Free Tour of the Holy City

A view of the Western wall after passing all the security... A couple of orthodox Jews cruising by after a morning of prayer. If you look closely the right hand side is reserved for women. Many people leave special letters in nooks and crannies of the wall. Our guide described this as a kind of 'direct post office to God.' Also modern technology allows you to email, text message or twitter your requats to God....what is this world coming to! Do not get me to rampage about cellphones- the ban of my existence!


Anyways, Monday was free tour day! There is a company which runs free tours in Jerusalem and across many major European cities as well. It runs on a tipping basis, leave what you can afford if you enjoyed the tour.

Many of the major sites we saw included:

• The old city wall and a view of the 'new' city
• The Armenian quarter, the Christian quarter, the Arab quarter and the Jewish quarter
• The Western wall, or wailing wall which is a very important Jewish holy site
• The Dome of the Rock where Mouhammed (the Muslim prophet) ascended into heaven to barter with God
• Al-aqsa mosque
• The 13 posts, spots marked where Jebus carried the crucifix and places where he fell or his hand touched the wall
• The Church of the Holy Seplchur where Jebus is supposed to be buried and resurrected
• Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus
• Temple mount
• Tower of David
• and Much more!!!!!
  
  The Brazillian woman on the tour. When everyone in the group introduced where they were from, her son and her were quite obvious as you can see by the brazillian flag vest she is sporting. She was hilarious!She was always wandering arounf muching on falafal and blowing on that horn thing (as seen in the photo). At one point the tour guide, Kobbie, was talking and she had made friends with some young Israeli soldiers. Before we knew it she was blowing that freaking horn again! The whole time her son (in his matching Brazillian flag t-shirt) was either looking for her or snapping photos of her wailing on the horn with the city in the backdrop.
  This is a plack dedicated to George Double-yeh Bush for being such a great friend to the Israelis! It is dedicated to him for being such a 'loyal partner to the state of Israel.' One interesting thing to note in a book Jack and I are reading called, 'Power Faith and Fantasy: American Involvement in the Middle East from 1776-Present' George Bush had a great uncle, also named George Bush, who was a pro-zionist and supported the resettlement of Palestine....who woulda thought?
  

-D