Day 10
After  a  terrible  night's  sleep, I  was up early and  wrote the previous  day's  blog.  I'm  glad  I  did  because  after a day like  today  I'd  be  hard  pressed  to  remember  much.  Even with waking  up  early, I had a terrible  time  keeping  myself  together and almost  missed  breakfast.  Two hard cooked eggs later, I was ready to go.

We started off our morning at the Israeli Holocaust  Museum, Yad  Vashem.  It was  overwhelming  from the first video right to the last room.  I kept thinking  that one of my Swartz ancestors  could  have  participated.  It's   creamy and freaky,.

From there we went to Dimes Flavout, a church on the Mount of Olives.  This is a pretty church, built  by Bartilucci, is shaped in the former of a tear drop.in it's earlier days rain would be collected from the room in clay jars.

We exited, had  a  vendor  selling scarves, prayer shawls, and hats.  Down   the street  we went  to take a look at the view, admire some Graves and the panoramic  view and then off to the Garden  of  Gethsemane.  There are 8 trees in this tiny garden that were  alive when  Jesus  was.  Who knows? Jesus my very well have prayed there!

The Church  of  the  Nations, built during the 1920's was supported  by  20 countries and majorly supported by 12 is next to the Garden of Gethsemane.  Thought to be one of Bartilucci's  best architectural  feats, the church is gorgeous!  Purple  alabaster  windows and a star - filled  ceiling  make 7th feel like the night of Jesus' betrayal, even on sunny days.  3 apses  portray the  scenes and the stone where Jesus knelt to pray is under the central altar.  A Holy place to be sure.  All Christian  religions agree that this is the spot!

Lunch today was Upside  Down at  a local Palestinian restaurant.  Upside  Down is what a lot of people eat and it is chicken leg  quarters and the  most amazing rice!  Our tables were filled with  all kinds of salads, and we finished  with a tangerine.  Yum, yum.

We then went to LA headquarters  and Augusta  Victoria  Hospital  and met with David Miller, the director.  It was a very  quick  visit to this site, bur now I have  a real  experience to go with my passion  for Healthcare  for the least of these.  This hospital  treats Palestinians and is specializing in cancer, renal, ENT, and preventative  medicine  with all female mobile mammography  vans.

We then went to the Church of the Ascension which is a Church within a church.  Open air to remember  Jesus going into heaven, and the fooreprint of Jesus is now inside a tiny chapel.  Interesting  spot - loved the open air idea  of  a  church  except when it rains!  Like it's  been  doing  today and tomorrow's predicted  to  be  the  same.  Yippie, the Via Dolorosa  in the rain...

Back to the Mount of Olives to Saint  Peter Gallocantu  church the place  of Peter's denial of Jesus, the High Priest's house and the site where people remember  Jesus' trial, torture, and scourging  before he walks to Calvary.
This was the place that 20 experienced the  biggest crowds to date.  People of all nationalities  were here to remember  and to experience  the final hours of Jesus' life.  The hole in the ground where they retained Jesus was a powerful reminder that his trial took hours and there were times when he would have suffered alone.  Kaliel explained that after his beating they would have poured sour vinegar on him to intensify  the pain he easy experiencing and his connection  to  what is done  to the  Passover  lamb was powerful and poignant.  Jesus  become  the  Passover  lamb for the world.

From  there  we  went  to  the  place of the Last Supper and David's Tomb.  Since Jerusalem has been built  and destroy ed 47 times, almost nothing is from the time of Jesus, including  this site which is now operated by the Israeli Department  of  Religion.  It has been a chapel, a mosque, and now is a large room with traces of a long history!  A column is here that  depicts a mother  pelican feeding her children  from her breast which is a symbol of Jesus dying  to save the  world.  And the writing is Arabic as is a window showing the Mosque time as well.  Right underneath is the space where people remember the death and burial of King David.  It was closed for the Sabbath, abut I found it fascinating  to see a lace where the three major  religions  of the area were all at the same spot.