Today was an eventful and very frustrating and rough day for me. After a rough start to my day, including a back so stiff I could hardly walk and the realization that I had contracted some sort of stomach bug, it could only go uphill from there, right? Wrong.
We went first to the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, the other place where some Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried. There are two major sites here: the crucifixion site and the tomb itself. These Christians believe that this site is more accurate than the Holy Sepulcher for a few reasons. First, Jesus was crucified on Golgotha, or Cavalry, both words meaning "skull" in Aramaic and Latin, respectively. This is significant because there is a rocky hill in the garden that has holes in it that make it look like a skull, and archaeologists have determined to a certainty that this rocky cliff and these holes existed at the time of Christ. The second indication is that the scriptures indicate that Jesus was crucified and buried outside the walls of Jerusalem, and this tomb would have been outside the walls at the time of the Second Temple while the Holy Sepulcher would have been inside. The final indication is that an actual tomb from the period of Jesus was discovered here, while no such tomb has really been discovered at the Sepulcher. The tomb is also empty - there are no human remains, indicating that it might be the place where Jesus was buried and supposedly resurrected.
The next stop was the City of David, ruins of the city dating to the time of King David that include a narrow passageway that is over 2000 years old called "Hezekiah's Tunnel." I can't remember the history of this tunnel very well, but I know that Hezekiah built it so water could be supplied to Jerusalem. He knew that the strategic weakness of the city was the lack of water sources, and that Jerusalem had been defeated in the past by adversaries cutting off their water supplies. The tunnel was then meant as a way to provide water so as to prevent defeat through the cutting off of the precious resource to the city. Later, I believe that people escaped the city through the tunnel, but I don't remember the story. Everyone descended into the tunnel, but I decided to opt out because I suffer from claustrophobia (according to people's descriptions of the experience, it was a very good idea for me to opt out). So I asked the man at the park where the tunnel came out, so I could meet everyone there. After pointing me there and assuring me that there was no other exit, I walked to the specified location and waited nearly two hours to meet the group. Unfortunately, the group never showed up, and an angry Israeli man came to throw me out of the park because they were closing. After a desperate walk around the premises to try to find the bus, I discovered that I had been left, and was alone on the streets of Jerusalem. At this point, a man from the Dominican Republic, who was also waiting for his group, asked me if I was waiting for people at the end of the tunnel and explained that he was as well. He called his guide, who led me to a place to get a taxi and transfer to my hotel.
After waiting in vain for a taxi to show up, I remembered that the next stop for the group was Gethsemane, and that I could probably catch them if I headed over there. The walk was short - just about 15 minutes on a patch through the Kidron Valley. As I was walking, however, a man honked at me and pulled a U-turn. He got out and asked if I needed help, and I told him I was looking for Gethsemane, but I thought I knew how to get there. He led me a bit down the path toward the valley, and then I noticed he was grabbing himself suggestively in the crotch area. I quickly turned and walked, and when he asked if I wanted him to show me where the church was, I said a quick "no" and didn't look back. It was very scary and frankly disturbing, and I had had about enough for the day. Of course, nobody could let it go when I finally found them at Gethsemane, and I got chewed out by multiple people, making my mood even worse.
So that about sums up my day. After a nap at the hotel I still don't feel much better. I am still sick, sore, and now have even more things to worry about. Needless to say, I am very ready to come home. However, tomorrow should be a fun day of gallivanting around the Old City and doing some shopping for some more kitschy stuff. I was sad to learn that H and M is only open from 9 PM to 11 PM on Saturdays here (the Sabbath) so I will not be able to visit it. But at least I will have some time to rest, relax, and just be free from a schedule! It will be nice. I will blog again tomorrow night before we leave. Looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone.
