Wednesday, September 25, 2013

A great day with a lot of walking

Yesterday the weather was beautiful and my companions and I walked many miles together. The journey took us up and down and around the old city, out the Zion Gate to Mount Zion, and down the Kidron Valley. We stopped in the Dormition Abbey along the way, one of the spots where the Virgin Mary is said to be buried (or was she assumed into heaven??). Highlights of the day: I got a chance to revisit my High school French language skills when we visited the church of St. Peter, a French church built where Caiaphas' house was, focusing on his denial and the "singing" of the rooster. St. Stephen's on the site where the first martyr was stoned; arriving at the Garden of Gethsemane just in time for it to close for lunch; meeting a man and his wife and four young children (we sang happy birthday to the youngest as he turned one year old yesterday) who came to Israel, rented a car and have been touring themselves for two weeks (that takes a lot of courage, I think!); John being persistent in getting us into the Russian Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives as well as into the church at the Lutheran World Federation, "Augusta Victoria" compound, there LWF runs a hospital which is one of the only places for Palestinians to receive things like dialysis and chemotherapy. Lutherans have a good reputation there! "Oh you are Lutherans? Then you are our brothers!"
        We closed the day with a wonderful meal at the Ecce Homo convent (where we had hoped to have stayed, but there is a large group already there) and some social time. There was so much more that we did and churches that we saw and pictures that I took, but that can wait for another time. Below you will see just a few shots from the beginning of our trip. Dinner our first night here, the view from our hotel's rooftop garden, and a looking up the Via Dolorosa.



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