Day 2, (May 15, 2009) in Jerusalem

We decided not to get a tour but to walk to the Wailing Wall and the Jewish Quadrant of the Old City today. The Wailing Wall is part of the second Temple built in Jerusalem and is a very sacred place. Security was even tighter than yesterday and we were blocked several times for going down streets that we wanted to travel. We eventually found out Pope Benedict was coming to the Old City. We did not see the Pope, but we felt his presence with all the security.

At the Wailing Wall there were a large number of men praying, some at desks and others just standing. The men had prayer shalls, tallis and hats or yarmulke.
Women had a separate area near the Wall, so Jackie and I had to split up. Jackie was required to wear a shall to cover her arms. We had to go through security detectors to enter the area near the mall.

The views from were interesting and historical. One could see the Gold Dome on the Rock, but were not allowed to enter the area on Fridays. This may be the place where Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac. This is also the area where King David made his repentance to the Lord and where his son Solomon built “God’s House”, the First Temple. One can also see the famous Muslim El-Aqsa Mosque.

We had difficulty finding the Jaffe gate from which we entered the city since many exits were blocked off by security to protect the Pope. We eventually did get out by the “New Gate” and had to walk around the outside wall to get to the Jaffe Gate and find our way to the hotel.

At lunch time we went to the café that had a free Internet connection to prepare our first blog update. In the afternoon, we returned to the hotel to get out of the heat and to rest or tired legs and feet.

In the late afternoon it had cooled off, like California, the Pope was gone, the security was reduced, and we walked back through the Old City. We decided to walk through the Christian sector to see the path that Jesus took with the cross. We found Via Delorosa, which is suppose to be the street Jesus took, but we did not see any markings showing the 14 stations. We did find a building that indicated it was the location of the birthplace of the Virgin Mary. We continued walking through the Muslim, Armenian and Jewish sections. In the Jewish and Muslim section there were some visitors, but most of the stores were closed and it was relative quite due to Friday night Shabbat (Sabbath). We were impressed how peaceful everyone was and how everyone from different religious beliefs seemed to be working together, but then we noted that at every major corner are at least 4 Israeli Defense Force (IDF) or police members patrolling to make sure it says peaceful.

Changing money without a fee is difficult. The major credit card companies now charge a fee of 3% on purchases outside of the United States. Money changers charge a similar fee as do the hotels. Local banks provide the best exchange rate, but are frequently closed or may only exchange currency on certain days and hours, leaving a visitor to guess if they can exchange their currency at a bank. We also found a money changing store that was temporarily out of Israeli Shekel currency and asked us to return later.

On Friday evening is Shabbat and I tried to use the hotel elevator only to be surprised the floor button did not work. I was told that on Shabbat the elevator automatically goes from the lobby to the top floor (11th floor) and then descends one floor at a time until it gets to your floor. This prevents very religious Jews from doing any work such as pushing an elevator button or walking up the stairs. I had heard of this before, but had not experienced this type of elevator previously. I am glad I was not in NYC with 60+ floor elevators.

We finally found one restaurant, Parasido, open for dinner on the Shabbat night near the hotel. It was very busy and had good food. We completed our meal and went to our hotel to rest and sleep, for tomorrow is another day.