Dead Sea and Jerusalem Day 1

Today we went floating in the Dead Sea.  We didn't get any pictures because it was sandy and we didn't want to ask our fellow foreigners to take our picture.

View of the Dead Sea; it was very hazy ^^^

Grandma and Mom^^^

My Mom and I^^^

Me in front of it.  This picture shows how hazy it was^^^

The view to the right of it^^^

After the Dead Sea, we took about a 25-minute bus ride to the Jordan-Israel border.  We had to go through customs and all that jazz, and it took about 2 hours.  When we finally got through, our tour guide decided to take us to a part Old Jerusalem and the Garden Tomb today instead of tomorrow.  Old Jerusalem is the original walled city and the Garden Tomb is a tomb where they think Jesus might be buried.  

The Wailing Wall, which is part of the Jewish Quarter of Old Jerusalem, is where people come and write their prayers on a piece of paper and then stick it into the cracks of the wall.  It was divided between male and female, which I found kind of odd.  

After the Wailing Wall, we ventured into the Muslim Quarter of Old Jerusalem.  It was loud, scary, and I thought I was going to get lost.  Guys were going past on mopeds and bikes.  With it being so crowded,they had to weave in between everyone and our group almost got split up.  The mentality of everyone there was, "Get out of my way, because I'm not getting out of yours."

Along the way, their were Stations of the Cross. The Crusaders established it in 1099.  We saw the third, fourth, and fifth.  

The third station, where Jesus fell.  It said, "Catholic," so I deemed it as important.^^^

The fourth one,  where Jesus met his mother.^^^

The fifth one, where Simon helped Jesus.

The Damascus gate.  The eight gates are named for which main city they face toward.

After Old Jerusalem, we went to the Garden Tomb.  The first reason they think it is where Jesus is buried is because of the rock formation nearby.  It used to actually represent a skull (remember Jesus was crucified on Golgotha, or the Place of the Skull), but now it has eroded.

The rock formation now ^^^

The rock formation 100 years ago ^^^

The tomb^^^

The inside.  The tomb held three or four people and where we stood was called the mourning room (which is pretty self-explanatory.

Cool sign on the door^^^

Picture of my mom and I in front of the tomb.  Sorry for the blurriness of the photo, it gets dark at around 5 and the iPad mini has no flash.

Tomorrow we are going to two other stations and going to Masada, which is where the Jews decided to stay and be killed, rather than submit to the Roman power.

-Meghan