O'er the Ramparts They Watched

We had our first free day out in the city on Sunday and basically the whole day was spent trudging around the ramparts on top of the walls of the old city. It was a good first activity because it gave us a chance to orient ourselves on where things were located and figure out new places we wanted to go. The whole time I felt like I was in Robin Hood or LOTR or something since there were all these openings to stick your bow & arrow through.

Walking the ramparts around the old city and visiting the Western Wall (I found my house number along the south side of the rampart walk - 4523 represent!)

But by far the best part of the day was visiting the Pools of Bethesda right inside Lion's Gate. I think I appreciated it so much because we had just spend the whole day walking around the wall which was an uneven, narrow, rocky son-of-a-gun and my feet/eyes were exhausted (not to mention I took a tumble off of one towers which left me a nice little scrape) and we just kind of happened upon the entrance to the pools on our way out of the old city, walked in and saw the most beautiful, luscious green courtyard! It was such a sight for sore eyes and a gem in the middle of the filthy city. The ancient structures had flowers and poppies and greenery growing through and I just couldn't get enough!

The whole time I just kept wising I had a nicer camera so I could capture the beauty better!

The priest let us sing in the church and all of the Europeans filmed us. It was such a peaceful end to an exhausting day.

Here is a taste of some of the other things we've been doin' this week:

On our Jerusalem overlook from all sides of the city.

Zedekiah's Cave

Checkin' out the Old City (got my first schwarma!) and gelato in west Jeru.

And look at all the familiar names I found under the JC? Ya sista-sista!