The walls of Jerusalem

Yesterday three other masters students and I took a walk around the walls of the old city. Technically, I should say we took a walk ON the walls of the old city. Whenever we've had a field study in Jerusalem our professor would ask, "Have any of you done the ramparts walk yet? You should." Well, now we have. We got on at Jaffa Gate, walked to Zion Gate where we had to get off because of the Temple Mount. We walked outside the wall through the Arab cemetery, got back on the wall at St. Stephen's Gate, and walked all the way around, back to Jaffa Gate. Of course, when we got there, the door out was locked. So we walked back to New Gate where we were able to get off.

All in all, it was a fun time. We had a few adventures along the way, but managed to make it through mostly unscathed. :) I didn't have a whole lot of time to think along the way, but there were a couple things I thought rather interesting. One of those things was the Muslim Cemetery, right by the Golden Gate. Unfortuantely, I know absolutely no Arabic, and was therefore totally unable to read any of the tomb stones (except possibly one or two with some English on them.) I'm sure it would have been more interesting if I could have read them, but I had to content myself with more superficial observations. Of those, the one that lept to the eye was the fact that it looked more like a trash heap or a place for homeless people than a cemetery. It wasn't garishly decorated like most of the graves I saw in Bolivia, and really, it could have been a nice place, but it seemed like no one cared enough to clean it up a bit. I do not at all mean this as a racial slur, but it is often observed that the Arab sections of this city and the rest of the country are generally dirtier and more littered than the Jewish sections. The Jewish sections can be rather "trashy" too at times, but usually not to the same extent. At any rate, it makes one think.

Another thing that is always striking me here in Jerusalem is all the different religions and symbols of faith. From the wall we could look across the old city, as we've done a few times before, and the horizon line in riddled with various crosses, crescents, domes, towers, and turrets, all representing different religions and sects. It's overwhelming. I also find it vaguely ironic that next to these huge edifices of religion there are all sorts of people living -- there's laundry hanging in the courtyards, water tanks of some sort on the roofs, and satellite dishes all over. There are roads and corners that smell of urine and are full of trash. There are kids playing on fields or play grounds next to the wall, laughing and yelling; possibly the same ones who will try to pick your pocket. There are shop keepers, hawking their wares to unsuspecting customers. All this in a place that is under a square mile in area.

(Which reminds me of a joke. The area of Vatican City is about .5 square miles. Which means that there is an average of 2 Popes per square mile there!)

At any rate, it was a good walk. Not really that long, but we took our time, and it ended up taking us nearly 3 hours. I'll try to upload some photos. They won't do it justice, but hey.

This is my roommate, Ada, on the wall:


This is the picture that Ada took of us...our "band photo"...and you should have heard the songs we were making up as we went along!


Here are a couple pictures of the Old City Skyline...see how many domes and such you can pick out? They're kind of small pictures, but you should be able to get an idea.


Here's a picture of the decoration on top of a small, family mosque, with, I believe, a French Cathedral of some sort in the background.


And just for fun, the is the four of us near the end of the walk:



...and in other news, the weather is definitely cooler. I was very excited when it was partly cloudy this morning. I'm starting to want long sleeves in the evening, and I've been sleeping with a sheet (and sometimes even a light blanket!) more often than not. I think this has maybe helped cut down on the incidence of bug bites too.

Also, the fixed the pump that pumped hot water to the women's bathrooms, which means that I've now had two showers here that were actually warm. :)

So, there's another taste of my life here in Jerusalem. Oh, and by the way, if anybody reads this, I'd love to have comments from time to time, so don't be shy. :)