Old City Tour

Elliot's first comments to Mom when he met her was "So I hear that your daughter's moving to Israel!" I'm sure she was slightly annoyed but it was a joke all around. Nevertheless, she enjoyed meeting Sylvie's family when we breakfast-ed together before our Old City tour. I was certainly a little nervous since my parents still didn't fully understand my love for Israel yet.

We met our tour guide, Ron Perry, around 10 and we walked over to the Old City through the Jaffa Gate. Since I raved about the Tower of David and the Citadel, the family wanted to see it for themselves. Actually this tour was different from my visit as we climbed up to the Citadel to see the panoramic view of Jerusalem. I wished I had my camera- totally forgot about it! Then he gave us a whole history of Jerusalem by leading us through the exhibits in the museum. I loved the ending when there was a huge video display of Israel's path to independence- it showed the raising and taking down of different flags from Ottoman Empire to British Mandate to Israel. I got the chills just seeing that Israel flag going up!

After a quick drink break, we walked down to the Jewish Quarter where we saw a bunch of Indian Jews singing some Pesach songs. He didn't show them the Cardo unfortunately. Instead, we went into the Wolfson Archeaological Museum, located on the way to the Kotel. It seemed like a hidden treasure- you go down inside the basement of this building to find these amazing ruins of several royal family homes from Herod's time. The mosaics and mikvoat were there, so were the pottery, and a couple of other finds including tables. It was very hard to believe that we were still in the Jewish Quarter in 21st century, not in the ancient times. That's the concept I am currently having trouble when I visit these kind of sites that completely isolate you from the outside.

We went off to the Kotel and did other thing. It was absolutely jammed with visitors. I noticed that the barrier between the men and women had been moved a couple yards over towards the men's side to make room for all the women. I barely touched the wall- only gave it a quick kiss. It was that crowded. Afterwards, we went through the Six Arches to the Muslim Quarter.

The Muslim Quarter felt like another world- very interesting and different in tune. We went into a wonderful falafel restaurant (Abu-Babusha) where we ordered the full platter for the 5 of us to share. I watched my family's reactions as they tried the falafels and hummus- things that they have never ever tried before. Everyone enjoyed the lunch! Now I can say that my hummus at home isn't safe anymore- no more double dipping.

After lunch, we walked through the bazaars along Via Delrosa- absolutely insane that there was no way we could pause to look at something. By the way, before you enter this particular street, there's a handprint on the left side on a wall that was supposedly be Jesus Christ's. The superstitious behind this is that if you put your hand there, then you will return to Jerusalem. Everyone did it. Hmmmmm. I hoped that Andrew and Dad would stop at some point to try their hand at bargaining but neither saw anything that they particularly liked.

Finally, we reached to the Church of Holy Sepulcher. We could barely move in that place being Easter Sunday. Since Ron was with me this time, I understood better what I was looking at. I saw the location of Jesus' crucifixation where I saw Christians leaning down to kiss it. I realized at that point that I really truly did not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of the Jews. The Jews have not seen the Messiah yet. So I thought, I don't know what the heck I am doing here in a church and observing all these spiritual movements and prayings. Then we went down the stairs from the balconey to see Christ's tomb. Before we entered that room, we moved out of the way and watched the procession of the Greek Orthodox services- men in their black robes and gigantic crosses for necklaces and funny hats. It was pretty cool. Ron also showed us the chapel for Armenians which was down below. Mom and Andrew went over to see the Greek Orthodox chapel- I did not as I was sure that I had seen it. Andrew somehow got a bit lost- trying to get in the line for the Christ's tomb. At that point, I felt doubtful about Andrew. Was he still commited to Judaism or did Christanity appear more fascinating to him? I could only pray that the alluring nature of Christanity's power would not take over his young mind and the strong, lasting roots of Judaism would still hold fast. I remember being in that position at one point but it was because I was the only Jew in my class- long story.

We also stopped by the Church of St Jones- a Greek Orthodox church. The door leading to it was actually hidden along the Christian Quarter's bazaar. We duck through a small doorframe within a larger one to keep out donkeys. Funny thing, as we headed back to the Jaffa Gate, a man actually rode a donkey on the way up, shouting "Yalla! Yalla! Yalla!" (Move it! Move it! Move it!). I laughed- it was such a bewildered sight that I wondered if it was all part of the Easter festivities' entertainment or for real.

Ron stayed with us until 4:30- it was great and we made the most of the day with him. He was charging flat fee for the whole day so I said, let him show us everything there is to see. We actually didn't get to the Southern Wall, unfortunately. I don't think they even got to see the bullet holes from the 1967 war. My family were certainly very interested in what he had to say. I was only kind of annoyed with his Israeli accent (it just sounded a little different from what I was used to) so I didn't listen much... well also if you've been into the same area a lot, you don't tend to listen much having that kind of "Know it all" ego....

We were off to a good start in their education of Israel's history. Tomorrow, we meet with Ron again for a day trip to Masada and the Dead Sea.