a few more photos of the Ramparts 26 Jan 2012

 Looking into the back of the Armenian Seminary/Cathedral complex.  They have a vineyard and lots of green space.  You can see Mt. Zion in the far background and the Dormition tower.

 A couple of fun looking arches with actual greenery... although we had focus carefully to avoid all the plastic bags a little further out.

 How does he do that?  The boys had a lot of fun taking Waldork pictures.

 Now we are entering the Jewish Quarter.  We are now looking east.  The tower on the hill is the tower of the Ascension at the top of the Mt. of Olives.  Most of the tan colored hillside to the right of the tower on the hill, is covered with a huge Jewish cemetery.

We had fun watching these Jewish boys playing on the steep hill.  They were evidently fascinated by the wooden triangle.

Walking the Ramparts - 26 Jan 2012

 Thursday we had the opportunity to walk the ramparts around the Old City.  We actually walked just over half the way.  It is about 2.7 miles around the entire perimeter.  The walls have been built and torn down numerous times.  The present walls were built by Suliman the Magnificent starting in 1537 and completed in 1541.

 This is the view looking south toward Bethlehem along the wall on the west side of the city.  The rampart walk starts near the Jaffa Gate (where we saw the African tourists above).  There has been a lot of rain in Jerusalem and things are beautiful and green.

 Here we are at the other end looking North along the west wall toward Jaffa Gate.  It's a long walk.  There are lots of stairs up and down.  It took me 2 days to recover!... and I have been running 5 flights of stairs up and down for 2 weeks now.

The stairs are about twice the height of normal stairs.

Fun Tour Groups - This one from Africa 25 Jan 2012

 One of my favorite sights in Jerusalem are all the tourists, especially the groups!  This little group is very obviously from Africa, somewhere.  The were so excited.  They must have purchased a bolt or two of cloth and made themselves matching outfits, so they wouldn't get lost.  They are just inside Jaffa gate getting ready to go into the Muslim quarter.  By the look of the bags they have with them it looks as though they have just arrived.

They were SOooo excited, that I wonder if they made it past the first vendor! They were jumping up and down and taking very animated, just beside themselves with excitement.  We had a fun few moments watching them.

Go-Karts! 25 Jan 2012

 Hey, Justin.... do you recognize the guy in the red shirt?  He is a Call.  His name is Joseph Call and his sister Rebecca Call is also here.  They are attending Hebrew university in a one year program.  Joseph is young enough that he didn't remember your parents, but Rebecca does.

There is a mall not too far from our house and they use the bottom floor as an indoor race track

 Here they are all getting lined up.  Jared insists that he was the fastest!  Jeremy contends that he had the best overall time... and it was based on time.

                                             One thing for sure, they would like to go again!

24 Jan 2012 Mount Zion

 The second highest hill in Jerusalem is called Mt. Zion.  This is where the crusaders say the last supper occurred, where King David is buried (although Jewish sources are sure that he is buried in David's city... a few blocks away).  The tower is called the Dormition Tower.... where supposedly Mary fell into a deep sleep.  This complex was supposed to have been included within the city walls when Suliman had them rebuilt in the 1500's but somehow Mt. Zion complex was missed. It is just outside the walls

 This is another view form the rampart walls that surround the Old City.  We are looking across the Armenian Quarter... the only place in the Old City that still has some vacant lots.

This was our favorite mosaic inside the cathedral on Mt. Zion.  It was less medieval  than most.

 We thought the face was quite realistic

Sabbath day at the BYU Jerusalem Center

 This is where we attend church on the Saturday Sabbath.  The Church does a wonderful thing to observe whatever the Sabbath is the various countries we meet in around the world.  When we were in Amman, the Sabbath was on Friday the Sabbath in a Muslim country.  Here it is on Saturday.  This is the main hall on the 8th floor.  It is about a football field and a half long, with a rotunda, seminar rooms, a gallery and the auditorium where we hold our meetings. 

 This view is looking to the north from the front of the Jerusalem Center.  At the far south end we can see our apartment building complex out near the  Talapia suburb of Jerusalem.  I think the tower you can see in the background marks the place of Jesus' ascension into heaven from the Mount of Olives.

 Here are Lane and the boys near the front gate were we enter.  It has a "magic" gate that is controlled by security from within the Jerusalem Center.

 ...waiting for the gate to open so that we can get out. 

Looking out at the Old city and the Kidron Valley

Banana Land, Jericho, Israel

 Our first outing was to Jericho rendition of 6 Flags, but it was a fun ice breaker for the Jerusalem Branch's 4 young men.  Here you see Jared with John Harper (Steven C Haper is his father... of Joseph Smith Papers fame). The Joseph and Josh Ludlow (Jared Ludlow son of Victor Ludlow is their father).  The fathers of the boys are BYU professors at the JC for a one year assignment.  They live in the Jerusalem Center with the students.

 Here are the boys on a race car track.  This one was fun but not nearly as fun as the bumper cars. 

I think they rode the bumper cars at least a dozen times.  The boys had a great time.  The only bummer was Jared lost his wallet and military ID for the second time in a year!  Cheesh!