Last night and today have been intermittent episodes of good-bys as some more New Zealanders, the Brits and Aussies, and the Fiji and Tonga Islanders bid their farewells. In between times, though, there were blocks of time with nothing planned. I'm happy to say that they did not stay that way. Right after breakfast, a group of seven organized to do the ramparts tour. This is a hike along the top of the walls of the old city which I had in the back of my mind to do sometime,ever since my last visit. Off we headed to the Joffa Gate where the tour begins. We chose the south ramparts tour which mostly overlooks the Armenian Quarter and the Jewish Quarter. The going was harder than I had anticipated with walkways very uneven and very slippery, heavily worn stones, but interesting for the perspective it affords.
As can often happen in Jerusalem, there was a surprise at the end. It was closed, so we had to backtrack to Zion Gate to get down off the wall. When we did, there was a pleasant surprise for me. Before me stood a perfet shot of Saint James Cathedral, the Armenian Cathedral which is situated on the main drag of the Armenian Quarter, but situated so that anything but a partial shot is impossible. That was the first special bonus of the day.
After another round of good-bys at the college, I was off again to investigate two sites which had my curiosity up. The first is a set of caves, very near Gethsemane which are believed by some to be the most likely place where Jesus left his disciples before taking Peter, James and John with him as he went off a little farther. I had seen it before, but had no idea what it represented. It is, of course, across the street from the Garden of Gethsemane at the base of the Mount of Olives, a long way down there. What goes down must come up, and the acsent from there, through the Lions Gate is long, hard and, in my opinion, something to avoid if at all possible. Nevertheless, I was really curious, so I decided to make the effort, only to discover, when I got there, that the site was closed, with no explanation of course. This also happens frequently in The Holy Land. So, back I trekked up the Lions Gate ascent at my own pace which was very slow. Did I mention that the temperature reached over 90 this afternoon. These are two of the four lions guarding the Lions Gate.
Just past the Lions Gate there is a site commemorating the birth of Mary. I had walked by it many times and always said that I would stop in and see what it was about one of these times, since the more official site for the birth of Mary is in the Grotto of Saint Anne's Church only a few feet away. It turns out that this is an Orthodox (Russian) site commorating the same event. This happens more often than you would suspect. The rivalry/animosity between the Orthodox and the Romans often leads to duplicate churches, shrines, commemorative plaques, etc. This is obviously just another of those duplications. It was a nice chapel, Ortholdox style, but it really needed a thorough cleaning and dusting. Maybe the Orthodox are so leery of change that they have to pray about removing dust. Who knows?
Since I was in the area, I thought I would see about getting a picture of one of the inaccessable Stations of the Cross, # IV. It is located in the basement of an Armenian Catholic Church, which is so strict that the sign on the door says to enter only for prayer, no pictures, to talking, no nothing. I arrived just as about 70 Armenian pilgrims were coming up the stairs after praying, I suppose, at the station. I and one other person went down stairs and were alone there, an unheard of situation. Simultaniously, we looked breifly at each other, looked around and then both snapped pictures of the station, and got out as quickly as possible. An act of rebellion, no doubt, but a coup worthy of my earlier days as an offical scamp. I am no ashamed. I did not include the picture because I will use it later in a Stations of the Cross presentation next Lent, but it looks pretty darn good.
Tomorrow will be spent packing and making sure I have not exceded my weight limit, and I have already decited what I am ready to leave behind for the Palestinian refugees if weight is a problem. The Dean insists that we need to spend some time together, tomorrow. He acts as if we are long lost buddies, when, in fact I only knew him by face (he was a big-whig) when he was in Chicago, and I'm sure that he never knew me at all until my last visit here. Maybe he is just homesick for some gossip. I'm afraid I will be a disappointment for him on that score.
My flight leaves at 5:00am on Thursday, but because of Isaeli airport security, I will have to leave the college at 12:45 am to insure that I'll be on it. Then, it will be off to Frankfurt, then to Chicago and Moline, arriving some 20+ hours later, at 4:00 pm, then Cherry Street, Morrison, and bed!
Morning Prayer is at 7:30 am, Friday, and I will be there!
Vale, 'till then.
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