Jerusalem

I've been sat in front of my computer for give or take a day now, trying to figure out how to talk about my experience in Jerusalem this past weekend.  I spent four days exploring it -- half on my own, half with NYU -- and I still can't quite find the words to describe it.  It's such a city of contradictions and was both super enjoyable and super thought provoking at the same time.

I arrived in Jerusalem on Friday, and stayed with my mom's friend Susan Friday and Saturday night (shoutout to Susan, she was amazing and wonderful and I can't thank her enough for letting me stay with her) at St. George's College in Jerusalem, about a five-ten minute walk from Herod's Gate.  I got there around lunchtime on Friday, so I dropped my stuff off at the college and went out to grab some lunch and then wander a little.  I had some delicious schnitzel with fries and olives at a restaurant next to where I was staying and then walked over to Damascus Gate.

Pretty impressive, no?  I wandered for a bit in the Old City from Damascus Gate (and may have gotten a little bit lost) before going back to the college to meet Susan.  We chatted for a bit, got some dinner, and I headed to bed early, to get ready for a big day on Saturday.

Saturday morning, Susan took me on a mini tour around the Old City to get me oriented, which was extremely nice of her.  We walked around the walls and entered at Lion's Gate, the entrance that's close to the Mount of Olives.  We visited the Church of St. Anne, devoted to Mary's mother and a monastery.  The church was beautiful, and felt very peaceful in a very hectic city.

Classic old ruins

Arabic writing on a Christian church

The courtyard outside the church

After visiting the church, we walked up through the Old City and back out through Herod's Gate, where Susan left me to go do some work.  I set out on my own and trekked up to Jaffa Gate, the entrance on the opposite side of Lion's Gate, and the closest entrance to West Jerusalem.

The entrance at Jaffa Gate

Arriving at Jaffa Gate, I decided to go and visit the Tower of David, which has been turned into a museum telling the history of Jerusalem.  I figured it was a good place to start.  It was an awesome museum -- chock full of history and beautiful ruins and amazing views.  I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Jerusalem.

Then, I grabbed lunch -- some kind of pastry shell stuffed with cheese and tomato, kind of like a calzone.  I spent some time sitting in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, taking everything in -- I have some thoughts on it that I formulated more the next day (don't worry, I promise those thoughts are discussed, keep reading).  I wandered back down through the Old City to Lion's Gate, where I exited and headed to the base of the Mount of Olives.  I spent some time at the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of the Agony, both of which were very beautiful.  I sat next to the garden for a while and read some of the Bible.  It was quite a moving experience.  Then I visited the Tomb of Mary, also near the Garden of Gethsemane, before heading back up to St. George's College for some down time and dinner.

The Garden of Gethsemane

On Sunday, I woke up early to meet up with the rest of NYU Tel Aviv at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.  There are no words for those three hours -- it was heart-wrenching and I highly recommend everyone go, but I can't describe what the museum was like.  I know words will not do it justice.

After lunch, we headed in to explore the Old City.  It was definitely different from my explorations -- I wandered and didn't quite know what I was doing, whereas with NYU we were getting historical and religious perspectives throughout the whole trip.  First, we went to King David's Tomb, right outside Jerusalem.  The tomb was split in half -- one side for women, one side for men.  It was a very strange and cool experience to see people praying over this coffin split in half.  After exiting the tomb, we headed upstairs to the room where the Last Supper is believed to have taken place.  The room itself was empty (except for many people, of course), but there was beautiful Arabic stained glass as well as intricately designed columns.

King David's tomb

Two birds eating the heart of the middle bird -- according to our guide, meant to represent Jesus sacrificing himself for us

After seeing King David's Tomb, we headed through Zion Gate and into the Armenian quarter of the Old City.  We wandered through a market into the Jewish quarter, where we caught some more amazing views of the city and where we visited the Western/Wailing Wall, another very moving experience.  The whole city is so chock full of religion, it seems like everything you do is bound to touch you in one way or another.

Zion Gate -- covered in bullet holes

A tiled map of the city

One of the calmer markets

The Western/Wailing Wall

Look, it's me!

Following our visit to the Western/Wailing Wall, we headed through the markets to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where again I got more of a historical perspective than when I went by myself.  Being inside the Church is a singular experience -- while it's extremely emotional for me for religious reasons, it also makes me immensely sad.  People couldn't agree on anything to do with the Church, so it's divided up into different sections and two Muslim families hold the keys, because none of the Christian sects can get along.  It's so divisive that there's a ladder that's been on the outside of the Church for decades because no one can agree on if they should remove it!  The amount of division in a place supposedly devoted to God's love is very sad, to me.

Another market

The ladder that no one can agree on

Following the visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we were given some free time to wander the markets before heading back to our hostel for dinner and sleep.  I bought a little olive wood manger scene, which I adore, and then met everyone back at Jaffa Gate to get onto our bus.  It was an extremely full, tiring day, so we all basically collapsed at the hostel before dinner -- well, showered and then collapsed.  None of us smelled particularly great.

The next morning was the start of my last day in Jerusalem (for that trip, at least).  We spent the morning on a tour with Ir Amim, a group that takes people on tours of East Jerusalem to highlight the story of the Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank.  The most poignant part of that tour, for me, was when we visited Rachel's Tomb, right next to Bethlehem.  The road leading to the tomb is lined by huge walls topped with barbed wire on either side.  On the right side of the wall is a Palestinian refugee camp, and on the left side is the city of Bethlehem, with Rachel's Tomb sandwiched between them.  Again, I cannot fully describe my feelings about it, partially because I don't think I've fully processed it, but it was a singular experience that I don't think exists anywhere else in the world (though I could very well be wrong).

The Ir Amim tour ended up going partially into the afternoon, because our NYU faculty wanted to have a discussion with us about everything we'd seen, so we ended up eating lunch at 3 PM.  They made up for the late time by the deliciousness of the food, though -- I had the thing I had in my first week that was kind of a bread pastry shell thing stuffed with meat, and I really need to get someone to tell me what it's called because I want to eat it constantly.  After lunch, we ended our trip with some free time in the shuk -- the market -- where I bought myself some delicious smelling loose leaf tea (a Bedouin mix and a cinnamon mix, if you were curious).  Then, we hopped back on our bus and slept the whole way home.

Jerusalem is an amazing city.  I barely scratched the surface of everything it has to offer, despite spending a very full four days there.  I know I'll be heading back sometime soon, though, to try and figure out all of the feelings I have about it.

Also, shana tova!  It's Rosh Hashanah here, meaning a new year with new beginnings.  Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Until next time -- Wednesday, let's say.  I'll try and get back on a reliable schedule.

Katrina