My Last Day.....

Okay, I know I'm cheating, two posts in one day, but I head home in the morning and I want to get it out of the way.

The morning started with a walk through the Jewish Quarter, probably the only part of town that truly seems like a normal city. It's so laid back and it has a fantastic atmosphere that it's just fun to walk in.

I then went to check out the Dome of the Rock and hopefully the Temple Mount, the place it is believed that Abraham nearly sacrificed his son because God told him to. The Dome of the Rock (the big golden dome associated with Jerusalem--not the one in South Bend, IN) is a sacred Muslim site and can not be entered by any Jewish person. It is a huge complex that consists of another mosque where worship takes place, a lot of trees and open space, the Dome of the Rock (which covers the Temple Mount come to find) and the Golden Gate, where the Messiah is supposed to enter the city when he returns. Unfortunately the security folks foiled me again by stopping me from entering the Dome of the Rock, so I was unable to see the rock that Abraham nearly sacrificed his son upon.....so that was a bummer. The bonus was that I made a friend, Natasha, from Utah and we spent the day checking out sites together.

We then headed to meet with David, a student at Hebrew University (in town) and someone she met the day before. The three of us went to the Israel Museum, which would have been incredible, but the archaeological wing was closed....so we had to settle for just seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls. That was pretty sweet and totally worth the hour long walk.

After that came the highlight of the day. We took a bus to Bethlehem, birthplace of Jesus. We crossed over into the West Bank (Palestine) without any problems and took a taxi from the border to the Church of the Nativity. It was truly an awesome site to behold. There are three churches in one on the site, the oldest dating back to the 500s (at least that is what the tour guide said, I haven't checked his facts yet). There were some beautiful mosaics in the church and some pillars that had been painted during the Crusades. It was amazing to still see some of the paint on the pillars and to actually be able to see what they looked like.
We then visited the other churches, which was neat and then we were lead to a souvenir shop nearby. Then as we were leaving, the guide invited us to his family's shop (there's always one of these) and we were told to look around. Today only, the entire store was.....you won't believe it.....50% off!! Just for us! (uh-huh).
After this we took a taxi to what was supposed to be Rachel's Tomb, but we could find it, plus we wouldn't be able to get in since we weren't Jewish. So we walked up to the border crossing to head into Jerusalem. The crossing was insane. You would have thought we were leaving a detention center or just getting released from prison. If you aren't familiar with what has happened.....
........Israel has created a giant wall all around the West Bank and Gaza, to keep the Palestinians in and out of Israel. The problem is that this wall is huge....at least 20 feet of cement in some places (I had thoughts of the Berlin wall dancing in my head). On the Palestinian side, you see all sorts of Anti-American and Anti-Israel graffiti and you honestly feel bad for these people. Walking from on side of the fence to the other is literally a night and day type of experience, they are that different. Once we crossed back into Jerusalem, it was as if we were back in the West. However on the Palestinian side, it was almost as if I was back in Egypt.
Palestine says that the Israelis have taken some of their land in the building of the fence. The Israelis say that they are keeping terrorists out of Israel. Ultimately, the people losing out are the citizens, the everyday folks like you and I that just want to work, earn money and help their families. Hamas (the Palestinian Gov) hasn't paid their Gov. workers for the past year, so the Postal workers in Palestine are on strike. It's truly a sad situation.

After returning from Bethlehem, we took a walk downtown to eat at Burger King again, I know two days in a row but we don't have it in Egypt and I won't see it again till July!!!!
Then we walked around downtown before Natasha and I headed to the Central Bus Station to check the schedules for tomorrow. I'll be headed to Eilat tomorrow, probably around 10 am. Then I'll try and catch the 4:30 pm bus to Cairo from Taba in Egypt. Hopefully I'll get home around 11 pm Tuesday night......but as I've learned on this trip, some things don't go as planned.