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Calvary Chapel Israel Tour - Day 8 March 15 - 27, 2009	Back to Home Page

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Day 8 - Tuesday, March 23 This day was the only cold, rainy day of the trip. Fortunately, Amir pulled a few strings and arranged all of our museum visits for this day. Since it was a nasty day we decided we had better prepare ourselves with a visit to Aroma. On this day we saw the Dead Sea Scrolls museum / the Holocaust Museum / a bit of the Old City / the Temple Institute / and the Cardo.


Some of the Aromas had boy/girl bathrooms. It was funny to watch the confusion as Americans figured this out.	Aroma - one of our favorite things in Israel!

Next we went to the Dead Sea Scrolls museum, called the Shrine Of The Book. We were not allowed to take pictures there. I found a nice picture and description on a church web site here.

This sign made me laugh. It is trying to tell you that the toilet will flush as you walk away.	This is a huge model of Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. It was really neat. We were thankful the rain stopped long enough to let us check it out properly. This shows the Temple Mount with the Temple in place.

This shows the Antonia Fortress - which was completely destroyed by the Romans


This shows the old city, sometimes called David's city, and the Southern Steps - which we visit later in the tour.
Another view of David's city and his palace.



	Even the street crossing sign guy wears appropriate clothing!

This was a tent the parents of a captured Israeli soldier had set up. A new Prime Minister was going to take over while we were there. The parents wanted the outgoing PM to exchange hundreds of terrorists for their son.
	Chicks with guns
We were not allowed to take pictures at the Holocaust Museum (called Yad Vashem.) We toured the museum and ate lunch in the museum cafe.

This is the Lion's Gate (I think) and makes a right angle - which was great for slowing down invaders but is a real bugger for cars!	These stones are remains of the old city wall. It had been enormous.

	Jerusalem Jerusalem is also known by the names "City of God" and "City of David." It has been besieged, captured, or destroyed in whole or in part more than forty times. Ruin has been piled on top of ruin until some place the present ground level is more than 35 feet above the level on which Jesus would have walked. It is almost 70 feet above the level that Old Testament people would have walked. It is the capital of Israel and has a population of over 700,000. The old city of Jerusalem has a history that dates back more than 3,000 years, although the present street plan dates largely from Byzantine times and the walls from the 16th century. The Old City is divided into four vaguely defined quarters: Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. Eight gates are built into the city's walls. Seven are open and one remains sealed. The four main gates: Jaffa, Damascus, Lion's, and Zion were constructed according to the four directions of the compass and led to the main cities of the land. The other gates are: New, Herod's, Dung, and Golden. The Golden Gate faces east and is called the "Gate of Mercy" in both Hebrew and Arabic. According to Jewish tradition, this is the gate the Messiah will enter Jerusalem. The Arabs sealed this gate several centuries ago and have since but a cemetery in front of it.
Here Missy & Eric demonstrate the relationship of the old city walls to the new walls.

A map showing the old & new walls in relation to the major landmarks.


Piper getting the squeeze (trying to stay out of that cool breeze!)	The Cardo - it was the main street in the Byzantine era. Originally built by the Romans, then extended as Christian pilgrims began to flock to the city. This remnant was in the Jewish quarter.


The rough stones are original.	A very old mosaic map of Jerusalem showing the Cardo clearly in the center.


	A car going through the right-angle gate.


Bullet scars mark most of the walls and gates around the city.	Blurry shot - trying to be artistic but I should have stopped walking first!


Statue of King David	A golden table for the showbread seen at the Temple Institute. They are recreating the various elements that would be needed if a Temple is ever rebuilt.



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