Out on my own

Until I got to Israel I was on my own, but Ruthie and Hannah have been showing me everything, and no alone trips till yesterday.  I did good ,yesterday, today, not so good.  Did a ton of walking.  Did the Old City again.  Did a walking tour of King David's Tower.  Very informative and very beautiful, and 7,463,836 stairs.  All going up.  Great views of all of Jerusalem, old and new from there.  Covered all the history and it does make a little more sense why Israel stays in the line of fire all the time.  Points of trade were Babylon. Damascus and Cairo.  Going Cairo to Babylon east west or west east would have been through the desert.  Couldn't be done.  So they stayed on the better path through Damascus putting Israel right in the eat of the tris.  With a lot of traffic came a lot of people who to start a fight and try to take their land.  It has been taken and taken and destroyed and rebuilt till. No wonder everyone thinks it belongs to them.  And no wonder there are 2 burial paces for Ary, mother of Jesus, 2 places where Jesus was crucified, and buried and resurrected, and now I'm finding 2 upper rooms.  None of that really matters where, just that it happened.

Today I went back to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  Not such a crowd since the holiday i s over.

The first place is to bend way over and touch the outside of the tomb where they say Jesus was laid to rest.  Then you. Go into the tomb, and can touch it so not sure why you would want to touch the outside, but I did.  In that tiny room you could also buy any quantity of candles to lite later.  In the 2nd room there is an ante room then the chamber with a stone bed like feature where he was laid.  However out in the foyer of the church was another big stone slab where people were stopping and kissing, and praying on this slab?  Can't get a straight answer about what it was.  Then you go upstairs and there is a place where the cross was supposedly stood.  There is a glass encasement that shows the rock of the mount.  Now these 2 places are no more than a football field apart and separated by the height of about 2 stories.  My minds eye had them further apart than that.  However, across the street and outside the gate is the Garden Tomb and another Golgotha   There the tomb feels like the Bible depicts but the cross location does not.  It is not elevated today but there is a hill behind it, so then it could have been about half way up the mountain .  Anyway glad I got to see them both and since. None of us know for sure, oh well.  The important part is He Lives.  

Today I also went to the the Bethesda Pool where Jesus healed the crippled man.  It was VERY impressive.  It was basically the water supply where rain and springs fed the pool for the city water supply.  Different levels and ways to get close.  I could just imagine people with health issues standing around waiting for the water to stir so they could plunge in and be healed.  Pretty large so lots would probably jump at the same time.  Beautiful St Anne's church stands right beside it.  Very pleasant experience.  Glad it was cause I walked all over the pace getting lost trying to find it.  The city as just grown and built on top of, in front of, all over itself.  The church of HS is just tucked in behind a wall. I'm sure the church was there and had a courtyard, but someone defeated someone else so build something in the front door.

Also tried to go to the Temple Mount.  Heard about it saw it from the rooftop,and wanted to go.  Went in that direction but police said they were praying.  So I went to the Western/wailing wall to pry as well. Got ack home and told Ruthie and Hannah that I didn't get to go and and they burst out laughing.  Only Muslims so in there.  I saw the were checking passports for church.  Seems I could ave started another war if I had gone in.  Oh well, live and learn.

Bad a Swarmer for lunch.  A pita with shaved beef, French fries, pickles, purple cabbage, salad of cures and tomatoes and onions.  Very good, but didn't drink enough water and got feet and leg cramps so had to come home about dark.  9an till 7 pm, walking ,  uphill all the way, with a million stirs.  No wonder I'm as tired as the Cowboys.  How are they doing tonight I wonder.