wall.  There's even more, newer wall up there but that's actually on a building behind this wall.  So many years of wall maintenance!

Grant standing on original walls of the Dung Gate.

Once you walk through the Dung Gate, you get incredible views of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the excavations taking place on the western wall.

This is the southwest corner of the Temple Mount.  Speaking of layers of various rock/brick materials built over the years - you can really see the wall layers here.

It's thought that the piece of the wall there in the center was the other end of an arch known as Robinson's Arch.  Edward Robinson discovered it in 1838, and it was an expansion of the Temple Mount that was ordered by Herod the Great so that people could get from the Lower Market and over a very busy street, into the Temple Mount.

This artists rendering from Wikipedia shows what it might have looked like during the years following Herod's death.

Once again, we visited the Western Wall on Shabbat, so the metal detectors weren't working.  But in order to get TO the Western Wall, this is what you must do.

And of course, because it is Shabbat, you cannot take pictures near the Western Wall.  BUT.. Eva was amazing and took us up higher so that we weren't within that restricted area and we could take all of the pictures we wanted to!

Todd and Grant separated from Natalie and I, as is customary here at the Western Wall.  Todd and Grant went over to get a yarmulke and went to the wall to put their prayers (which we had written in advance) into the wall. They were kind of separated from other men, but an old Jewish guy with a walker approached them, trying to stuff his prayers into the wall.  But the walls are SO full of prayer requests that it's hard to find a place to put them.  When he saw that little Grant was able to stuff his prayers so low to the ground, he asked Grant to do the same for him.  Todd said he was definitely Jewish and not a random tourist because he had his own yarmulke and the shawl that they wear called a tallit. So Grant was able to help him by finding a place to put his prayers, but then he whips out his phone and asks Todd to take some pictures of him saying his prayers here at the Western Wall!  On Shabbat!  When you can't take pictures or use electronics here!  What?  Todd said he felt very uncomfortable although he obliged since the guy didn't actually speak to Todd and Grant (likely because of a language barrier!)  So awkward. When we met up after our visit and we  got ready to enter the Muslim Quarter, Todd snapped a quick picture here of the wall.  He saw other people doing it, so he figured it was okay because we were far enough away.

A manhole cover of Jerusalem!  (And my favorite Chucks EVER!) 

Walking through the Muslim Quarter, we stopped for some pomegranate juice which was yummy!

And then - it was time to walk the Via Dolorosa!  We started at station five, which is where Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry the cross.  Station four wasn't far away, and it's where Mary saw Jesus along his walk with the cross.  I'm not sure why we didn't see it here. I saw it last time!

This was the house of Simon of Cyrene.  Cyrene is in eastern Libya where Simon came from.  It's thought that the Romans picked him because he WASN'T Jewish - and whether he did so because he was forced or because he felt sympathy for Jesus is not known.

It's also said that Jesus put his hand in this very spot as he needed the wall to help steady himself.  I didn't see this on my first trip to Jerusalem, so this was really a touching (literally) moment.

Station Six was where Veronica wiped Jesus's face.

Here, Veronica, feeling bad for Jesus gave him her veil so that he could wipe his sweaty and bloody face.  It's said that the image of Jesus's face stayed on the veil.

Here, Eva tells us that this column is the actual spot that Veronica wiped Jesus's face with the cloth.

At station seven, Jesus fell for the second time.



That's when traffic in the streets of the Muslim Quarter got CRAZY.  You could barely move here.  Neither of my kids do crowds very well, so it's always an effort to keep them calm during these situations.  So we did not get to see station 8 which was where Jesus spoke to the women of Jerusalem.

We also didn't see station 9 (where Jesus fell for a third time), but we did get to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which was the site of stations 10 through 14.  Both stations 8 and 9 require you to go down a street and make a U-Turn, which as you could see from the traffic photo above, would have been impossible with a large group.



The arched window here is where Jesus was stripped of his garments, which was station 10.



The inside of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is an enigma.  There's no real order to it - left or right and you're seeing a VERY important moment in the life of Jesus.  And various religions own different parts of the church, so it's very segregated.  This is the newly renovated tomb of Jesus, given to him and his family by the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea.  You have to wait in an hours-long line to get in to see it, so once again, I was unable to visit this site, but SOMEDAY.  Someday I will go here on my own, hopefully when and if the world ever settles down.

This is the beautiful Dome of the Anastasis right above the spot where Jesus's tomb was.

Back near the entrance, we stopped at the Stone of the Anointing to bless some olive tree crucifixes at the spot where they laid Jesus's body after it had been taken down off the cross.  This is where they washed him and anointed him with oils.



Then you need to go upstairs to actually visit the spot where Jesus died on the cross.  Why?  Because this occurred on Golgotha, which was on a hill. And because a big church had been built on this location, you have to go up a flight of stairs.

Golgotha, or Calvary is the spot where the crucifixion happened outside of the city walls of Jerusalem. It's currently within the city walls, but in pre-70 AD Jerusalem, it was well outside of them. Crucifixions and burials would have never taken place within the city walls, so this makes lots of sense - although despite all of this, the exact location is OF COURSE disputed.  But it is widely thought that this was the very location that Jesus died.

Although we didn't go in, you could definitely see the anxious and excited people waiting their turn to see the tomb of Jesus.  I think Todd was a bit disappointed by all of this - as I think he would have loved to have seen how it looked at the time of Jesus, without all of this built out over it.

Babe, this is for you.  Maybe this is helpful for a better visualization.

The side of the tomb of Jesus.



Back to the front of the tomb of Jesus with the crowds in front of it.

Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great was really a great spreader of Christianity several hundred years after Jesus died - and this stairway led to the chapel dedicated to her.  It belongs to the Armenian church and it's known as the Chapel of the True Cross.  They were getting ready to "clean" it so they kicked us out after we took this picture.

Instead, we went to the Chapel of Adam. Golgotha is a large hill, and this room in the lower level (below the top of it where Jesus cross was put into the ground) called the Chapel of Adam where they say that the blood of Jesus trickled down the rocks.

If you look at these rocks (and the connecting ones that are behind glass on the outside of this chapel), you can see that they're clearly fractured which many believe is a result of the earthquake that happened upon the death of Jesus.  The story goes that the bones of Adam (of Adam and Eve fame) were laid here and when the blood of Jesus trickled down these stones, they "cleansed" Adam of his original sin.

The last thing we saw (for the second time) was the Anointing Stone of Jesus.  Above it is a beautiful mosaic which shows Jesus being brought down from the cross and being put on the stone for his anointing.

Above the anointing stone are beautiful golden outlined lamps.

My cute hubby in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - and above him and to the right is the Status Quo ladder which was placed there in 1757.  The six denominations that "own" the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are bound to this understanding. Some say the Armenian church used to (still does?) own the window, balcony and the ladder.  The Armenian clergy used to come out to the balcony to tend to their garden, which doesn't appear to be there anymore.  The Church itself is actually opened and closed (unlocked and locked) every day by the Nuseibeh family and the Joudeh Al-Goudia family, Muslim families who have been doing this since the 7th century.



Heck yeah, bro.  Can we just go ahead and declare Canada the winners of the world?

Finally we stopped to eat!  Natalie and Grant had the buffet and Todd and I had some hot pockets.  Just kidding, that's just some falafel in some pita!

All symbolic of the life of Jesus. The wheat, the dove, the host and the grapes.

The Oil Press Art Gallery is really beautiful on the outside with it's mosaic stories of the Old Testament.  This gallery literally sits on the border of the Jewish and Muslim quarters.

Continuing on through the Jewish Quarter, the Cardo was a former market area that is between the Damascus Gate and the Zion Gate.  During it's heyday, it would have looked a lot like the painting on the wall on the right - a busy market with people selling their good under a roof to keep them out of the hot sun.  In between was the central roadway where the carts and animals would move about.

It extends on down the road into an uncovered area too.   Parts of this area are from the 6th century and it sits 20 feet below the current roadway.  I can't believe there's been 20 feet of growth and accumulation in this area over 1400 years!

On our way to the site of the Last Supper, we passed by the Beit Yaakov Synagogue (also known as the Hurva Synagogue) and the Rabbi Yehuda Hasid Ruin. So the story goes - this Rabbi arrived in 1700 with a large group of immigrants from Europe.  They settled in this neighborhood just as reconstruction of this synagogue was completed, but it had left the community deeply in debt.  In 1720 the Arab creditors burned it (and the courtyard) down when the town could not repay the loan.  Then in 1808, many more people immigrated here and were able to rebuild the synagogue which was dedicated in 1864.  Once again, during the 1948 War of Independence, the Jordanian Legion blew it up. Finally, construction on the one we see here was started in 2005 and completed in 2010. Here's hoping it stays here for much longer than the previous ones!



Here we are following our group through the Zion Gate, which was built in 1540.

The Zion Gate is pock marked from bullets from the War of Independence in 1948.

A short walk outside of the Zion Gate but still on Mount Zion took us to the site of the Last Supper. This "Upper Room" is the traditional site of the Last Supper, although like many other things here, that is disputed.

The room actually sits over the tomb of King David, which we also visited, but you are not allowed to take pictures in there so... sorry!  Although much this room is from the time of the Crusaders, there is some Roman evidence in the floor below this that tells us this might be the place.

As I mentioned, this room dates back to the Crusaders in the 12th century, which is very much backed by the Gothic arches that support the room.  But it had been destroyed by the Persians in the 7th century so the original structure has been lost. When the Ottoman's took over in the 16th century, they of course turned it into a Mosque and put in the Mihrab that you see on the right which faces Mecca.

As we left the room of the Last Supper, you could see the people gathering to get inside.  Again, the structure you see here is the the first and upper floors - King David's tomb is in the basement which has another entrance.  While most of this structure definitely was built centuries after the death of Jesus, it is widely believed this was the location of the Last Supper, where Jesus broke bread and drank wine with his disciples on the Passover before his impending death.  It's also believed this is where the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus's disciples on the day of the Pentacost.

Alas, it was time to head back to Tel Aviv after a very eventful day!  But not before we got to snap a few more photos of the Mount of Olives (from Mount Zion!)

Our guide Eva actually had the driver take us around the new section of Jerusalem which is much more modern, just for a quick look around.  Here we are driving across the Chords Bridge (or the String Bridge) which was built between 2005-2008.

We also passed the Montefiore windmill of Jerusalem, which was built in the first Jewish neighborhood constructed outside of the city walls back in 1861. It had originally been a flour mill.

We were also treated to a spectacular sunset on our way back to Tel Aviv!

Back in Tel Aviv, we went out for a really great dinner at a place called Room Service Bar.  This wine was REALLY good.  The company was pretty good, too!

I dunno, whatever you charge me, I guess.  (Also, is there no Hebrew word for, "Room Burger?" HA!)



I just love super weird mannequins!  Looks like someone in this store was getting creative!

This was the apartment place we were staying in - but we never did make it to the beach in Israel!  Next time, right?



We did, however, have one last beer in our apartment and the whole thing ended like this.

We got to the airport early because there are many layers of security at the Tel Aviv airport. On our way to our gate, we spotted this moving clock video and stood for several minutes watching the cars rearrange themselves every minute.

Goodbye, Ben Gurion Airport!  I can't wait to come back and explore more of Israel, next time - no tours and on my own (or ... with Todd of course!)

Goodbye beautiful beaches of  northern Tel Aviv!

Ahh! I finally got a picture of ALL of Athens as we departed from our pit stop halfway home.

Is there a more beautiful sight than Allianz Arena all lit up for an FC Bayern München game?  Mia san Mia!

Until next time, Jerusalem!  It's always a spectacular time!