Anyway, we
began Monday morning by going to the Temple Mount. This required a much more stringent security than the Western Wall, as they fear zealots from other religions attempting to destroy the
sites up there. They also forbid
bringing multiple religious articles (which might be passed out as a means of proselytizing), or any form of Bible, or any alcohol (sorry, no flasks).
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| Al Aqsa Mosque |
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| Dome of the Rock |
On the
other side of the Temple Mount, was the Dome of the Rock. The Jewish and Muslim religions forbid
"graven images", which is translated to be "anything God has
made". They cannot decorate with
images of people, trees, landscapes, flowers, etc. So, they decorate with geometric patterns and
writing. The Dome of the Rock is painted
with blue and white geometric patterns and writing all around it. The detail is fantastic! And, of course, the 1/4 inch 24 carat gold on
the dome adds to the stunning look.
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| Temple Rock Panaramic with Dome of the Rock |
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| Detail on Dome of the Rock |
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| View on Temple Mount |
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| Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist |
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| Church on Road to Emmaus |
Then we
went to Abu Gosh (which means father of something), where we had Mass in a
Crusader church dedicated to the appearance of Jesus to a few Disciples walking
away from Jerusalem after the Crucifixion on the road to Emmaus. They don't exactly know which way Emmaus was from Jerusalem, so there were three separate church's built (two at 7 miles and the 3rd, having some difficulty with Bible measurement, at 14 miles) along the three main routes from Jerusalem. So, we have about a 30% chance
of being in the right spot.
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| Frescos with ablated faces |
The church
has beautiful frescos on the walls, but since it was built, it fell into the
hands of the Muslims, who ablated the faces of all the people painted on the
walls (as they believed those were graven images). There are plans to restore the paintings, but
it won't be the same. Then again, 500
years from now, someone may amaze at the great work done now.
After Mass,
we went over to a convent next door, where the nuns had a little store (and a
little church) which sold, among other things, Magnum ice cream bars. There is a long story here, but the short
version is, Mary Anne and I had a pact that we would buy Magnum bars (and
gelatos) at the first reasonable chance (so we passed on the $4 bars, but...). Somehow, this camaraderie broke down into
competition, so we are instead one upping each other. I won't say who started it, but it wasn't
me!!!
Finally, we
left for the airport in Tel Aviv. On the
bus we were briefed as to what to expect for the security procedures. At one point, going in, the bus was stopped
and the guard asked the guide and driver a few questions, including the
nationality of the group. Then he
stepped up, and said "Hello everyone!" to which we all replied
"Hello!" (or something similar).
Passed the first test (American accents)!!
Inside the
airport, we lined up (several times), and while waiting in the first line, a
few of us were pulled out of line and ask random questions. The guard came up to us and asked Theresa and
I what our relationship to each other was.
I thought of saying "lovers", but wasn't sure the guard would
be enamored.
Going
through Immigration, the officer was more interested in chatting through the
window with his fellow officer in the next cubicle than even looking at
us. OK, she was rather pretty, but I
would think looking at the people in front of you at least once might have been
appropriate.
Inside, it
was, well, an airport. This inherently
means I was excited and looking everywhere for cool or unique airplanes or
liveries (paint schemes), and Theresa was nonplussed. We found lunch at a little fast food
hamburger joint and ate with our friends Mike and Mary Anne.
After
arriving in Fiumicino (where the main Rome airport is), we went through customs
for the fourth time in FCO in the last 5.5 years. The officer must have recognized us, because
he didn't even open our passports, and waved us through as we walked up (with
even more disinterest than in TLV).
Well!
Oddly
enough, our hotel in Rome is Hotel Emmaus.
It is a quaint little hotel, with a quaint little elevator, easily accommodating
2 or maybe even 3 people at a time (or their bags, but hardly both!). We kind of wanted a little something to eat,
but not a full meal. But our choices
were, the planned dinner for us, or nothing.
Theresa and I took the dinner option.
It was a 1-2 minute walk (for most people, not just me, Ken!) from the
hotel. But the little food we wanted,
took three courses and 2 hours. The
first course, pasta, was fantastic! (We
should have left at that point.) It had
BACON!!!! We hadn't had (or even
smelled) bacon since London. What a
delight! And it had cheese, right on top
of the meat!! Oh, my! The next course, several minutes later, was a
pork dish. The pork was OK, but nothing
to write home about. We were told
dessert was NOT to be missed, but the waitress didn't know even what it
was. So, I was a bit dubious on her
ravings of it. Well, we started dinner
with 6 of us (including our guide), but ended at dessert with Theresa and I
asking for it to go. She tried to give
us all five desserts, but we passed. It
was...eh. Some creamy thing (sweetened ricotta
cheese) on top of two dry cookies. We
got home unpacked a little had our dessert, and to bed.
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