This morning we spent following the last day of Jesus. We started in the temple mount and then we walked down and saw the pools of Bethesda where Jesus healed the lame man. We were not able to carry our Bibles to the Temple mount, but Hillel had a small one he smuggled in so we read along the way, which was so nice. We lost one member of our group and so we sat for quite awhile at the church of St Anne,who was the mother of Mary. We sang in the church as the acoustics are just wonderful. Other groups sang too and we joined with a group from Ethiopia when they sang Amazing Grace. Then after we rounded up our lost sheep, we started on the stations of the cross. We went to the place where Jesus was beaten and dressed in the robes and crown of thorns. The streets were not as crowded as I expected and we were able to walk and ponder what had happened on this street. The Via Dolorosa is very narrow and there are shops along the way and we turned and twisted our way all along the way. There was one place where it is said that Jesus fell and braced himself with his hand upon the wall and that spot is worn down from people putting their hands there -and of course we all had to do that as well. We ended up at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which has been built around where they said Jesus was crucified, the stone where he was laid out and the tomb where he was laid. At least it is one of the spots thought to be the tomb. We also went in Joseph of Aremithea's new tomb he carved after Jesus death. From there we left via more of the old city. We ate lunch and had a bathroom stop. We ladies were behind a whole school of little girls waiting ....so we went on. later Jim and I came back to those same bathrooms and I think the entire Israeli women's army was in there. They had even commandeered the men's room. I got a laugh out of that.
From there we walked to where we could board the bus and headed out of Jerusalem. First we went to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Can we say desert and hot hot hot!! I had forgotten my hat today which was not bad this morning, but at Qumran, I borrowed a hat from the Ludwigs and then bought me a new one in the gift shop for the rest of the afternoon. From there, we dropped Hillel off at our familiar Camel stop oasis and we went on to Jericho. It is another place we had to go through a security stop and Israeli citizens can not enter. So Fred gave us the info as we saw the remains of old Jericho that they are excavating and we saw monasteries on the hillside that reminded me of the ones in Greece. We stopped by a glass place that has the Hebron glass which is so pretty. Then it was back on the bus, go back through security (which was nothing today) and we picked up Hillel and headed back to Jerusalem. It was a long day but not as tiring as yesterday to me. I think the breaks this afternoon on the air conditioned bus helped. Tomorrow we are going toMasada and we are going to swim in the Dead Sea-or float. We saw the Dead Sea today and it was quite beautiful-Qumran is right beside the Dead Sea. It was a very good day.
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