Jerusalem

last night I ate in a Yeminite Jewish restaurant.  It was good, it's probably the only time I'll eat Yeminite Jewish food because it's the only restaurant in the world!! The bread was like a massive crumpet and I found out that Dana International of Eurovison fame is a Yeminte Jew.
After, back in the hostel I was chatting to a lawyer from Rio de Janiero.  He was an interesting guy. He went on the West Bank tour with us and we were talking about that and his English.    Yes, I gave him the email of Lake School.  It would be very weird if he did turn up there in January!

This morning I headed off to the Garden Tomb.  Now this place is outside the walls in the Muslim Quarter and it is like an oasis of calm inside.  It's run by a charitable trust in England by 12 directors and the head guy was there today.  He chatted to me for a bit about how Nigerians are now getting bursaries from the government to do Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem  (like their Muslim brothers do to Mecca)   He says there have been so many coming since June, it 's unbelievable.  I can vouch for this;  the place was full of Nigerians.  All dressed up with their Bibles waving and singing and swaying their way into the tomb.  I didn't queue  up to go into the tomb but I watched this massive group all dance their way in and then a group of Papua New Guineans followed them, and then there was a group from Singapore.   It's big business with loads and loads of buses parked up and shipping in the tourists.  but it was a far more joyful experience to witness than the creepiness of the Holy Sepulchre. I did a bit of research and realised that this site is just really so that Protestants can call a place theirs  in the Holy Land.   The tomb was excavated in the 1880s. There is not enough evidence to say that this is the real place where Jesus was buried.  But hey, everyone was having fun and the staff were all very friendly and were from all over the world (Not just ex-British colonies)  I enjoyed my time here, but in fact, thinking about it, my trip to Jerusalem has not made me religious at all.  The tensions here between the three faiths (and also within each faith) are just too strong.   But I do know that here in Jerusalem, there is one God, and he's called MONEY.

After my Tomb experience I headed through Damascus Gate and had a wonderful Arabic Coffee and then walked through the old city to the other side and out and up the Mount Of Olives. i saw the Garden of Gethsemane and Mary's church where she is buried. It was raining and it was a hard climb and to be honest I didn't feel that safe.  People were glaring at me and staring just a bit too hard.   My guide book says it's a bit rough up there so I decided to come back down by local bus as soon as I reached the top.  Now that was funny, the bus filled up with young Arabic kids who had all just finished school.  One old guy sat next to me and the rest of the bus was just kids going home.  They were not that badly behaved at all but it was a bit surreal being surrounded by 7 year old kids on a public bus.

I then got the tram (Which I found out is only about 6 weeks old) to the top of the Jewish quarter and went to Yad Vashem the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' remembrance Museum. Check it out on line.   The building is a stunning piece of architecture and the gardens are beautiful.   A fitting place of remembrance I think.   It was really exceptional, especially seeing the Hall of Names where the authorities are trying to get information on every single  victim of the Holocaust.  All the names are in books around the walls and there are pictures on the ceilings.  They are treating the books as tomb stones and about a quarter of the hall is still empty, anyone with information can email them. 
The Children's Memorial was very emotional.  I will never forget walking around inside surrounded by thousands and thousands of stars.  It was beautiful and made me cry. As you walk round you here the names and ages of some of the 1.5 million children murdered.  I also got to see the original Schindler's list.  There are also many monuments to the brave non-Jews who helped save lives/  It was a museum I will never forget and also pulled a lot of information together from my time in Berlin and Poland.  You also heard testaments from people who lost all of their families and had witnessed the horrors.  But ultimately it's a tranquil and incredibly beautiful place of rest.  An architectural delight.

I then went for a vegetarian meal.  You piled up the food on your plate and then payed by weight.  It was OK, a bit bland but the bread was delicious.  Once I got back to the hostel I paid for my ticket to Eilat, yes I'm off to the deep South tomorrow for 2 days and then into Jordan.  I am about two days behind schedule but I want some heat and to chill out on the beach...Jordan beaches are not as nice as EIlat, I've heard.

I then had a half hour Arabic lesson with the travel tour organiser here.  He's Israeli but can speak both languages perfectly.  It was a fun and hopefully useful half hour.   Right, off to bed now.   Need to pack and get ready for my trip tomorrow.   Bye