2019 Trip to the Holy Land

Monday, 16 November 2020

Final Summary of Trip

November 16, 2020

Hello...

Minor corrections to the text of the version cited below, and changes to the brightness and contrast of the photographs to improve the quality of the printed copy, have been made to the trip book. The final version may be access at this link as a 237 page PDF file.

Bill

September 8, 2020

Hello...

I have taken the trip blog and extensively modified it with the addition of more pictures, maps, hyperlinks to additional online information, and text. It now comprises 236 pages.

The resulting digital scrapbook has been assembled into a large single PDF file that can be downloaded at this link.

Individual files for each day of the trip, as well as an index and cover for the scrapbook are listed below. These files may be accessed in a Google Drive folder at this link. Individual links to these files are embedded in the file names below.

0HolyLandTrip_2019_Nov.pdf (all individual PDF files integrated into a single file)

Day14_TripLocations.pdf

Day15_PhotosOfPilgrims.pdf

Thursday, 20 February 2020

PDF Files Of Trip Blog

The blog was transferred to Microsoft Word and then individual PDF files were created for each day of the trip. Day13Nov26.pdf is the last day of the blog, and so on. The link to the Google drive folder with these PDF files is here. The PDF files are available as single files for the cover and for each day. A single large PDF file (link is here), combining all the individual files together is also available for download in the Google drive folder.

I am still working on the files. For example, I plan to slowly add maps at the end of each day showing where we were during the day.

Bill - February 20, 2020.

Tuesday, 26 November 2019

November 26th - Return

This will be my last log entry for our trip to the Holy Land.

Our day began early - book ended between packing everything the night before and getting up early to make the last minute additions to the bags - with bags out of the room at 6:00 am, followed by breakfast and then loading at 6:30 am. We were all ready on our way shortly thereafter.

The traffic in Jerusalem at that hour of the morning was light and quickly made our way out of the city. Etty, our guide, pointed out the Chords Bridge, also called the Bridge of Strings, as we left the city.

The Chords Bridge, or Bridge of Strings in Jerusalem

On our way to Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, we passed the Palestinian capital of Ramallah, in the West Bank, that was off in the distance behind a barbed wire fence. The security barrier was very evident along both sides of the the road for much of our trip. At one point we passed through a security barrier on the highway itself, and the tour bus was required to briefly stop to answer questions from security personnel.

View of the security fence from the highway.

Security Gates near the town of Maccabim on Highway 443

The fence and the security gates were reminders of the tenuous peace in Israel and on the West Bank.

As we continued to roll on towards the airport we saw the large modern highways in Israel as well as the high speed train line between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

One of the highways we passed on our way to the airport.

When we got to the airport, we retrieved our luggage and went through the airline and airport security. We boarded a Boeing 777 airplane for our trip to Toronto. It wasn't quite as nice as the much newer Boeing 787 Dreamliner we had arrived in, but still very nice.

We left Tel Aviv at 11:00 am and arrived in Toronto about 3:30 pm local time, 11-1/2 hours later. There we retrieved our bags and went through customs. After doing so, we said our goodbyes to some from the group who were staying in Toronto or flying elsewhere. After a wait of a few more hours, we caught our hour long flight from Ottawa to Toronto arriving in Ottawa about 8:15 p.m.

Overall it was a wonderful trip for us.

Monday, 25 November 2019

November 25th

Today is our last day touring in Israel. Tomorrow, we catch our El Al flight back to Toronto. The group then disperses to their homes that range between Halifax, Toronto, and Ottawa.

Today we left our hotel at 8 am to travel to Yad Vashem, the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Our guide Etty gave us a general history of the Holocaust and the almost 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis along the "Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations". These are the Gentiles who risked their lives and the lives of their families to rescue Jews. One famous example located where we were standing was Oscar Schindler.

Tree planted in honor of Oscar and Emilie Schindler who were responsible for saving 1200 Jews during the Holocaust.

We also went to see the memorial to the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered during the Holocaust. Walking through the memorial, names of individual children who perished were announced. During the time I was there we heard names of children from Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Belarus. Photographs of children murdered were also displayed along with displays showing identity cards, clothing with the Star of David on it.

Following this, we entered the large triangular shaped building which held the bulk of the exhibits at Had Vashem. It would have been possible to have stayed there the whole day looking at the descriptions for the exhibits, the photographs, and the videos of footage taken during the Nazi war on the Jews, as well as interviews with survivors. It went into a detailed examination of the period before the Nazis came to power all the way to the settlement of the survivors in Israel following the war. It chronicled the ill-fated voyage of the German liner, the St. Louis in May 1939 where several countries, including Canada and the U.S., rejected admitting the German Jewish refugees to their countries. Perhaps the most touching was reading the personal stories of people, like us, who were systematically wiped out by the Nazis. It also led to the question, "Would I have done anything to speak out against the lies, the hatred, and the violence against the Jews?" if I had been a German at the time, or a Canadian government official faced with the Jewish refugees on board the St. Louis?

A view of Yad Veshem

Unfortunately, we only had a little more than 90 minutes at the complex. Many of us, or perhaps all of us, could have spent all day at the museum.

Next we traveled through Abu Gosh (an Arab-Israeli town that is home of world famous humus) to Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant Church (the title in French is Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Arche-d'Alliance) which sits on a hill overlooking most of the town. Fr. John celebrated Mass outdoors overlooking the valley that Abu Gosh sits in.


Fr. John celebrating Mass in the shadow of the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant

Following Mass we view the inside of the actual church. It is the site of the Kyriat Yarim in which the Ark of Covenant resided 20 to 80 years between the period the Philistines returned the ark to Israel and when David retrieved the Ark to bring it to Jerusalem. The church inside was very plain and had little decoration on the walls. The ceiling was a different matter.

View from the floor of the church towards the central ceiling vault.

Have you heard rumors that Elvis still alive? Well, maybe he is and maybe he isn't, but they're certainly keeping the memory of him alive at The Elvis Inn, at Neve Ilan, just a few minutes from Abu Gosh. They serve American-style hamburgers and have a large restaurant all decked out in Elvis memorabilia, and a gift shop selling everything Elvis. We stopped there for lunch and enjoyed the more spacious feel to the restaurant where room wasn't quite as much at a premium as some of the restaurants we visited in more crowded urban areas earlier in our pilgrimage.

The Elvis Diner in Neve Ilan

Elvis may be dead, but his memory is alive in this diner.

Yep, Heinz Ketchup for our fries.

Following our lunch we drove back into Jerusalem and stopped for our last shopping outing at Mamilla Mall just outside the Jaffa Gate, running perpendicular to the Old City wall. It had a wide assortment name of famous brand names. It had some of the feel of the market streets in the Old City but with a much more modern flair and a lot more room.

Mamilla Mall outside the wall of the Old City of Jerusalem

Man wearing Orthodox Jewish garb playing a mean version of Hotel California in Hebrew.

Since tourism is an important industry in Israel, this mall has a cavernous street level area for tour bus parking beneath the stores overhead. It's certainly one way of getting tourists in for a visit.

Picture of the bus parking area beneath Mamilla Mall, Jerusalem

This is our last night in Jerusalem and I must close to put things away and pack.

Good night from Jerusalem.

Sunday, 24 November 2019

November 24th

It was another early day for our pilgrims as we were on the bus and on our way to our first destination of the day. The Western Wall (link01, link02 provide more detailed descriptions), frequently called the Wailing Wall by non-Jews, is the exposed western wall of Temple Mount. We entered the Old City through the Dung Gate which opens into the entrance to the Western Wall. The area is heavily policed due to tensions between the Jews and the Muslims, but also due to tensions within the various Jewish denominations ranging from the ultra-orthodox to conservative to reformed Jews, as well as other groups Temple Mount as built up by King Herod the Great, served as the plaza in which the Jewish Temple was located. In 70 CE, the Temple was destroyed. After the Crusaders were defeated, the Muslims built the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount. For the Jews, the Western Wall represents the closest they can get to the site of the Temple. The ancient and recent history of the wall as explained by our knowledgeable guide was both fascinating and captivating. Jews and non-Jews have been allowed to worship at the Western Wall since the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War when the Israel took over East Jerusalem.

Panorama view of the western wall looking on from the men's side. The women's side is on the other side of the barrier on the right.

Worship at the Western Wall is separated by a barrier into two sections for men and women. Men must have their heads covered by either a hat or the Jewish kippah (yarmulke). For those without a hat, kippah's are available for loan. We were allowed to stand and pray at the wall and put our prayers, written on slips of paper, into a crack in the wall.

A bomb disposal flask - an indicator of the risks as well as the security at the Western Wall. This type of unit was situated in other locations in the Old City.

After this we went into the Western Wall Tunnels (2nd link) that have been excavated beneath the Western Wall. These underground tunnels extend about 300 m to the end of the original wall (488 m long in total) and beyond as opposed to the 70 m of wall exposed above ground. There were many interesting things to note such as one huge stone that was exposed that is 13.6 m long, 3 m high, and an estimated width between 3.5 and 4.5 m having a weight of 520 tonnes.

Some of our pilgrims stretched out the almost 14 m length of the huge stone located in the tunnel.

A street that would have been below the Temple Mount before the destruction of the Temple, and therefore a location Jesus and his disciples would have walked, was displayed in the tunnels. A long length of the tunnel along the wall was very narrow making getting around other people headed in the opposite direction somewhat awkward and involved a lot of "Excuse me, excuse me". With a smile on both people passing each other it wasn't too difficult. At the end the tunnel opened up into an ancient aqueduct and cistern.

Ancient cistern near at the end of the Western Wall Tunnels.

Emerging from the tunnels we went back along an excavated area running along the corner of the west and south wall of the Temple Mount walls. It had been excavated to the depth where you could see the level that the plaza beneath the west wall of the Temple Mount would have been before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. There was also the staircase on the south wall that would have been used by Jesus and his disciples to go to the Temple.

The stairs that would have been used to ascend to the Temple Mount before the Temple's destruction in 70 CE.

Following this we entered the Jewish quarter. This area, dating back to the Ottomans, was largely destroyed after the War of Independence in 1948, but has since been reconstructed to what it would have looked like before 1948. It's a very trendy area now in the Old City and has a mixture of commercial shops, and displays of archaeological excavations.

Display of artwork for sale in the Jewish quarter in the Old City.

While we were there, we went to the Burnt House Museum. This home of one of the priests of the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. In addition to the excavation showing the foundations of the home, and artifacts recovered from the dig (like a Roman spear tip and the severed arm of a young woman), there was a very interesting 20 minute multimedia presentation discussing the various facets of the rebellion against the Romans, the Jewish politics involved in the revolt at the time.

Some of the artifacts on display at the Burnt House Museum

After shopping in the Arab and Christian quarters, we got back on the tour bus to Ein Karem, Jerusalem, to visit the Church of St. John the Baptist, the site where John the Baptist was born (see Luke 1:57-80). There we looked at the interior of the church which was under renovations and then Fr. John celebrated Mass in the grotto beneath the church.

Mass in the grotto beneath the Church of John the Baptist

Following this, we walked to the Visitation Church, the site where Mary came to see her cousin Elizabeth who was pregnant with John. It was where Mary recited the Magnificat after seeing Elizabeth (see Luke 1:39-56).

Fresco at the Visitation Church Grotto, Mary greeting Elizabeth.

Following all this - there was a lot of walking - we returned to the hotel at about 4:30.

Well, there's one more day of our pilgrimage. Until then, good night from Jerusalem.

Saturday, 23 November 2019

November 23rd

Today we were off on the bus at 7:45 am after breakfast at the hotel. Our hotel, the Prima Royale Hotel has a fantastic spread of foods for breakfast ranging from what we would consider conventional for breakfast to middle eastern. I've taken a liking to to halva, a sesame paste candy. You would be hard pressed to leave hungry after visiting their breakfast dining room.

Our first stop today was at the Mount of Olives, also known as Mount Zion There we saw the Chapel of the Ascension, a Muslim holy site that is open to Christians, where Christ ascended into heaven. In the Muslim faith, Jesus is regarded as a great prophet. The complex began as a Christian church in the 4th century, rebuilt in the 7th century, destroyed by the Muslims, reconstructed in the 12th century by the Crusaders, and then destroyed after the Muslim's conquest of Jerusalem in 1187. It was rebuilt as a mosque and then opened to permit Christians to visit, as they are today. In the walled enclosure around the chapel, there are three altars - Coptic, Armenian, and Syrian.

The Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives

Then we walked over to the Church of the Pater Nostre that is built over the cave where tradition says Jesus taught the Our Father, or Pater Noster in Latin. On the walls surrounding the church are dozens of the Our Father prayer in a multitude of languages including Cree. We visited a grotto underneath the church where the cave is located.

The road that goes by this and other holy sites on the Mount of Olives was full of travel buses resulting in heavy traffic. The road was not sized to handle the number of buses resulting in buses stopping briefly to let pilgrims out and tempers fraying and horns blaring from the drivers of the local vehicles using the road.

The road overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem. You could clearly see Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock, Beneath the road was a large Jewish cemetery and across the valley was the large Muslim cemetery just outside the eastern wall of the Old City. Our group lingered several minutes to see the vista and take pictures.

View from the west of the Eastern Wall of the Old City

Walking we passed by the tomb of Absolom (at least that's what the sign on the wall said), David's son that rebelled against him. Next we briefly stopped at a burial site from the first to fourth centuries CE with Judeo-Christian ossuaries (stone boxes containing the bones of a person which were collected from a temporary grave after a period of time to allow the flesh to decay away) of the first and second centuries. From the sidewalk, the building over the burial site had a semicircular arch with a grating that allowed us to see twenty or more ossuaries in the excavation.

We then walked a short distance to the Dominus Flevit (translated "the Lord wept") Chruch - the place where Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem was overwhelmed and wept prophesying the destruction of the Temple (Luke 19:37-42) on Palm Sunday. The church dates back at least to the 7th century, CE and has a mosaic floor from this Byzantine era. The modern church, built during the 1950's was designed by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi, who designed a number of churches in the Holy Land between the 1920s and 1950s (many of which we have seen). The design of the dome was built to resemble a tear but I personally couldn't associate the shape with a teardrop.

Next was the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed with his disciples before he was arrested and taken to see the High Priest. The olive trees in the garden are very old and said to date back to the time of Jesus. They are very gnarled and have hollow cores. Our guide noted that when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 CE, they cut down all the olive trees in and around Jerusalem. A more thorough discuss of the pedigree of these olive trees is found in the previous hyperlink.

Adjacent to the Garden was the Church of All Nations, or the Church of the Agony, Dating back to the fourth century CE, it enshrines a rock where Jesus prayed before his arrest in the Garden. The current church was built in the early 1920s (and designed by Barluzzi) with funds from twelve nations (hence its name) and features brilliant mosaics in the ceiling domes and in the apses (or niches at the front and side of the church).

View to the front of the Church of the Nations

One of the domes in the church ceiling

Windows along one side of the Church of the Nations

Mosaic over the entrance to the Church of All Nations

We then boarded the tour bus to take us to the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu (meaning cocks crow), where Peter denied Jesus 3 times in the house of the High Priest Caiaphas. This church, on Mount Zion, dates back to the fifth century CE and went through the destruction/rebuilt cycle of many of the ancient Christian churches in the Holy Land. This beautiful church features a number of beautiful art works. We were fortunate to be able to celebrate Mass in the lower chapel which features a hole that it is said that Christ was lowered through into the dungeon below.

Main altar of the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu

Cross in the ceiling of the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu.

Fr. John celebrating Mass with our group of pilgrims

The Church of the Dormition, also on Mount Zion and also dating back to the fifth century CE, is believed to be the site where Mary was assumed into heaven after she died. The church's lower crypt has a carved horizontal wooden statue of Mary with a mosaic of Jesus with his arms outstretched and the women of the Old Testament in the dome above the statue.

Jesus (center) with Women of the Old Testament Surrounding Above the Horizontal Statue of Mary

Statue of Mary after her death before her assumption into heaven

Unfortunately, time is running late so I will have to be terse concerning our next visits.

Following the Church of the Dormition we bused over to the site of the Upper Room where the Last Supper was held, as well as the room where Jesus first made his appearance to the disciples, and later when Pentecost occurred. The link above describes the room as well as the problems with the politics of administering it for Christians and Muslims. "Above it [i.e. the upper room] is the minaret of a Muslim mosque; immediately beneath it is the Jewish shrine venerated as the Tomb of King David (though he is not buried there)."

Since the Tomb of David, as venerated by some Jews, was beneath the upper room, we briefly toured the site. The tomb area is divided into two areas - one for men and one for women. The men could wear a kippah (in Yiddish it's called a yarmulke) or skullcap. We were not allowed to take pictures.

Following this we went to a nearby Kibbutz that features a hotel and large cafeteria for a late lunch.

Entrance to the Kibbutz Ramat Rache hotel/cafeteria complex

View of the large cafeteria at the kibbutz

Following this, we dropped by the new United States Embassy in Jerusalem. Despite much controversy, the United States Government moved its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018. Only the U.S. and Guatamala have their embassies in Jerusalem. The security guard that met us when we clambered out of the tour bus indicated that no pictures were to be taken of the embassy as a whole, or any parts of it except for the great seal and the dedication, or the green apple sculpture sitting out in front of the embassy. When I started taking a picture of the signage (below), the guard quickly came up to me asking me to put the camera down. When I indicated I was only photographing the sign, he relented and allowed me to take the photograph. While the move to Jerusalem was widely criticized by the rest of the world, it did mean a lot to the state of Israel.

The great seal of the U.S. with dedication stone beneath it.

Following this we snapped some pictures of East Jerusalem across the valley from the embassy.

View of the Mount of Olives

View of the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene. Our group only glimpsed the gold onion shaped domes of the church through the trees from higher on the Mount of Olives.

Close-up view of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque

Left to right: Our tour organizer, Miki, Fr. John, our Israeli guide, Etty.

We ended our day at about 3 pm back at the hotel.

Bringing this to a close I wish you good night from Jerusalem.

Friday, 22 November 2019

November 22nd

Well, it was a very interesting day. Not in the way of the Chinese curse "interesting" (i.e. "May you live in interesting times.") but interesting in a nuanced yet raw manner.

The day started just before 6 am for Bill as he'd been primed the day before by visiting the rooftop balcony at the hotel the evening before, and Father John's statement that dawn over the city of Jerusalem from the balcony was something worthwhile to see. He was thwarted in an attempt to go on the rooftop as the entrance was locked. So, he was able to go to an eastern window on the floor below to look out at the skyline. Unfortunately, it was partly cloudy so dawn was obscured but it did make for some interesting hues in the pre-dawn sky.

The pre-dawn sky over Jerusalem. If you zoom in at the far left you'll see a lighted spire. This is the Lutheran church near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Dome of the Rock should be behind the large apartment building at the left.

We began our day relatively early getting on our tour bus at 7:45 am. We had a short drive (a little longer than the length of time to say a Rosary on the bus). On the way there we skirted the walls of the old city. Security in Jerusalem was evident with the noticeable presence of Israeli security forces around the walls. In this photograph you see the old walls of the city behind the date palms as well as the Israeli police vehicles in the foreground. Notice the heavy metal mesh over the front and rear windows of the vehicles.

The walls of old Jerusalem in the background against a foreground of Israeli police vehicles.

The Damascus Gate into the Old City.

The walls of the Old City were rebuilt when the Ottomans conquered Jerusalem. The area enclosed by the walls was smaller than the original Roman walls. The smaller size was chosen due to the Ottoman fear of another Crusade against Jerusalem. A smaller length of wall can be built faster and requires fewer resources. Here's a picture of some of the wall built on top of rock.

A section of the wall built on top of exposed rock.

We entered the Old City via the Lions' Gate, adjacent to the Muslim cemetery. An interesting sidelight is that the Golden Gate, that is sealed, is a little ways further south of the Lions' gate. The Muslim cemetery was built in front of the eastern wall and the Golden Gate to prevent "a false precursor to the Anointed One, Elijah, from passing through the gate." Some also believe it was to prevent Jesus Christ from entering through the gate at the end of time, since Jews don't cross Muslim cemeteries.

The Golden Gate (picture taken November 23rd)

Inside the Lions' Gate found much of the Muslim shops closed since today, Friday, is the Muslim day of worship during the week. We went first to Church of St. Anne which is administered by an order of priests known as the White Fathers (who incidentally where white robes), a missionary order to Africa. This Christian holy site is actually in the Muslim quarter due to French support of the Ottomans in the 19th century. The site is where St. Anne and St. Joaquin, parents of Mary the mother of Jesus, made their home. It is also the site of the pools of Bethesda where Jesus cured the lame man on the Sabbath.

The front of the Church of St. Anne

Next we embarked on the Stations of the Cross, or the Via Dolorosa (or sorrowful way in English). We began the Stations at the Church of the Condemnation, another church designed by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi. He designed a number of the churches that we've seen so far during our pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We proceeded through the old streets of Jerusalem lined by shops selling souvenirs, restaurants and the odd pharmacy to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There Fr. John celebrated Mass in a grotto that was a chapel for the Crusaders.

Fr. John celebrating Mass in a grotto beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre contains Golgatha, the location where Jesus was crucified, the Stone of the Annointing where Jesus' body was anointed before burial, the tomb of Jesus, and the tomb of Jesus. It also contains the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The link to the Wikipedia article on the church discusses the somewhat strained relationship between various Christian denominations - Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic, and to a lesser degree the Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox. Much more can be said about our experience but suffice it to say it was a long wait to see the tomb of Jesus, and a much lesser wait to see the site of Golgotha. It was a long day for all of us but we came to know more about the virtue of patience. Someone mentioned that it's too bad that some of the lessons Disney has learned about queuing people in lines could really be used here, as well as many other shrines in the Holy Land. As a group, we have gelled or bonded to the degree where were actively trying to make sure everyone in the group was present and accounted for, and kept together.

Waiting amongst the throng of pilgrims in a line (somewhat loosely applied) to see the tomb of Jesus. While we were waiting, we also saw the Tomb of Joseph of Arimethea that was adjacent to the line snaking around the tomb of Jesus.

The Aedicule ('small building') surrounding and enclosing the tomb of Jesus. We benefited from recent renovations to the Aedicule that removed an iron structure around the building that had been preventing its collapse.

The rear of the Aedicule (or small building) surrounding the tomb of Jesus.

Entrance to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea

Interior of the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea

Entrance to the tomb of Jesus.

We were not permitted to take pictures inside the tomb but you can see what the interior looks like from these two National Geographic links - link_one and link_two. The wait in line was about 3 hours but now that we've made the pilgrimage to this most sacred site, the wait was worth it.

Following this we went for lunch at a nearby restaurant that had a commanding view of the area in the vicinity of the Holy Sepulchre as well as the Dome of the Rock.

View of the Old City with the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the far left, the tower of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer to the left of centre, and the golden Dome of the Rock further in the background to the right of centre

We returned to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after lunch to view the site of Golgatha.

The site of Golgatha is seen just beyond the arch near the centre of the picture.

The myriad of lights suspended from the ceiling over the altar.

The altar above the site of the foot of the cross and the silver screen behind it.

Picture of Fr. John saying a brief prayer underneath the altar (from the opposite side).

A mosaic on the wall in the vicinity of Golgatha

Pilgrims venerating the Stone of Anointing, where Jesus' body was anointed before burial.

We returned to our bus via the Jaffa Gate and made it back to the hotel around 4 pm. It had been a long, but spiritually rewarding day. Why was it rewarding? For Bill, it was the sense that we were walking in the footsteps of Jesus but also in the footsteps of millions of pilgrims from long ago to the present. Going up and down the streets of the Old City also gave a slight glimmer of what it must have been like for Jesus to have carried his cross through Jerusalem. Finally, it also amply demonstrated that Jesus as the Good Shepherd is completely appropriate when viewing the faithful flocking to the Christian holy sites.

Well, goodnight from Jerusalem and one of those bleating sheep. God bless.