Well, I don't know what my wife was worried about thinking I wouldn't take any photographs; I've used up a whole roll of film today !
Wandered around Jerusalem. Streets are crowded and fairly narrow. They snake about to lessen the power of the wind.
The Al Asqua mosque from the outside looks extremely disappointing and not worth visiting. But once you get inside you can appreciate the beauty of the place. They have marble pillars donated by Mussolini and empty canisters of tear gas thrown in by Israeli soldiers during the six day war. The mosque was once used by the Crusaders as a stables.
We walked down the Via Dolorosa, the way of the cross. This is the route that they think Jesus walked bearing the cross. There are fourteen stations which have some significance, and just to be different we did it backwards, starting at number fourteen !
At the wailing wall we had a short bomb scare - someone had left a rucksack unattended. A mother also tried to make us stay for her son's bar-mitzvah which we had to politely decline.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre which houses Christ's tomb and the place of crucifixion (allegedly !) is split between the various denominations, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian, Coptic, with the Ethiopians on the roof !
It was sad to hear about the divisions in the church regarding maintenance of the buildings. The Church of the Nativity, which we will see later, might not be standing after the Millennium with the number of visitors expected if work isn't done soon, but the denominations can't agree. Same with the Holy Sepulchre. The Ethiopian church was not given space inside and so are on the roof !
The denominations don't appear to be able to come to agreement on much. There is a ladder outside which has been there for more than a few years because no-one knows which denomination it belongs to and so it hasn't been taken down. Also, parts of the church are in a poor state of repair, whether they will ever get their act together is debatable as they guard their patches jealously. An example that our guide gave us was the case of a Roman Catholic priest stepping into the Greek Orthodox area (they are right next to each other) and getting punched !
At the pool of Bethesda is ST Anne's church. This was a Crusader church and then became a Muslim school for the teaching of the Koran. But is now a very plain and simple church, a refreshing change from all the gold and glitter and 'religiousness' of the Holy Sepulchre.
West Jerusalem is a lot cleaner, less construction empty buildings. More western, surprise, surprise this is the Jewish side.
I was one of the sweepers today, bringing up the rear and making sure that people didn't get lost.
Martin reckons I'm power crazy. Well he will dawdle behind the others; I've got a job to do you know !