Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Israel

Monday 4^th, February

Happy Birthday, Mum!

By the way, I don’t have a camera with me at present. So sorry for the lack of pictures.

I got up this morning and headed off to Bethlehem. This is the birthplace of Jesus Christ. It is also part of the West Bank. The current policy on maintaining peace between Palestine and Israel involves big walls. And checkpoints. And soldiers. I took a sheroot to the border. The wall was a mountain. A concrete glacier ripping through the landscape. It was an eyesore aesthetically. I couldn’t begin to imagine how it must make the local people feel. I went to enter the West Bank – this is the annexed West Bank from Jordan - then I found, to my fury, I had lost the piece of paper with my entry stamp on. Nothing I could say would convince the soldiers on duty to let me through. I had to return to Jerusalem, gutted.

I decided to spend the rest of the day positively. Jerusalem was a big city and there was still much to see. I visited Zion gate and the tomb of David. I saw the room where the last supper was supposed to have taken place. I walked down to the ancient City of David along the old city wall. On the way I bumped into one of the Dutch girls I was chatting to the night before. She is doing voluntary work with Palestinians in the West Bank. She told me of an alternate route that I could take to get into the West Bank. There was still hope for tomorrow.

I visited the City of David. Far, far, below modern Jerusalem. I took a underground tour of what was once the pride of Judeah. It is amazing to see how much has been heaped upon the original settlement. The old waterway, dug from the Tower of David down to here still exists. I wanted to explore the tunnel running under the city but I didn’t have my swimming gear with me. It was a nice hour spent though.

I finished my day with a walk up to the Mount of Olives. I got to the Garden of Gethsemane with plenty of sunlight to spare. This was the place where Jesus was supposed to have been betrayed. It was amazing. I was actually walking in the places where Christianity’s history was written. The Mount of Olives has a very special significance to Jewish people. Everyone that is buried here is supposed to be resurrected on the Day of Judgement. There are over 150,000 graves here. And yes there are a number of notable Jews buried here. The Romans had a legion posted here. In modern day times, during the Arab-Israeli war a number of graves were defaced. Indeed the tombstones were used as latrines. L

I walked up past a number of churches and stopped off at one. I finally reached the summit, where Jesus was believed to give his sermons, and watched the sun go down over, what I believe, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It’s a shame a bunch of French tourists turned up with a film crew and ruined the end of it. Still, the sunset was gorgeous.

I got back to the hostel and then went out and Skyped my mum to wish her a happy birthday.

I was in two minds about staying in Israel now. I was more than worried about my exit visa given I had lost my stamp on my piece of paper – my flight to India was booked for two days time in Amman.

I met an American guy, who invited me watch the Superbowl final in a pub. It was at 6am the next morning. I politely explained that, even if I was ten years younger and it was the world cup final of 1966, I would not stay up until 6am to watch a sport’s program. I chilled out, read my book and went to sleep.