The Western Wall

After leaving the burnt house museum we found ourselves on the way to the western wall, kind of by accident. We saw a circle with a bunch of buses and thought maybe it was a bus station, so we descended a bunch of stairs to check it out. When we got down there we saw it was a security check point for entering the Western Wall.

We made it through security after being thoroughly checked and walked a little ways before reaching the sign in the 2nd picture. The Western Wall is basically the western retainer wall for the 2nd great Temple. The Jews rebuilt the Temple after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the 1st and 'scattered' Israel into his massive kingdom. When they returned 70 yrs later they rebuild the great Temple. It remained until 70AD when the Romans destroyed it. This is the most sacred place for Jews. Everyone says it's a little crazy there b/c of harsh contentions, but we didn't feel that at all. People were approaching the wall and praying and everything seemed okay. We felt the most tension in Bethlehem and the mt. of Olives. Bethlehem is to be understood b/c they are caged in like dogs, but we will get to that when we post pictures up from our visit to Bethlehem.

One fun aspect of staying in the Muslim quarters just inside of Damascus Gate is that we were in the middle of all the markets. On the way back from the Western Wall it was around 4pm and since all the sites close around that time we would go back to our hostel and hangout. It was much better to be indoors at night, b/c it was freezing! and b/c it's safer in the evening to be indoors. On the way back we passed lots of shops, it's almost like an indoor/outdoor mall. The streets are stone paths with stone walls are arched cemented/stone roof with holes every few meters for light. In the muslim quarters it is solid markets and our hotel was just a small door in the mist of these markets then as you walk up some narrow stairs it opens up into a beautiful lobby and a 3 floor hostel above the market streets overlooking the city. As I was saying, on he way back Casey couldn't pass up the candy shops. It was great to just pick out candy and go back to our room and eat and read, write in our journals, and chat it up.