Tuesday - within the Walls of Jerusalem

Short story:  Longer blog to come:

We are now staying at Grand Hotel in Jerusalem.  It is about a brisk 10 minute walk from the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.  So far the food has been great!  But ten of decided to eschew breakfast in order to have a long early morning walk, and meet the rest of the people at our first stop.  The whole day was spent in Jerusalem itself.

The early walkers experienced this:
    - 5:00 a.m. departure; walk to the walls
    - we saw people just beginning to set up shop, seeing the bread arrive, buying the first cups of coffee sold that day
    - we entered the city through the Damascus Gate, and just inside the wall read psalm 122 : I rejoiced when I heard them say, "Let us go up to God's House", and now our feet feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem ...
    - we visited the Church of the HolySepulcher and toured all around it, including going up the Mount of Calvary at a quiet time, kneeling, and being able to touch the top of Calvary.
    - we did not visit the tomb at the time, as Mass was going on in there.  We did go to almost every other spot in this massive church.
     - from there we walked through part of the Muslim Quarter, past closed stores, past where the Cardo (main street of Roman times) into the Jewish Quarter.  There is quite a difference between these two quarters.
     - we visited the Western Wall (aka wailing wall) ... almost no one else was there ... We were told the cold they are having here (about 40 degrees Fahrenheit) was keeping people away (!).
     - we then exited there, and went to St. Ann's Church which is where we eventually met the rest of the group.

St. Ann's Church is a Crusader building (completed in 1140) still in excellent shape.  It is said to be over the home of Ann and Joachim, and the birthplace of Mary.  It is a beautiful building with extraordinary acoustics.     There is an old tradition of Mary's connection, going back to a second century document called the Protoevangelium of James.   No one wanted to destroy it; it was used as a Koran seminary by the Muslims after 1187.  It eventually was given to France, and remains a possession of France.  It is administered by the Holy Ghost fathers (aka White Fathers.) This is also the site of the Pool of Bethsaida where Jesus cured the man who had been crippled for 38 years.  (John 5).  This pool had been lost to history for many centuries, but was rediscovered.

From there we continued up the Via Dolorosa, entering "Ecco Homo" (Behold the man) (John 18) where Jesus was put on trial before Pilate.  There we began the Stations of the Cross and visited the chapel there.  Its pavement goes back to the time of Christ, and shows a game etched into the stone by the soldiers.

We continued on through station nine, and then did the final 5 stations inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as we waited in line to visit the tomb.  
 
We had Mass at 11:00 in the Franciscan chapel in the church proper.

While others visited Calvary, the early walkers saw the Greek Orthodox area which had been closed earlier, and then walked through the local markets used by the people who live within the walls - shoes, clothing, the butchers, fruit and vegetable sellers.

After lunch we visited Mount Zion, - Dormition Abbey, the Cenacle (Last Supper room/ Upper Room),  David;s Tomb (although it isn't credible site for it) and St. Peter Gallicantu.

Now back at the hotel.