Day 6

Off to Bethlehem!  We took a Jerusalem city bus to get there.  Bethlehem is Palestinian controlled, but only 6 miles away from Jerusalem.  It still took an hour to get there by bus because of security checkpoints and stops.  An Israeli soldier boarded the bus to check passports on two occasions.  It was sad to see the giant wall that keeps Palestine separate.  Im not sure exactly who is allowed to go where, but I don't think most Palestinians are allowed to cross into Jerusalem.

Palestine looks like a different country.  It seems poorer, and all there is no more Hebrew on the signs.  Only Arabic and some English.  Jewish influence is gone except for "occupation" by the Israeli government.  It is tougher to Palestinian people to get jobs.  The government is simply a winner-take-all system.  There was some interesting graffiti on the wall separating Palestine.  There was a painting on part of the wall of a large Israeli soldier with his back turned and hands up.  He was being patted down by a little girl in a dress.  It had no words, but was a powerful message for the Palestinians.  One sign said, "Imagine Palestine.  One voice.  End the occupation."  Another just said, "We love tourists."  This one says, "Did you survive to do this?"  I think it is talking to the people of Palestine.

There were lots of people begging and trying to sell trinkets, handbags, and postcards on the street.  Very in-your-face.

We got off of the city bus at Bethlehem and got into a smaller private bus that Tim hired with a Palestinian driver.  He took us out of the city to the middle of nowhere on a windy mountain road to Marsaba, a Greek Orthodox monastery.  It is the oldest continuously running monastery in the world.  Marsaba is named after a monk who lived in a cave in the cliffs across the valley from the monastery.  When we came in 2005, I remember going inside and seeing his body (relatively preserved).  The monks believe that since his body hasn't completely decayed, he was a very great man.  When monks at this monastery die, their bones are kept and the shelves are lined with their skulls.  We were disappointed not to go inside this time.  Even though we had a scheduled appointment, Greek orthodox tour groups have precedence over any other groups if they happen to come.  A Greek Orthodox group was there.  Women have never been inside the monastery.  Never in 1500 years.  We did get to explore the caves where monks used to live.  A grueling hike, and tons of fun.

On my way up one of the cliffs, I slipped and started a small rock avalanche.  If somebody had been on the path below me ..they would have died.  A softball sized rock tumbling down to the river.  Yikes.

Our next stop was the Herodian.  Herod the Great ruled in the first century and had a palace-fortess on a large hill.  The ruins are very well intact.  We walked through the columns, bathhouses, etc.

There is also a tunnel that goes deep into the mountain where the palace had a cistern.

Standing at the top of the Herodian will give you a complete panorama of Israel.

Ms. Lanette noted that Herod probably thought his palace was fantastic in his day.  Now it is just ruins.  This will be our possessions pretty soon.  How much do we value material?  Thank you for the words of wisdom.

When we walked out of the cistern on the side of the mountain we saw a man in his 20's with a brush working on a wall.  We asked him what he was doing and he said he was preserving the plaster.  He went on to tell us that they found the rooms he was working on just two weeks ago.  Last October, his boss (the lead archeologist) was working on the amphitheater which was discovered in 2009 when he fell off of some scaffolding and right where we were.  During an improvement to make this area safer, they found a room with murals on the walls.  It was probably Herod's theater box-seat.  They are still excavating it, and it is not open to the public yet.  The man let us hold an ancient nail that he just found.

They have also recently excavated what they think might be Herod's tomb.

The tomb, theater, and box seat were still underground and unknown in 2005 when I was at the Herodian last.  New discoveries are happening all the time.

Lunch was at a restaurant called Mr. Hummos (Humus), where we had the usual shawarma and falafel.  They are the main foods at restaurants here.  Either can be in pita bread, gyro, or a tortilla, depending on the vendor.  Shawarma is more expensive than falafel.  It is chicken or some other ymmy mean off the spick.

Falafel is fried chick pea balls.

Both have the same fixings.  I don't know what you call any of it, but its all good.  You just have to go for it and stuff all that trash in your pita.

We also ate pita bread and hummus.  Pretty good.  This is what I call strawberry drank because there is no English on it.  Its just strawberry sugar water.  It is really popular here.  And there is other flavors of it.

I think a place called Mr. Humus could do well in the US.

Next was the Church of the Nativity.

There was a huge line to go see the spot where Jesus was "actually" born.  There are a ton of European people who don't fancy smiling in their pictures.  They just frown and hold their hand out to indicate what they are standing by.  Maybe its reverence?  I just think Texans are happier.

Weston and I also thought it would be fun to talk to each other in our best shots of sounding like the European languages around us.  We got a few weird looks, but I think my nonsense sounded pretty legit.  Or as Gary would say, Sebabalegit.

Our last tour visit was Solomon's Pools.  There are three in a row, the largest of which held 40,000 gallons of water.  Some people say that Jerusalem was a small village in the days of Solomon, but this is evidence to the contrary.  Aqueducts took the water from these pools in Bethlehem to supply Jerusalem.

Rachel, Sam, Elisabeth, Amy, Sarah, and I prowled around Jerusalem and went to get some pastries at the Marzipan bakery again for our last night in Jerusalem.  We also did some last minute shopping.  They are such a cool group of kids.

Shopping story of the night.

Sarah: How much for this? (a clothing item)
Man: 150 Shekels
Sarah: Ill pay you 50 for it.
Man: Get out of my shop, now.  Don't ruin my night.

We left swiftly.