Day 8 Monday

Another early start today . We were off at 7 with a fantastic guide named Jared - a bit of a hottie according to Libby here but I was thinking more of an inspirational speaker - he didn't need a microphone - historian and scholar ( with earrings and long hair in a bun). 

First stop was the actual Temple Mount - the Muslim shrine where Mohammed had an encounter with God, and the holy place for the Jews because it was where Abraham almost sacrificed his only son Isaac to prove his faithfulness to Yahweh. It is also sacred to the Christains because it was the place Of the Holy Jewish Temple and where Jesus preached often. To say the least it is a bit contentious the Moslems have exclusive use of it. You are allowed to visit in side the walls of the temple but not allowed in the shrine with the golden dome nor in the mosque. 

Here is a picture of it from Ecce Homo this morning.

I have an amusing movie taken by one of the other pilgrims who was trying to work out how to use my camera and was filming me stand like a dork for a whole minute in the same position. This position really ....

Second stop was the City of David  "national park" where we had an interesting look at some archeological digs and an absorbing run through of the history of Jerusalem from Jared. the highlight was the walk through a 600 metre wet tunnel - Hezekiah's Tunnel - under the ancient  city to move the city's water supply from a spring - Siloam Spring - to a pool on the fortified side of the city. Brilliant. Wish I had a good picture of it. This is the best I can do...

A walk up a Roman road 2000 years old and then the sewer under the ancient city - no longer in use I'm pleased to say. Here is a picture of me discovering a side sewer.

Despite how fascinating I found today's history lesson,  I felt moment of pride that my knowledge of biblical history stems from My memories of Grade 8 Biblical Studies at St Joe's Tech. I also felt a tinge of guilt however that most of my knowledge of Jerusalem stems from my more impeccable memories of Monty Python's Life of Brian. Luckily for me I was not the only one and we plan to watch it on a night not too far away. We were lucky we didn't meet the People's Front of Judea in the sewer tunnel. 

Here  is a picture of our illustrious guide Jared preaching to the crowd outside the Temple wall in the same way that Brian did when he asked us to "consider the lilies..."

That's all for tonight. Holocaust museum tomorrow.