Last full day in Jerusalem ☹️

 Today is our last full day in Jerusalem. Tomorrow, 8 of our 24 head back to the US. Sixteen of us head on to Jordan, but it will be a different sort of trip, I think. The Pilgrimage will be over. It has been a trip with many highlights.  My feet, knees and back are aching. We have walked up and down hills—just about everywhere we have gone there were hills!  I would love to come back and spend more time here—this has been kind of Holy Land 101 —a taste of many things, but nothing in depth. But that’s OK.  I have made new friends and had some experiences I would have missed otherwise.

Today, in fairly soggy weather, we went to Temple Mount and saw the Dome of the Rock from the outside (non-Muslims are not allowed inside). Security is heavy. We had to go through metal detectors. From the courtyard there, we could look back at the Mount of Olives and see where we have been. The Mary Magdalene church with the gold domes was easy to spot! We also spotted the Ascension Chapel, Pater Noster Church, all the way down the steep hill to the Garden of Gethsemane. The Kidron Valley, with all its Jewish graves was prominent. And we could see the Golden Gate from the inside.

Next, we went to the Western Wall (aka The Wailing wall), passing through another set of metal detectors. We were allowed into the women’s side. It was quite an experience being in the midst of all the women praying—and the prayers were fervent. The woman next to me was reading her prayer book and weeping loudly.  I could feel the energy of all the pray-ers, and I added my own prayers to theirs—today my prayers were prayers for true peace for all of the people who live in this city and land where the Abrahamic faiths find their roots. I found myself recalling H.H. Parry’s “I was glad,” whose text is taken from Psalm 122–the middle part is so poignant: “O pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper who love thee”

Our final stop before lunch was the Israel Museum. We only saw two exhibits there: the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit—of course only replicas were there, but it was a good exhibit. Over the last 70 years, this discovery has revolutionized biblical studies. I think all of my own Bible studies have been after this discovery, though I inherited a multi-volume Interpreter’s Bible and several of its volumes predate the discovery.  Also at the Museum there is a wonderful 1:50 model of 2nd Temple era Jerusalem—as it would have looked like during Jesus' time and before the Romans destroyed the city in 70 CE. I really appreciated seeing this—It helped me imagine the events in Jesus’ life that we have been tracing this week. We were supposed to see it on Monday, when the political protest disturbed our plans.

This was the last of the visits we made that were part of the pilgrimage. I felt really weepy when we got on the bus and had to give our “whisperers” (the amplifiers that tour guides use to keep everyone informed without raising their voices) back to Fadi—he was a wonderful guide—perhaps the best I’ve experienced in my travels.  

The bus got us to the Norte Dame Hotel (I would describe it as an upscale retreat center for Roman Catholic pilgrims) We enjoyed a good lunch buffet and will have our final farewell dinner there tonight.It’s near the New Gate, outside the walls of the Old City, and not a bad walk to get to our hotel. At the hotel where we ate there is an exhibit of the Shroud of Turin which was quite interesting. That was the afternoon surprise.

The walk back to the hotel was fun. We walked through an area where kids were coming home from school, grandmothers were carrying shopping bags…normal life.  And there was a touch of humor. Who knew that Santa had a house in Jerusalem!

Later:

We walked back to the Notre Dame Hotel in the evening for our final dinner which was wonderful--for the main course we had a choice between tenderloin or salmon and the meal concluded with a fabulous dessert called Knafeh.  

It had a shredded filo dough crust, a sweet cheese filling, and was topped with a small scoop of ice cream.  Yum!

I wore the embroidered top I bought yesterday at one of the shops nearby, and E wore hers.

This Pilgrimage has been so wonderful.  I am sorry that it's ending and some of us will be leaving--they'll leave very early tomorrow.  The remaining 16 will check out of the Gloria and head for Jordan, where more adventures await!