On day 5, after stopping by the Mount of Temptation, we headed to Jerusalem.
We got off the bus and approached one of the gates to the Old City.
We made a left turn very shortly after entering the city, and headed down one of the streets. The streets are narrow and mostly meant for walking. When I saw Jacob's Pizza, I wondered if it was the recipe that the Jacob that was renamed Israel would have used for his famous pizza. I have strong doubts.
It wasn't a long walk before we reached the outer gate for the Latin Patriachate. We were there for a ceremony where a few of the pilgrims on our trip would receive their "shell" as part of their membership in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which is a really good organization. You receive your shell upon visiting Jerusalem if you are a member.
This artwork of Mary and Jesus looked familiar.
I liked the way the handrails were attached to the walls in the stairway.
I liked the windows, too.
I'm skipping several photos. But the main hall where we observed the ceremony looked like this.
The people who were going to receive their shells took their place at the front.
We listened to a longer than usual talk before the main part.
The members received their shells.
I took a photo of the artwork on the back wall. I was sitting under the one on the left in this photo.
The main chair in the center of everything. Sorry, I'm being a bit vague with terms.
Above that seat.
For anyone wondering what the "shell" was, it's really a shell. Look at the center of the Jerusalem cross in the middle of this photo.
As we left, I took a few more photos outside.
Each Pope who had visited had some marker signifying the occasion. Each uses Arabic. None use Hebrew. Two used English. The oldest of them used Latin.
Continuing to see cats on this trip, I saw this CATholic sneaking in.
We got back on the bus and headed to our hotel, which was the Olive Tree Hotel. The room was a good one. And right outside the window, one could see the front entry to the hotel.
The temperature controls were very different. Other people didn't seem to have the same one that I had. But mine had a very obvious "Sabbath" mode. There were no clear temperatures, but just a range of indicators to indicate hotter or colder. It worked out, although it was a bit hot the first night. We arrived on a Friday night, February 7th. Friday nights begin the Sabbath. Not only was I trying to figure out the controls, but with it having a Sabbath mode, I wasn't sure if I could adjust it much on the Sabbath. It worked out though.
It had the standard light switch/buttons, the electrical plugs that aren't the same as in the US, plus USB plugs.
The meals were like the others on the trip. There were tons of options. The main course area:
Secondary courses:
Desserts:
And part of the desserts included gelato, which would only be available one other night. I had hoped to see it there more often.
We were told that we would pray a holy hour at Gethsemane that night around 9 pm. It was after the hours of operation for that site. I've already written a post about Gethsemane. We went not only for a holy hour that night, but we also went there during a day much later in the trip. You may check out that post if you wish. But it should come up more naturally later in the posts about this trip.
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| Old City of Jerusalem Gate |
As we approached, I wasn't sure what all I might see. Once I saw the golden dome that makes up the top of the Dome of the Rock, then I knew the major sites were within view. The quality of that photo didn't turn out the best, taking it with the angle of the sun, dirt on the windows from earlier rains, and taking the photo from a moving bus.
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| First Glimpse of the Old City of Jerusalem |
We got off the bus and approached one of the gates to the Old City.
We made a left turn very shortly after entering the city, and headed down one of the streets. The streets are narrow and mostly meant for walking. When I saw Jacob's Pizza, I wondered if it was the recipe that the Jacob that was renamed Israel would have used for his famous pizza. I have strong doubts.
It wasn't a long walk before we reached the outer gate for the Latin Patriachate. We were there for a ceremony where a few of the pilgrims on our trip would receive their "shell" as part of their membership in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which is a really good organization. You receive your shell upon visiting Jerusalem if you are a member.
This artwork of Mary and Jesus looked familiar.
I liked the way the handrails were attached to the walls in the stairway.
I liked the windows, too.
I'm skipping several photos. But the main hall where we observed the ceremony looked like this.
The people who were going to receive their shells took their place at the front.
We listened to a longer than usual talk before the main part.
The members received their shells.
I took a photo of the artwork on the back wall. I was sitting under the one on the left in this photo.
The main chair in the center of everything. Sorry, I'm being a bit vague with terms.
Above that seat.
For anyone wondering what the "shell" was, it's really a shell. Look at the center of the Jerusalem cross in the middle of this photo.
As we left, I took a few more photos outside.
Each Pope who had visited had some marker signifying the occasion. Each uses Arabic. None use Hebrew. Two used English. The oldest of them used Latin.
Continuing to see cats on this trip, I saw this CATholic sneaking in.
We got back on the bus and headed to our hotel, which was the Olive Tree Hotel. The room was a good one. And right outside the window, one could see the front entry to the hotel.
The temperature controls were very different. Other people didn't seem to have the same one that I had. But mine had a very obvious "Sabbath" mode. There were no clear temperatures, but just a range of indicators to indicate hotter or colder. It worked out, although it was a bit hot the first night. We arrived on a Friday night, February 7th. Friday nights begin the Sabbath. Not only was I trying to figure out the controls, but with it having a Sabbath mode, I wasn't sure if I could adjust it much on the Sabbath. It worked out though.
It had the standard light switch/buttons, the electrical plugs that aren't the same as in the US, plus USB plugs.
The meals were like the others on the trip. There were tons of options. The main course area:
Secondary courses:
Desserts:
And part of the desserts included gelato, which would only be available one other night. I had hoped to see it there more often.
We were told that we would pray a holy hour at Gethsemane that night around 9 pm. It was after the hours of operation for that site. I've already written a post about Gethsemane. We went not only for a holy hour that night, but we also went there during a day much later in the trip. You may check out that post if you wish. But it should come up more naturally later in the posts about this trip.
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