DAy 124: Jersualem, Israel

What can I say except simply amazing!!!!!!!! Jersualem is what I expected the rest of Israel to look like or at least most of the middle east. You feel like you are in the olden times with the cobble stone walkways and the covered souq areas. We first went thru the new city which pretty much looks like any other modern middle eastern city in the middle east. Then we went to the old city and went thru one of the gates. We went into the Jewish quarter first. and saw the orthodox Jews with their long dredlocks on the side of their heads and their shaven hair in the back with their black suits on and their hats apprently this style of dressing from taken from the Russian a couple of centuries ago. Then went to the Western Wall where the 2nd temple stood before it was destroyed there is still part of the temple called the Western Wall and it faces the Dome of the Rock which is single most important area for all three religions Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Jews believe this is where Abraham sacrificed Issac. The Christians believe that Jesus descended from Heaven here and the Muslims believe Mohammed descended to paradise here. The Jewish people write down their prayers and then put it into the cracks of the wall, once a week someone collects the prayers and put them on Mount Olives which is where the Jews believe God will stand before entering Jersualem. The Christians believe Mount Olives is sacred because this is where Jesus will have his Judgement Day. Men and woman are seperated in the western wall. After putting the prayer note in the cracks of the wall the woman walk backwards a sign of respect. Then went to the Muslim Quarter to get to the Christian quarter. Some some Jewish people in the Muslim Quarters. Saw woman in their black burkas. Muslims like green and blue. Green for the color of paradise which they believe is their heaven. Blue is the color of fatima's eyes (Fatima is the daughter of Mohammed she had blue eyes), her eyes are suppose to ward off evil. Followed the footsteps of Jesus where Jesus gave his final speech and the place where the cross was on the rock. Then went to the place he was cleaned and buried. In Jersualem there are people coming around that want to exchange money for you like the souqs where pepole selling you stuff.

Then went to the Palestinan Territory to Bethlehem where Jesus was born and the manageer where he was kept. The only reason he was born in Bethlhem was that they were suppose to record his birth there. FYI in case you are wondering it has snowed in Bethlehem during x-mas! Palestine Territory looked different than Tel Aviv, it is more run down and there wasn't alot of people around. We went thru a checkpoint only when reentering Israel. There is a wire that seperates Israel and the Palestian territory. Tried Palestian beer Taybeh it was pretty good. Talk to the reception guy at the front desk of my hotel he was a Palestian christians said that the PA is corrupt and it is hard to get into Gaza, but he did not support the Israleans. There is a small group of Palestians who are Christians. They are caught in the middle of this conflict. Talk to another receptionist who was also Palestian Christian and he said things were better during the Israliean occupation at least people got paid for things, now he said it sometimes takes months for people to get paid.