Why the Old City is my Favorite City

Seriously.  It is.  There is just something about it.  A beauty amidst the rough.  Aged.  Rugged.  Still here against all odds.  Jesus' city.  My city.  Oh, how I love it!

For Christmas, my parents gave us a tour guide.  Not to keep forever, but for one day.  He was the best!  He totally got us and gave us one of our favorite days in Israel! (Do you see a theme here?)

We started the day at the Damascus Gate.  Mostly because it is the closest to the garden.  I spotted this man right off ... he actually zipped by us as we were going down the steps.  For the record, if I had to carry something on my head for any length of anywhere, we all know it would end up on the ground.  This wasn't the first time I saw this guy ... and, it wasn't the last.

We went to see St. Anne's church (great acoustics) and the pool of Bethsada.  Sick and crippled would lie around the pool waiting for the water to move ... they believed that the first one in the pool would be healed.

I must interject here.  We were asked many times if we felt safe.  Never once did we fear for our lives or question if we should have come.  Even when we were constantly surrounded by this ...

soldiers were EVERYWHERE.  And the man standing up?  He has canisters of tear gas.  Vincent said he had never seen that before.  Which is why I took the picture ... because I had never seen it before and who knows when I will see it again?

Things were tense in the Old City while we were there.  These men had probably spent the night in the Old City keeping trouble at bay.

We did ask if we could take a picture.  One said we could if we did it "with respect." Torrey is 14 ... I daresay these young men aren't too many years older.  The things these boys have seen and will see makes my mama's heart want to break for them.  With respect?  Oh, yes.  And with gratitude ... they are the reason we felt so safe and the reason we know my parents are safe while they are in Israel.

Vincent next took us to the Temple Mount ... aka The Dome of the Rock.  We had tried Sunday, but because of the tension it was closed.  This was our one and only chance.  We were thankful to be able to go all the way up.

Not because of the building behind us.  Although, it was impressive.  We loved being up there because it was the site of the temple.  And, it will be the site of the temple again.  These pictures show one portion of the Temple Mount ... and it looks immense.  I wish I had a better one to show you how truly enormous it was.  Incredible.  Absolutely incredible!

I am a sucker for handmade things.  Each and every one of these tiles was painted by hand.  By hand.  Can you imagine?  Artisans continue to restore and replace tiles as they are needed ... they cover the entire building.

We couldn't go inside.  We aren't muslim.  However, 22 years ago I did go inside ... there is just a rock inside.  Hence the name "Dome of the Rock."  I think it was the rock where Abraham was supposed to sacrifice Isaac.  I'm not to up on my Muslim these days.

To leave the Temple Mount we had to go through the cotton market.  There is a gate at the entrance and it had this small door.  This small door is called "the eye of the needle." It was used long ago when the city was shut up tight at night.  If you were trying to get into the city after the gates were closed you had to go through this little door.  Maybe a camel could fit through ... if he was small enough.

We then went to the archaeological museum.  It is located at the corner of where the temple would have been.  When the temple was destroyed in AD 70, they destroyed it from the top down.  Basically they pushed the walls down and thus saved large portions of the temple for the future.  This is a mikveh.  A ritual bath.  You would go down one side and get clean and then come up the other side and go to the temple.

The Hurva Synagogue reopened on Torrey's 14th birthday.  It had been closed since it was destroyed during the war in 1948.  1948.  62 long years later it reopened ... on my girl's birthday.  When we celebrated her birthday in Israel.  We tried to get in, but it wasn't open.

This is the cardio.  Basically a Roman street.  Today there are shops on either side.  It is quite beautiful.  Look at the floor/street.  Amazing.

When you are 14, you might think looking at a lot of really old things is quite boring.  Two thumbs up for Tor ... she hung in there with the best of them and really enjoyed herself.  I think she dreams of returning the most!

After meandering through the Jewish quarter, we got to go up on the roofs.  We took a "Walk on the Roofs" ... something I saw in the guide book that looked amazing to me.  Without Vincent it would have been impossible ... we never would have found the staircase that led us to the roofs.

The view up there was quite incredible.

It seemed like beauty was all around us.

But, I am a people watcher.  Well, more correctly, I am nosy.  Very, very nosy.  And, I will also admit I am intrigued by the orthodox Jews.

So, it was neat for me to be able to see them, close to their home, doing what they do ... without feeling like I was gawking.  But, as I look back, perhaps I was.

We loved our time in the Old City.  We felt like we had gone back in time, however, there were bits of "today" that reminded us that although we speak different languages, live thousands of miles apart, we are much the same.  We take care of our families and the places we live with joy.

We express ourselves with the written word ... although, I will admit I have never expressed myself with graffiti.  But, again, it is the handmade thing ...

And, no matter where you live, or how you live, children are just scrumptious.

I figure this little guy is probably 5 ... his brother 3.  He just walked with him all over the Old City (I saw him twice) ... no parent in sight.  We were holding tight onto our 14 year old.  After I took his picture he put his hand up in front of me and said something ... felt a little bad, but not too much!

Thanks Vincent (and Mom and Dad) for a most amazing day!  Next time we go back we want Vincent for more than just one day!