The Dome of the Rock Jerusalem

Well this has been a great day too and it's pouring down with rain .   I have trainers on and they are so wet I think I have slight trench foot.  I'm in an Arabic cafe in the Christian Quarter and all the computers are in Arabic and everything is back to front.   Ie.  Tabs go from right to left.   But I need to put my photos on a CD for safe keeping and luckily a guy is helping me out. It's pretty slow so I don't know if I'll be able to put all my pictures up. I might have to catch up at a later date

Last night I went down to the hostel bar and chatted with the other people who had been on the tour.  We had all found it really amazing.   Last night I slept the best since I arrived in Israel so this morning I felt really awake at 6.30/   Had breakfast and was out by 7.30 to go and queue to get into the Temple Mount/ Al Haram ash-Sharif.   This is the place where Jews and Muslims think the foundation stone of the World is.   The plaza used to be the site of the first and second Temples for Jews but now all that remains is the Western/Wailing Wall whilst the Dome of the Rock is built on top of the stone, so is only accessible to Muslims. We had to queue for nearly an hour and half t get in and the security guard looked through my bag and thought the novel I was reading was a Bible....it's the RED TENT Catherine!  OK, the cover could be seen as being a bit religious but no crosses or Chrstian literature is allowed onto the site.  They were really strict.   This is such a highly contentious religious site. The reason why Jews and Muslims fight so much and why Muslims also want Jerusalme to be their Capital City of Palestine.  Anyway I finally got through..with the book still in my possession and yes, it was amazing even in the wind and the rain!!

My first view of the Dome of the Rock on Friday from the Ottoman Walls.

 Door way of the Al-Aqsa mosque.  The third most holy in the world to Muslims.  Non Muslims were not allowed in.

 The Dome of the Rock.

 Finally I see it up close.  Was amazing.

A rainbow over Jerusalem with a corner of the Holy Sepulchre Church in the corner.

Taken from the Tower of David.

The Dome of the Rock taken from the top of the tower of David.  I love these two!

I then went to the Garden Tomb but it was closed.  I'll try again tomorrow (Yes, I'm staying here for an extra day because I want to walk more in the Old City and also visit the Yad Vashem, Jewish Memorial Museum)

I then went to the Tower of David History Museum of Jerusalem.  It was BRILLIANT.  I went through 3000 years of history in different rooms with an audio guide and I loved it.  This experience bought everything together and they had recreated holograms from historical evidence of the second temple (They don't have much historical evidence that this was the site of David's city at all and the first temple was raised out of all existence apart from some blackened rocks)  .   Anyway here's the hologram.

Now this land is occupied by the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosques.  The mosque used to be the stables for Solomon's horses.

I won't bore you with anymore of Jerusalem's history but the view I got from the tower was perfect.  I was lucky enough to see a rainbow! I don't think there are many of them over Jerusalem because it doesn't rain much!

I've then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Old City.  I've drunk tamarind juice, eaten date rolls with Poppy seeds ,  had a coffee and Pitta in the Muslim section and got very wet!  But I do have an umbrella this time!

I've also spent the last hour chatting to a guy whilst he's helped me upload my pictures onto disc.  I have over 400 of them now and need them off my camera, just incase I lose my camera or it breaks!   All done now.   I'm going to head back to the hostel after I've added a few favourite pictures to previous posts.   Bye