This morning we left early and drove from our hotel to the Mount of Olives to see the beautiful view across the city of Jerusalem. It was stunning to say the least, and although it was hot, even before 9am, we didn’t let that worry us as we heard Erez share some history of this city and how the layout and actual location of the city wall and particular buildings have moved over the years. So much of the area directly below the Mt of Olives is a cemetery, all outside the city wall, of course, for purity. The sellers were around us trying to get us to buy pictures of Jerusalem and other things, and heckled us as we chose not to buy.

Most of us opted to walk down the hill as Jesus did on Palm Sunday as he wept over Jerusalem and entered the city with the people shouting ‘Hosanna – blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’ This is a very steep road and we stopped half way, at Dominus Flevit to take a group photo and to see the church with a sanctuary window which overlooked the old city. There was another Greek Orthodox church with golden towers which is locally called The Church of the Golden Onions. We had a little giggle as we then heard the bells ringing, and we joked that it was now the Church of the Peeling Onions!!

At the bottom of the Palm Sunday walk we moved round the corner to the Garden of Gethsemane with an olive grove garden. There is a large Catholic church there which was holding a service as we wandered through. Some of the olive trees in this garden were 1000 years old. It is now well tended with beautiful pathways, which somewhat detracted from its authenticity. To be expected though of course.

From there we went to the powerfully moving Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. No photos were allowed at this site, but it is built symbolically in the shape of a spearhead to show the piercing of the Jewish soul which was the holocaust. As you enter you go down, via a huge video presentation showing the life of the Jews across Europe prior to the Nazi regime, representing a fully integrated and happy people contributing well to society across a large number of nations. The exhibits then moved through in a snake like format, beginning with personal effects recovered from so many of the bodies, and then giving some history of the rise of the Nazi ideology and power. At each exhibit there were several small and large screen video interviews with survivors sharing their stories. These were all emotionally confronting, as we were also shown the life and humiliation of the labour camps and the horror of so many of the millions being made to dig their own grave pits, stand on the edges, and be shot so they fall in. Bodies upon bodies were then covered with dirt. Or the slow dehumanising starvation in the camps before being put systematically into the gas chambers. At each exhibit we slowly rose back to the top and the final exhibit was a huge round room called the Hall of Names, and as they years go by and more stories come to light, it is hoped that an increasing number of names will be revealed until all 6,000,000 might be honoured in the multitude of alphabetical folders. Tears flowed. But the symbolism of this building continued as we then walked out into the light with the view across Jerusalem showing that there will be a future.

We all needed a little time to recoup before we moved on to our next place – the Israel Museum. Here we saw an incredible model of the ancient city of Jerusalem around 70AD. It was great to get a good perspective on the Jerusalem that Jesus would have known. At this place we also saw the wonderful exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other 1st century artefacts. This was particularly humbling as we contemplated how old these artefacts are. Unfortunately, again, photos were not allowed there.

It was then time to leave Erez behind as he isn’t able, at this time of strained relations, to enter the West Bank. So we crossed the checkpoint and met a Palestinian guide for our afternoon visit to Bethlehem, about 5 miles from Jerusalem. We visited the traditional sites of the shepherd’s field and of the nativity, both of which have churches built there. In a cave below the church at the shepherd’s field, we read the passage from Luke 2. As we entered the church at the Shepherd’s Field there was also a group from Germany, and together we sang Gloria in Excelsis Deo. The acoustics were marvellous. We then moved to a cave [supposedly where the shepherds may have sheltered] which has been made into a chapel.

From there we moved to the Church of the Nativity, which is now split into three sections – Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Arminian. Underneath this church there are caves and grottos, traditionally thought of by many to be the place where Jesus was born. Most of us actually preferred the underground chapels at the Roman Catholic Church to the highly decorated ornate cave under the Greek Orthodox church.

Our time in Bethlehem finished with a visit to a beautiful shop owned by a Christian family of brothers who work with olive wood. We saw and bought some beautifully crafted items.

Crossing the border from Israel into the West Bank was actually a very sad experience. The fence is so high, and the security fairly rigid. As Aussie tourists we didn’t have any trouble, but we pray that one day it might actually be like crossing the border from Queensland into New South Wales.