We woke to the sounds of the city of Jerusalem this morning.  While lying in bed, we reflected on the fact we had slept on land where Abraham, David and Jesus had walked.  Empires and armies for millennia have gone to war over these rocky hills.  We were at the vortex of three major religions all vying for supremacy.  These mammoth religious Teutonic plates rub against each other every moment of every day making little progress in dislodging the other.  The history here is rich with traditions that go back thousands of years which form entrenched paradigms that make peace an almost impossible dream. At the moment there is an uneasy calm in the air.  One senses though the wrong insult or provocation would send the whole place up into an escalating chaos and conflict.  Passions, especially anger run deep here and acts of violence are never far out of reach.  One has to walk very carefully through this religious and political minefield.  I have more questions than answers and find it frustrating to have friends on both sides of the equation.  It’s a bit like when friends divorce and try to force you to pick sides.  I don’t want to!

 After a breakfast of humus, dried fruit and juice we headed out early for Mt. Moriah.  The Temple Mount (Har haBáyith) is only open for a few hours in the morning and afternoon and you are not allowed inside The Dome of the Rock.  This was a big change from when I was last here in 1986. Then we were actually allowed inside the dome.  I even took photos!  Religious politics play a huge role in the change of policy.  Nonetheless, the outside views on and around the dome are stunning.  We arrived at just after 9 AM and there was already a fairly long line.  As we made our way closer to security, one of the guards asked us if we were a part of a tour.  When we responded “no” he pulled us out of line and escorted us straight to the front of the line…nice!  After all of our bags were cleared, we walked up an ascending wood walkway right past the Western (Wailing) Wall.  The view down was quite interesting as we observed a Bar Mitzvah and religious men arguing while others were intently praying. 

As you enter the mount area, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is on the right and up the stone steps to the left, through arches, is the stunning view of the golden Dome of the Rock one of the more iconic images of Jerusalem.  I was captivated by the ancient columns, beautiful archways and of course the spectacular blue and gold color of the dome building.   As we walked around even the outlying buildings are amazing and the views east toward the Mt of Olives spectacular!   At 11AM they started chasing us off the mount as Muslim prayers were about to begin.  From there we headed to the various markets where I had an “Abraham in Egypt/ Gen. 12” experience!  Apparently my beautiful wife was “fair in the eyes” of the males here in Jerusalem.  She was getting proposals at every turn.  I started to think if this continues I may have to claim she is my sister as Abraham did with Sarah.  Of course she wasn’t appreciating the attention and kept asking me to stay close.  I started singing the lyrics to a Paul Simon song “will you be my bodyguard.”  As we meandered through the streets her Indian pedigree kicked in and she started to bargain with the vendors.  If you come here, remember to take 50% of the first price offered.  From there you start to bargain and volume purchases do help bring the individual costs down.  For whatever reason, today was a particularly low day and vendors were aggressive in wanting to do business.   We covered the Jewish, Muslim and Christian quarters and our weary bodies had just about had enough and were ready to head back to Tel Aviv.  This was until we came across the Tower of David!

My passion for history and love of archeology kicked in and I dragged my road weary wife into the place.  She hates museums but actually enjoyed this one as it covered the whole history of this area.  When reading the Bible and its description of King David and his conquering of the Jebusites, you tend to get a more glorious idea than reality as to what this town/city looked like then.  When you see the models in the museum you realize more it was David’s son Solomon who really built this hilltop into the glorious city and temple area we imagine.   At night the place is lit up with colored lights and makes for a stunning visual effect.  After our feet said “no more” we walked up to the train station and made the trek back to Tel Aviv and waiting clean sheets.  We were asleep in seconds but our hearts were full from a day of amazing sites, good food and bargains.