Friday, June 24, 2011

On Our Own in Jerusalem

Free Day!! Ready to go exploring! We are in a 5 star hotel with a spa and I heard a lovely pool but Pat and I have chosen to see just how many more miles we can walk before dropping dead!! (Heaven just has to be a shorter trip from Israel!! Ha!)
I say that we are on our own but some Precept staff person is always willing to see to it that you get where you are going to even if they have to accompany you there! :)
Ben Yehuda Street
Ben-Yehuda Street is located in the heart of Jerusalem. Most of the street is an open-air pedestrian mall forming a triangle with King George Street and Jaffa Street. The street is named after the Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who in the late 19th century almost single-handedly revived Hebrew as a modern spoken language. This picture was taken looking back at where Ben-Yehuda ends as a traditional street for vehicles to become a pedestrian mall. Ben Yehuda wasn't always a pedestrian mall. Sadly, on February 22, 1948, during the first phase of the Israel War of Independence, Palestinian Arab terrorists, with the cooperation of deserters from the British Mandatory forces, bombed Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem. It was possibly the first car bombing in history, and it was the first of several bombings of Ben Yehuda Street in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bombings have occurred on this street in 1975, 1976, 1979, and 1997.

More recently, on December 1, 2001, two suicide bombers detonated themselves on Ben Yehuda Street, followed by a car bomb set to go off as paramedics arrived. Eleven people were killed, including many children, and 188 were injured. Hamas claimed responsibility. On a much lighter note, I had to take this picture because I may see the arches regularly but rarely in Hebrew!Zion Square is a public square at the east end of the Ben Yehuda Street Pedestrian Mall in downtown Jerusalem. It abuts Jaffa Road, Herbert Samuel Street and Yoel Moshe Salomon Street as well. This is where Pat and I stopped had iced coffee and tried to figure out how to get to the Old City which should have been easy (if we would have had a map).
The Old City
We did get lost and we are taking a minute to catch our breath - it's not always about the pictures.
Pat is headed in to the Jaffa gate. In the upper right of the picture you can see the citadel or the "Tower of David".
The citadel is located on the western side of the Old City, just south of the Jaffa Gate. Its location was chosen for topographic reasons – this is the highest point of the southwestern hill of Jerusalem, higher than any other point in the ancient city, including the Temple Mount.
Today the citadel is no longer used for military purposes. Instead, it functions as the museum of the history of Jerusalem. Presented in its various towers are exhibits tracing 5,000 years of the city’s history. In the courtyard, remains of the First Wall and its towers, of the Second Temple period and of the fortification from the Byzantine and early Arab periods, have been preserved.
And what could I be looking for?Entering the Old City.
Looking straight ahead toward David Street which would take us to the Jewish Quarter. Of course, we chose to go an easier path through the Armenian Quarter to get there.
AND not only did we make it we caught up with some of our group at the Hurva Square and had a great lunch and even better fellowship!! (Leah, Jon, and Theresa were our fellow yellow bus mates who we loved traveling with!) At the head of the table is David Lawson and to his left his wife BJ. They have been with Precept since 1980 and were bus hosts (and a lot of fun)!
Now this group of trouble makers were the back of the yellow bus (which, for full disclosure, I guess you could include Pat and I) and were always mis-behaving!! Ray, the man in blue, was the ring-leader! His wife Jill has to be a saint to put up with him! But this motley crew was from the big state of Minnesota. Let's just say we laughed a lot! Time to head back to the hotel - but not without a few more pictures. Those yellow flowers had the sweetest scent! This is the King David Hotel and as is the case with much of Jerusalem it, too, has a history as you can read below.
Another view of the King David. I have another story of the King David Hotel that involves an ATM and it is actually a story I'm quite proud of. But because my posts have been a little long you'll have to ask about that story sometime!
At dinner that night Kay stopped by our table to visit and as I look at the picture I think of how much the Lord has blessed me through Kay Arthur. Who knew twenty something years ago as I began studying Precept Upon Precept that she would still hold such a special place in my heart and that we would be in the Holy Land together! The other thing I think as I look at this picture is that every year she looks younger and I look older! Ha!

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you." Philippians 1:3

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