Kotel Wall, and other adventures . . . .

So, I know.  I am home from Jerusalem now.  So why am I blogging.  But the secret is . . . . this blog was really meant to be a way to remember Jerusalem for me and my life, so during these weeks where I have not much to do because I am waiting to go on a mission, I am going to finish what I started.   I am going to tell the rest of the story of Jerusalem.  Because about the time I stopped blogging, Jerusalem started to really change me.  It also got crazy busy and the time I wasn't on some field trip or in the city was spent with my new best friends because by this point we really were like a giant family that ate together, went to class together, laughed together, played Rook together, went exploring in the city together, etc.

So this is the rest of the Jerusalem story, told in probably the next couple posts.

THE KINNESET

We went and visited the government building of Israel.  The things I remember about it was that we had a British Jew tour guide.  He was cool.  Also, half of the Jeru Center group stopped to take a picture or something and got lost.  So we are sitting in one of the committee rooms and our tour guide has been talking for 5 minutes, and then like 6 people walk in (all from the Jeru center).  We all kind of laughed and the tour guide said something to the effect of "Did you lose your way?".  Of course it was Jeru kids.
The other thing I remember is that I got a seat not at the table where the important official people sat, and about half way through, Ben Lenhart got out of his seat and offered to switch me so that I could sit in the important people chairs and I was really impressed by him.  It was so considerate of him.
Also there was this crazy artwork by Chagall.  Very abstract.  I am not sure what the messages were supposed to mean, but there were three panels.  One representing the past of Israel (Bible), and one representing the present, and one representing the future.

Our British Jewish Tour Guide

 The main assembly hall of the Kinnesset is shaped like a menorah.

 The Jewish Declaration of Independence (from the 1950's--they are a super new country)

Me and Ben on the outside of the Kinnesset.

UNDERNEATH THE WESTERN WALL

We went on a tour underneath the western wall.  I remember that the tour guide kept on asking questions and we knew every single answer.  Every date, every location, everything about the geography, history, you name it of Jerusalem.  This was one of the moments when I remembered how much I had learned in Jerusalem.  Also, seeing the ancient stones that supported the temple and knowing that Jesus really did walk here, above these stones made me want to touch each and every one of them.  I felt the spirit as I realized that I was in a place so close historically to Christ's Jerusalem.  

 The stone is ginormous.  It weighs 500 tons.  Nobody knows how they got this here, but this is one of the foundation stones of the ancient temples.

 The closest spot to the Holy of Holies on the Western Wall.

An ancient mikvah (ritual bath).  And of course we touched it.  Thank you Dr. Seely.

OTHER RANDOM PICS

 In the quarry where they got the bricks for the Temple on the temple mount. It is called Zedekiah's caves.

This is in the artists colony in West J.  We kind of stumbled upon it.  Isn't it gorgeous! I tried to find it later with a group of friends but we never could find it again.  So it is like my little secret garden that I found with Jordan and Valerie and Ben and Jake.