The Birthplace of 3 crazy religions

Trip Start May 11, 2005
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Sunday, October 1, 2006

Ok, I wrote this entry way before but then it got erased! FrickinDamurnBtichgooglymooly! Here it goes again!
Jeruselem, by the way I'm so far behind in the travelpod that spelling mistakes are even less of a concern than before!
Jeruselem, what a place! This city is holy to 3 of the worlds insane religions.... 1. Crazy Christian...2. Mad Muslims...3... Just got bombed Jews. There are so many religious and historical sites in this city that every corner you turn - some holy figure has picked his nose in this spot. This entry could take forever but I'm way too lazy to write down everything I saw and I know most people just look at the pictures!
The main Christian sites are centered around Jesus. The Via Delarosa is very popular for Christians because it shows the 9 stations of the cross. a) Spices in Hebrew
a) Spices in Hebrew
 You can literally walk the same path Jesus did from Pilot's sentencing to carrying the cross, to where he stumbles to Galgotha to his tomb. There are Christians all over this path which oddly enough goes mainly through the Muslim quarter of Jerusulem. Christians are normally in big tour groups, singing songs, carrying little wooden crosses and generally being weird. The Church of the Holy Schepter encompasses the spot where Jesus was crucified and then taken down and buried. Apparently he was buried like 10 meters from where he was crucified. There are so many types of Christians in this church and they all are wearing their funny denominational clothes. The church has the rock slab that Jesus' body was embalmed on, and everyone kisses it and puts oil on it and then rubs against it for healing powers. One lady I swear was making out with it. Whatever floats your boat! I put a wart on my finger against it and its getting smaller! GO JESUS!
Let's see...other religious sites I saw (which you Bible thumpers will recognize): Mt Zion(not really a mountain); Mount of Olives (a small hill, but it does have olives on it): Chapel of Christs' Ascension (Jeuse rose to heaven here); Tomb of the Virgin Mary; King David's Tomb (there's speculation that he's really buried here); the gate where Stephen was stoned (not the good kind); Garden of Gesthmine; Last Supper site and so on so forth. Those were the highlights of Christian sites.

The Dome of the Rock is Islam's 3rd most holy site after the place where Mohammad was born and Mecca. The Dome of the Rock is supposedly the place where Abraham was to have tried to sacrifice Ishmeal. Jews and Christians believe it was Issac. We were super lucky to get in to see it because it was Ramadan and they were only open for 2 hours a day in the morning aa) Store in Jeruselem
aa) Store in Jeruselem
 .
For Jews there are a million holy sites too but the main one is the Wailing Wall. It got its name for the Jews that would come to the wall and wail about their temple's destruction. The wailing wall is suppose to be a part of this temple (in one of its rebuilt forms). Jews see this wall as a direct line to God. They stuff prayers in the cracks and this is suppose to be the most urgent way for God to receive their prayers. There are so many prayers stuffed into the cracks that they take them all out and bury them with a bulldozer in a certain spot (according to Jewish law or something to that effect). There is even a service for the most urgent prayers that lets you fax your prayer into the wall and then runners go stuff your prayer into the cracks of the wall. The Wall is surrounded by Hecitic Jews (long side burns, dress like a penguins). They all are reading from the Torah and bobbing their heads to the beat of crazy - very interesting.
Jerusalem also has a very good night life with a happening bar scene (outside the old city where the holy sites are located). We went out for a night on the town and met a lot nice people. Just in case your wondering it's totally safe. So for all you religious people there is no reason not to come. I loved it and if I have time I will probably go back!

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b) Kippahs in Hebrew/ Yarmulkes in Yiddish b) Kippahs in Hebrew/ Yarmulkes in Yiddish bb) Dave was a god here bb) Dave was a god here c) Hasidic Jew Ben c) Hasidic Jew Ben cc) Aqua ducts under Jeruselem cc) Aqua ducts under Jeruselem
d) The dome of the rock d) The dome of the rock dd) Aqua ducts under Jeruselem dd) Aqua ducts under Jeruselem e) David's Castle e) David's Castle ee) Aqua ducts under Jeruselem ee) Aqua ducts under Jeruselem
ee) Poorer side of Jerusalem ee) Poorer side of Jerusalem f) Mt Zion and Me f) Mt Zion and Me ff) Signs ff) Signs g) The West Bank Wall, g) The West Bank Wall,
gg) Orthodox! gg) Orthodox! h) Wailing Wall h) Wailing Wall i) Hasidic Jews at the Wailing wall i) Hasidic Jews at the Wailing wall j) Little Hasidic jew boy j) Little Hasidic jew boy
l) Woman reaching over the sex divider l) Woman reaching over the sex divider m) Torah and paper prayers jammed in the wall m) Torah and paper prayers jammed in the wall n) Me taking pictures at Wall n) Me taking pictures at Wall o) More Hasidic Jews o) More Hasidic Jews
p) Hasidic Jew gang p) Hasidic Jew gang q) Wailing wall and Dome of the rock q) Wailing wall and Dome of the rock r) National Cematary r) National Cematary s) From inside the National Cematary s) From inside the National Cematary
t) The Dome of the rock t) The Dome of the rock u) Me on the Mount of Olives u) Me on the Mount of Olives z) This is where Jesus assended to heaven z) This is where Jesus assended to heaven z1) Church of the ....... z1) Church of the .......
z10) Entrance to Garden of Gesemine z10) Entrance to Garden of Gesemine z11) Garden where Jesus was betrayed z11) Garden where Jesus was betrayed z12) Picture of virgin Mary at her tomb z12) Picture of virgin Mary at her tomb z13) Tomb of Virgin mary z13) Tomb of Virgin mary
z14) Gate where Stephen got stoned z14) Gate where Stephen got stoned z2) More Lords prayers z2) More Lords prayers z20) Muslim women z20) Muslim women z21) Pilot stood here and looked down on Jesus z21) Pilot stood here and looked down on Jesus
z22) The Sign tells all z22) The Sign tells all z23) Pools were Jesus healed lame people z23) Pools were Jesus healed lame people z23) Slab of rock that wrapped up Jesus body on z23) Slab of rock that wrapped up Jesus body on z3) This is suppose to be the shroud of Tourin z3) This is suppose to be the shroud of Tourin
z4) Christian bural site z4) Christian bural site z5) Jesus wept z5) Jesus wept z6) The bush where the crown of thorns came from z6) The bush where the crown of thorns came from z7) Crown of thorns bush z7) Crown of thorns bush
z8) Russian Orthodox church and graveyard z8) Russian Orthodox church and graveyard z9) Holyland Sovenirs z9) Holyland Sovenirs zz11) This is Galgotha, zz11) This is Galgotha, zzz) Greek Orthodox ceramony zzz) Greek Orthodox ceramony
zzz1) More Greek orthodox zzz1) More Greek orthodox
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