Jerusalem - The Holy City

We're staying in the Old City of Jerusalem because that's where the cheap hostels are and all the religious sights. We slept in a bit after being exhausted from crossing the border. When we got up we headed straight for the Wailing Wall.

The Wailing Wall is the last remains of the Second Temple of Solomon and is a very religious spot for the Jewish religion. We had to wear a cardboard yamaka while there. While we were there, Andrew and I were accosted by a guy who drew us into a huddle and covered our heads with a scarf. He said a prayer for us and then hit us up for money. We didn't give him any.

Our next stop was the Temple of the Rock and Al Aqsa mosque. The temple pictured above was beautiful with parts of the Koran inscribed around the outside. Because we weren't Muslim, we weren't allowed inside. Andrew went inside though because he could speak Arabic and passes as a Muslim. The guards didn't really question him but told him that Ian and I weren't allowed in.

Afterwards, we walked the stations of the cross. The first station is actually a basketball court now. We got a kick out of that. The photo below is from the Second Station where Jesus was flogged.

The last stations are in the Church of the Holy Sepulcural. (not sure on my spelling). This is where Jesus was stripped of his clothes and nailed to the cross. Below is a photo of where the cross is believed to have been. You can touch the spot but the line was too long for me but we did run into the 6 Palestinian American cousins from the border here.

The next station we went to is the tomb of Jesus. We got in line behind the cousins and joked that it took forever the last time we were behind them. Everyone laughed. We went into the tomb but we whisked out of it pretty quickly because there were so many people inside. It was pretty moving.

Also during the day, we were searching for a hostel named Black Horse. We asked a store owner for directions and he told us the way. Then he asked us to come into his shop. We declined. Then he asked if his boy could show us to the hostel for 2 shekels. We declined that offer as well. Then, the three of us thought we heard the shop keeper say "Fuck you" to us. We all had puzzled looks on our face and Andrew asked him, "What?" He responded "As you wish." We went on our merry way but were pretty sure he told us fuck you.