Jerusalem on a Sunday

Greetings from The City of David!!!

 

It is Sunday afternoon, and I am getting some things done :-) Sundays are like Saturdays around here--we have church on Saturday, and Sundays we pretty much have as free days. This afternoon I've been going through pictures, working on homework, getting ready to go to Jordan (we are leaving soon!) and doing some much needed laundry. This morning I went out into the city with Sawyer and Jacob Justice (I can't help but say his last name every time I say his name because not only does if flow well, but also it's awesome). We went to the Tower of David Museum and then to the Temple Mount:

 

Jacob and Sawyer at the Tower of David

This courtyard has pieces that are from basically every era of rulers in Jerusalem. The structure was originally a fortress in the time of David and has been rebuilt several times.

The Citadel is located near Jaffa gate (West Jerusalem) so we got a great view of the Old City from the top of the tower.

The tower to the left is from the Church of the Redeemer. On the horizon is the Jerusalem Center! There was a sign post with a picture of the horizon that labeled various important buildings and the JC was labeled (as "Mormon University")

Yet another picture of the Dome of the Rock (I LOVE this building)

the grey domes to the left are from the Church of the Holy Sepluchre (the traditional place where Christ was crucified, buried, and resureccted). The tower in the middle is the Church of the Redeemer (Lutheran). The Dome of the Rock is to the right. On the Horizon is Hebrew University (on Mount Scopus--directly north of the JC)

Sawyer and Me

There were these guys filming the view while we were up there. I asked them what they were filming for and they hesitantly told me "BBC" so watch out for some footage of Jeru :-)

If you notice the pigeons on this wall, their tails are facing out. In fact, one of them pooped on me. It only got on my hand and I had some hand sanitizer with me, so it wasn't a big deal... but still... (also, we had just been talking about how another girl in our group got pooped on yesterday and it was just such ironic timing)...

Jacob and Sawyer pretending to be archers...

Jacob and Sawyer looking at these replicas of Roman standards that would have been carried in front of the marching army.

This city has such incredibly beautiful architecture!!!

 

We saw some of our classmates at the Citadel too and I snapped a picture of Paige from far away.

This arch is so cool.

One of the exibits shows the arrival of Kaiser Wilhelm in the 1800s. There is this photo booth where you can take a picture in front of a realistic back drop and put stickers on it and stuff and then email it to yourself. Jacob and Sawyer had some fun with it :-)

Jacob didn't like this one because he said I was supposed to be serious...

So we took this one, and It turned out much better :-)

That's when Sawyer came over and he and Jacob started having some fun with it :-)

Glass Grass

After we were done exploring the Citadel (and we watched this awesomely horrible 15 minute movie giving the history of Jeru, but simplified so that a small child could understand...) we headed over to the Temple Mount.

We saw some of our classmates at the Western Wall, and ended up hanging out with them for a bit while we all walked around the Temple Mount.

The Western Wall

Tyler and Jacob bought Kippas right before we went into the Western Wall area. You can barely tell from this picture, but they have a Star of David and say "Jerusalem"

Behind me and Jacob is Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is the third holiest place in Islam.

This is the front entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque (you have to be a Muslim to go inside)

 

There are arches like this on all four sides of the platform on which the Dome of the Rock sits. According to Islam, these arch ways will be the scales on which the life of man will be judged at the final judgement.

Sawyer, Ben, Alyssa, and Jacob Justice

Ben, Tyler, Me, Sawyer, Alyssa, and Jacob in front of the Dome of the Rock

I loved this shot of the Dome through the archways (same arches as mentioned above)

love love love this building (and the ground on which it sits)

 

 

I had a really wonderful Sunday. This city is incredible and the people in this program are fantastic. I love it here!!!

 

-Erika

 

PS: If any of you want to contact me, (I probably should have said this a long time ago...) the best way is through email, which I check more often than facebook. My email address is erikalarsen9@gmail.com