I decide to sleep in a little and then make an attempt to catchup on some of my blogging and uploading of website. I eventually find an internet cafe where I am able to connect my iPad and get the job done.
Later in the afternoon, I decide to attend the guided tour to Mount of Olives. It is also very interesting since we visit some interesting sites such as, the place where Jesus is believed to have ascended to heaven, the Jewish cemetery, the field where the shepherds apparently spotted the star of in the sky the night Jesus was born, and also the garden of getsemine. Not bad for a single afternoon! After the tour, a number of us decide that, since it is Friday afternoon, and Shabat is approaching, a visit to the Wailing wall would be appropriate. The wall, on a Friday evening, is full of singing, dancing and celebrations. The only problem is that, we have to make our way from the Zion gate to the Wailing wall, in "peak hour traffic" in the Muslim Quater. Not am experience, I would like to repeat again soon. There were a number of situations where the situation could have easily resulted on a stampede and, to make maters worse, there were also situations where fully armed Israeli soldiers simply barged their way through the crowds. This create a lot of tension amongst the Muslims and on a number of occasions, the words "Allah Akbar" were shouted. This is normally what suicide bombers say before they blow themselves up! Lovely!
Anyway, after much pushing and shoving, we finally make the Wailing Wall. The celebrations are not as elaborate as perhaps I was expecting, but interesting enough to have gone to the effort.
The only downside of Israel over Shabat is that, EVERYTHING shuts down and it actually is difficult to find anything open. So a number of us decide to head for the Armenian restaurant for a lovely dinner before taking the long walk back to the hostel for some well earned rest.
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| Day 110, 2011/08/19 |
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