We began at the Western Wall. Men and women are separated to observe and pray at the wall. We were there early in the morning, so neither the men's side or the women's side was very crowded. It was interesting to watch the Jewish women praying at the wall. We watched them for a while and then wrote prayers on small pieces of paper that we put in the wall. The Jewish women who were praying at the wall backed away from it in a way so as to not turn their backs on the wall. We were not sure if this was something only Jewish people were supposed to do, so we too backed away from the wall. We may have looked silly, but if nothing else, it was a sign of respect. Our visit to the wall was powerful. While there, I think we all had the shocking realization about how important Jerusalem is to history and to religion. It was definitely a humbling moment.
After spending some time at the wall, we walked into a marketplace, where some of us bought some Rosary Beads. It is still unbelievable to me that I can say I have Rosaries from Jerusalem (and that these Rosaries traveled with me around the Stations of the Cross (Via Dolorosa) and into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher). Unfortunately, after we bought out Rosaries, the entrance to the Dome of the Rock was closed and we were informed that it would not be opening until the next day, so we planned to do that as our first priority the next day.
At this point we decided to walk the Via Dolorosa path, which eventually leads to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The stations start at a place where there are two chapels. Both were beautiful. The first station is inside a contemporary Muslim school, so there's not much commemoration of the station, but is was interesting to enter the school and look around a little. The building was very old and the rooms seemed very small. On a positive note however, it seemed that every classroom was packed with students, as we saw them leaving for the day. The next stations are found along the marketplace. At first, I was confused because as we got to each new station, there was a circular black stone on the wall with the appropriate Roman numeral inside. I have only done the stations of the cross several times before, and each time, each station has had a pictorial representation. I guess this is what I was expecting, so when I questioned where these were and someone told me there were not going to be any, I was a little taken aback. I was even more taken aback when I realized that there was no need for pictures representing the stations because the markers were marking the places where the actual events had happened. This was an incredible realization. I still get chills thinking about it.
There are several chapels along the path of the stations, and we visited these as we made our way along. We also visited the Prison of the Christ, which was very interesting. After station IX, we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It's a gorgeous Church outside and inside. The first thing you see upon entering the Church is the Anointing Stone, where Jesus was laid when he was taken down from the cross. Behind this is a huge picture of the last supper, which was beautiful. After viewing this, we headed upstairs and eventually made our way to the place where Jesus was crucified. There is a Crucifix there and an alter, under which you can pray. Each of us said a short prayer there. It was a vert moving experience. Back downstairs, we say the place where the base of the cross stood. It was a huge cross, which makes the story of Jesus carrying it along the Via Dolorosa (which we had just walked ourselves) even more incredible, humbling, and heart-breaking, all at the same time. We also saw but did not enter the Tomb of the Christ, which is also downstairs in the Church. On our way out of the Church, we stopped again at the Anointing Stone and laid our Rosaries on it.
It had been an incredible but fairly draining day by the time we left the Church, so we walked to the Tomb of King David and stayed for a while in the room where the Last Supper was held. Both of these were also amazing sights.
After our full day of touring, we headed to Ben Yehuda street, where we had a very nice dinner. (All of us loved the food in Jerusalem and also the atmosphere. There's a lot of great restaurants and stores on Ben Yehuda street and it is a great place to walk around at night). After dinner (and after a stop for ice cream actually), we sat for a while in another bar/restaurant. It was a great day and night and we were glad that we also had the next day to see the sights. There is just so much to see, it's unbelievable! We headed back relatively early to the hostel because we were planning to get up early to see the Dome of the Rock as soon as we possibly could. Majoring in Arabic and taking classes for the past two years in Middle Eastern Studies, I had learned about the Dome of the Rock numerous times. Seeing it from a distance as we toured this day was exciting. I couldn't wait to actually put the famous and revered place to the name. Like everything else, it would definitely be an unforgettable experience.
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