Jerusalem Day 11

Today was another early morning. We ventured off to about 3 more places. The first of which was to head to the tunnels under the Western Wall. This is the holiest place in Judaism, and is a recently new exhibit that even Pastor Jim hadn't been to in all of the times he had been to Israel.

It was extremely interesting. From the onset, we saw a model of the mountain on which the Holiest of Holy temples was built. it was very interesting to see how the city of Jerusalem sat on the mountain top, and how additional walls were added, and the mountain top flattened in order to build the temple. From there we saw how Herodian stones were carved, cut, and moved to make the ginormous walls of the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

At times it was very narrow and tight, and it was very long. But, it was an incredible experience to see the massive size of the wall itself. Yesterday, when we saw the outside part of the Western Wall, there were several bar mitzvahs taking place, and there was a lot of dancing and music happening everywhere around the square.

Anyhow, once our tour was over, we headed back to the hotel to finish packing check out off our rooms at the hotel. It was very early for us, as our flight wasn't supposed to leave until 11:30 p.m. from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. But, we had a few more stops along the way to make before heading home.

We then went to lunch and had a delicious buffet of kofta, beef and some chicken fingers, as well as many different kinds of vegetable salads. It was very good. And then again we were allowed to do more shopping. Which was fine, but at this point in the journey, I think I have enough off everything. I did end up buying a mezuza for the front door, and that was it. I think the average number off scarves that each person bought on the bus is about 8. In all, I think we have about 700 scarves on the bus.

From there we made our way to the Garden of the Tomb. This is where it gives a visual of what the crucifixion and the burial tomb of Jesus might have been like. It was a pretty peaceful place. There we had a communion service, sang "Beautiful Savior" and then I sang "Let us ever walk with Jesus" while people were having communion. It was a pretty neat experience as well.

From there we went to a small chapel in the Shepherds Fields which honestly was a bit forgettable. I think it was more of a time filler of a visit instead of anything else, and then from there went out to dinner at the Tent Restaurant. The food was quite good as was the company and the conversation. We had lamb kebobs, grilled chicken, and again a wide variety of table salads that were delicious. I have to honestly admit that I don't believe I have eaten so much red cabbage in my entire life. I have decided that I like hummus, and I like different vegetable salads. Hopefully with my Jordanian cookbook, I can get some ideas about what to make.

Once done with dinner, we had shared another round of hookah enjoyment. It was quite a hoot, especially some people in our group which I thought would be the last ones EVER to try it out. Then there were those that were much too pious or above the experience to even give it a whirl. It provided a bunch of laughs, combined with Karl, Faye, and Allison coming out dressed in Arabic clothing, doing some dance in the middle of the restaurant. It was hysterical! We enjoyed the time together, until we realized we needed to make it to the airport for our US Airways flight home.

Getting through security in Israel was interesting. We found our initial check in area. As soon as we got there, Pastor Jim was first screened for about 5 minutes from one of the security agents. Then each one of us were interviewed by an agent. Then, while we were in line for about 20 minutes to receive our boarding passes, a very inept and not very intelligent looking rep from US Airways told us all we needed to use a different line, even though I was the next person in line to check in. We proceeded to wait another 25 minutes in line, until we were really the last people tto check in, all of the ticketing agents were waiting for people, and the US Airways clerk starts checking in a few people behind us.

Finally, the supervisor saw what was happening ad told the guy to help us out. At this point, there were a couple of people that were REALLY bent out of shape about being jostled around, complaining about how poor the service was, and that it was the worst airline ever.

Apparently they never flew a non-stop flight from Hong Kong to Chicago on United, and were given an apology for the crappy service everyone was about to receive BEFORE even taking off for home.

Anyhow, I was glad to get away from the rest of those people, as I didn't really want to be caught in an incident with Israeli security. I really wanted to just get home.

Once through that, we then went through the regular metal detector (with shoes and belts and watches on I might add). We then went through passport control, and then another gate of passport control to eventually be led into the terminal. While there were many levels of security, I didn't mind one bit. While it took a little longer that what we do in the US, it's certainly a lot safer. And who cares if your convenience and personal information is questioned.

We then were only waiting about 20 minutes before we started boarding the plane. It was an overbooked flight, and I'm glad everyone in our group made it on ok. We said goodbye to Faye and Karl who were extremely nice people, and look forward to meeting them again when they come up to visit Diane. After a beer and a soda in the waiting area, it was boarding time for the US Airways Airbus A330 bound for Philadelphia.

In all this has been a great trip, worth every penny spent, worth every minute of sleep lost, and worth every prayer said. It was an incredible experience that I hope to share again someday.