So much for my free day when I’d have hours to catch up on my blog and post pictures galore. I did sleep in til 9 this morning which was pure heaven. I turned on the tv and it was on the Hallmark Channel five minutes into Love Comes Softly, a sappy movie based on an old Janette Oke series. My aunt and I watched the rest of that, then I got myself around so I could meet some folks for our 12 o’clock cab ride to Temple Mount. Infidels could get on from 12:30-1:30 today so we wanted to make sure and be toward the front of the line in case they only let a certain amount on. It was a very interesting experience but I’m not going to post about it. If you‘re interested in further details feel free to e-mail me.

I will tell you that on our way out I had an experience I’d never had before in my whole life…I got pooped on by a bird flying overhead. The only thing was, it was brownish-red, not the usual white. That was lovely. :p

Next we wandered all around the Old City, through narrow streets with cobble-stoned floors. I think we were mostly in the Arab quarter but it was kind of hard for me to tell when we moved between quarters. My mom, brother and sister-in-law and I split off and took a cab to the King David Hotel to have lunch. My mom and I read the Bodie Thoene Zion novels several times over the years so the King David was a big thrill. I don’t think my brother was as thrilled… ;)

We came back and met up with some other folks at Jaffa Gate and wandered around for a couple hours, five of us ending up in an Arab coffee shop of some kind with strong cups of coffee or tea and a plate full of baklava. Yum!

I’ve decided that when I return I’m going to write about one place I visited on this trip each day, complete with pictures. It’s just too hard trying to keep up as we go along. You can look forward to descriptions of Masada, En Gedi, the Dead Sea and Qumran from Tuesday, and Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum), the Via Dolorosa, the Holy Sepulcher and the Garden Tomb yesterday. The reason I didn’t write last night was because we had another lecture, this time with an Orthodox Jew, which was very interesting but went late into the night. I barely dragged myself to bed.

We’ve got another free day tomorrow but I’m not sure what I’ll be doing. I’m sure of two things – first, that I’ll sleep in again!! Second, that I’ll probably be going, going, going. :)