If Berlin to me is a city of reunification, Jerusalem, on the contrary, has proved to be a city of separation. Despite different religions seem to live together in this tiny city (I refer to the old city of Jerusalem here), they even share the same God, but they clearly have different way of living and the tension has never gone away. As an outsider, I don't fully understand the nitty-gritty details and the politics behind it all, nor do I take side of anything, but I just rather feel sad for the situation in such a beautiful city. With a good ol' sigh, why can't we just live together? Don't judge people with your own standard, if you are so religious, let your God be the judge. That's what I would say to all these madness going on in this city, in the Middle East, in the United States, in our neighborhoods, anywhere really. That's my 3 penny naive viewpoints on the state of the world.
I left Paul alone and snacked out to see the old city on my own early morning, because I really only have one sightseeing day in Jerusalem, there are a few sites I do not want to miss while I am in town. He is staying in Jerusalem until Saturday, while I will leave to Petra on Friday bloody early morning. Wednesday morning 7:30am, the streets of old city were pretty quiet, the shops in the market were not even open. Nonetheless, there were many many police around, every block there are a couple of them, all armed, wore bullet vests and all. I was alarmed but not was not afraid really, since there were really nobody around yet. I found my way to Western Wall or the Wailing Wall as I have thought that is what it was called. I had wanted to see that for a long time, felt that this particular has carried and delivered so much emotions over the year. I thought it might be a moving scene to see. At the end, the wall was actually much smaller than I thought, and it was divided into two sections (male section on the left and the smaller right size is for female). I was trying to be respectful and not to disturb the ones who were praying or actually wailing, so I only stood quite far away and took pictures from a distance. I was glad I have finally seen it.
With the past 2 in Tel Aviv and Haifa, I know everywhere you go one needs to have the bag checked and body scanned. So, I carried very little today, just my camera and a guidebook, so I get in and out of security points much faster. My next stop after the Wailing Wall was the Dome of the Rock, or Temple Mount, or Haram esh-Sharif... names names names so many names. Anyway, it's one of the holiest places for Islam. The exterior was simply beautiful, I did not get inside, I don't think it was allowed anyway. But I spent a good hour or so walking around the dome, took a lot of pictures and sat and watch people a bit, there were men and women praying among their own corresponding gender groups. At one point, the men all suddenly change from quietly saying prayer to yelling some Arabic phrases. I did not know what happened at first, and secretly tried to hide somewhere behind a column, watching them closely but stayed alerted. I am guessing they were saying, "Praise Allah!" or something, and the whole yelling part took a couple minutes. I felt very out of place at this point. After they quieted down, people started to leave, the mount became even quieter than I first arrived. I think it is a prefect time to visit, you can take some great pictures of the dome without people everywhere. An Arab young man came talking to me, asked me if I know God, and how many God...etc. I causally answered something, he seemed to sincere the whole time and at the end, he gave me a Quran (English version) for free. I took it reluctantly, I don't want to disrespect him, but at the same time, it has no use to me. Good that Paul is happy to adopt the Quran for me.
Meeting Paul at 10am at the Jaffa Gate of the Old City, I had some times left after the Dome, so I visited a small Greek church along the way. The tiny church had some nice painting on the wall but nothing like the next church Paul and I visited together, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, said to be where Jesus was crucified and resurrected. That was a huge church. I was commenting to Paul, we went up to the stairs, and then went down two flights. It was not beautiful as the Sistine Chapel which has Michelangelo's works on the wall, but Holy Sepulchre certainly felt like a lot more holier. There were many people praying, sobbing whatever they do over the Stone of Unction. And inside the Tomb of Christ, which only fit 4 people at a time, while I was in there, I couldn't help but knee and had my head on the rock as well (peer pressure), I didn't want to be the only standing, so I kneed and gave him a "Hey Jesus!" inside. Among the faithfuls, there were also Chinese tourists with selfie sticks in His tomb, you were in Jesus' resting places, give him a break, won't you?! I enjoyed the 3 tours I did this morning, visiting all 3 faiths that are trying so hard to co-exist behind these high walls.
As we were trying to find the Via Dolorosa, where Jesus tripped a few times carrying the cross, we also lost our ways a few times, the market inside the Old city was like a maze if you don't know it well. We bumped into a group of pilgrims re-enacting the carrying the cross to the Holy Sepulchre. It was 11:30am, the radio (literally every corner in the market) was playing the Muslim prayer/reading (whatever it was) very loudly, meanwhile, this group of pilgrims also was singing or chanting along the way with their cross. The two religions crashed in mid-air, that's when I felt the gaps between religions and people are hard to hide in this little tiny place. Almighty God, Jesus, Allah, whoever or whatever you are, would you please give some wisdom or technology to their followers, so your Muslim sons can listen to their prayer on a bluetooth earphones, or your Christian children can chant quietly inside. All kidding aside, I think something must be done to the location of those loud radios.
After lunch, we visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial. The bus driver did give us a detour, and wasted us 20 mins or so. But it all worked out at the end. The museum was free and crowded. We pretty much skimmed through it. I would have liked to spend some times to see the exhibited items actually, but it was too crowded. I did find the area peaceful, up on a hill, far from the madness near the Old City. Paul prayed in the Synagogue. It was a peaceful place. Another bus ride lately, we got to our final destination of the day, Shrine of the Book (Dead Sea Scrolls), which was part of the Israel Museums. I like the unique structure of the building, it looked like a plunger without the handle. Thanks Lester for the picture, it is funny. Exhibitions themselves were ok. That also concluded my Jerusalem sightseeing. Tomorrow, we will join a local tour to see Masada and possibly floating on the Dead Sea. Will see. Hopefully the weather is good.
Dinner at Ima, sort of Jewish dinner I guess. I had a white fish, rice with lentil and some okra. Tasted good.
See other photos from Day 6 here.
