Day 20: And did those feet in ancient time...

Joni and Zanna at the Western Wall

We all woke up at around 9:00AM, and after showers went to continental breakfast in the dining room.

Damascus Gate

We set out around 11:00AM for the old city. We entered the old city through the Damascus Gate and were immediately engulfed in a stereotypical Arab street market scene. As we walked through the very tiny streets—trying not to lose each other—we got quite turned around and presumed ourselves hopelessly lost until we found ourselves accidentally and happily in the Jewish Quarter, which is much less crowded and cramped. After about 45 minutes of completely random wandering, we (again accidentally) found the Western Wall {aka Wailing Wall}. The Wall is segregated into male and female sides for praying. Joni and I went to the women’s side and Joni prayed. After being accosted several times, I gave 5 shekels to an elderly woman for charity. She seemed the most legit because she gave receipts.

WesternWall

We couldn’t get into the Arab controlled Dome of the Rock area because it was a holy day.

Wall of David

Wandering aimlessly again found us at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Christ was allegedly buried. We went in – a very disorganized church- but interesting none-the-less. I had to find a bathroom, and we were all getting hungry, so we stopped at the “Select Restaurant” in the Christian Arab Quarter across from David’s Fortress. The waiter was extremely rude, and the food was adequate at best.

Outside David's Tower.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

After lunch, we went back to American Colony and rested for a while.
At 7:00, Erin knocked on the door and asked us if we wanted to go to an Arab restaurant with her and a few others. We ate dinner at the {name missing} with Carlson, Alex(andra), Erin, Nick, Christina, and J.R. {and our crew of Joni, Jason, Ryan, and me... I don't remember much about this dinner, but I do remember our group was a little uncomfortable being asked to dine with the "popular" [read: pretty and a little snobby] people... which was totally ridiculous, but that's adolescence for you} Dinner was excellent, but on the whole, the company could have been better. {Wow... talk about snobby}
At 11:00PM, we took a cab to a dance club… THE dance club in Jerusalem {At least that's what we were told in 1993}… “The Underground”. It was a lot of fun and we ran into quite a few Caesarea volunteers there. We left around 2:30 and were asleep by 3:00AM.