Rampart Tour & Zedekiah's Cave

Well it was yet another great day here in Jerusalem, and I can't wait to tell you all about it.  Well we woke up this morning, got breakfast, and then went into Old Jerusalem, and took a tour of the ramparts on top of the city wall.  It was almost like walking the Great Wall of China, I mean these walls were HUGE!! It only cost us 8 shackels (approx. $2), and it was worth the price!  We got to see some very cool views of the Old City, and we especially got a great view of Golgotha.

Here's the tricky thing with Jerusalem.  Not only do 3 of the worlds largest religions in the world hold this place to be holy, but simply within the Christian sect, there are many disputes over various sites, mostly due to the fact that Biblical ages were just so long ago.  A lot of people believed Christ did this here, but then a bunch of people will say he did the same thing somewhere else, so you have to follow the spirit on things, and decide for yourself.  We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher yesterday, which is supposedly Golgotha, and the burial site of Christ, but today, I just felt very strongly that a different site just north of the city wall, was the spot where Golgotha was.  I stopped atop the ramparts for a few minutes, and looked over the wall at this hill just a few hundred yards from where I stood, and looked at the graves that have recently been added to its top.  I recognized the view from various Biblical pictures I had seen, and as I stood there the words to a familiar hymn came to me, 'There is a green hill far away, without a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all".  And all I can really relate to you is that after pondering in my mind and my heart, I felt like this was the place that Christ was crucified.  It was a really special and spiritual experience, one which I cannot easily put into words.  It was a tender mercy because in a land where so much is disputed, I felt like I was able to come to my own conclusion, as we all must do with these sites.  So, although I may not convince people that this spot was where Christ was crucified, I at least no for myself, what I believe to be true.



After our tour of the ramparts, we walked around the Old City for a while, we went to Zedekiah's cave.  This is a HUGE cave that lies directly under the Old City and stretches for about 5 city blocks, and this was AWESOME!!! First of all it was great because we were able to just be in the shade, and enjoy the nice cool temperature for a while, but it was also just amazing to walk in and walk around.  It is supposedly the cite where people quarried stone for Solomon's Temple, and was used for subsequent temples as well.  It was just really cool to see this huge cave that dates back more than 3,000 years old, and would have been a place that Christ and other prophets would have visited in Jerusalem.

We then got to exchange some money, and headed over to West Jerusalem, and got some lunch... and guess what?!?! I GOT A DONER!!!  YAHOOOO!!  It was so awesome! Well, I got a coke zero in a bottle with it, which just took the cake! It made me think of when I was in Berlin with Mitch, Mom, and Uncle Dave... so much fun!

We took at taxi back to the center which was so nice, as we were pretty far away from it.  We got back and got to do homework, eat dinner, and BLOG!! Having so much fun, and loving everything we do!! I am so grateful for this awesome experience, and wish you all could come and see this amazing city!!  Love you all, peace and blessings!