Mount of Olives

On July 4th, We went to the Mount of Olives to see some of the Christian sites there. Here is a picture of the Mount of Olives from Mount Scopus.

From Mount of Olives

I believe this is part of the Jerusalem forest. Just beyond the trees is the desert (close to the West Bank).

From Mount of Olives

Our first stop was the Auguste Victoria (also spelled Augusta). A German hospital, guest house, and church ("Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension"). The pictures didn't turn out super great so I recommend seeing some excellent ones at this site.

This picture is of the ceiling of the church. The figures around the buildings that represent Jerusalem are crusaders.

From Mount of Olives

From Mount of Olives

We climbed up to the bell tower (quite a hike, especially since some of our friends had already walked a couple of miles just to meet us there) and found some really great views. It really is a very strategic spot to see many sides of the city.

This pic is looking north towards Mount Scopus and Hebrew University (see the university tower). It was such a beautiful morning.

From Mount of Olives

Here are a couple of pictures looking east to the West Bank. You can just make out the separation wall.

From Mount of Olives

From Mount of Olives

The west side of Jerusalem.

From Mount of Olives

The old city (can you make out the walls?) and the new city beyond.

From Mount of Olives

Looking south now to Mount of Olives (and another church of the Ascension, we didn't make it to that one).

From Mount of Olives

And me, next to the bell!

From Mount of Olives

This is the Chapel and Mosque of the Ascension. A holy site to both Christians and Muslims (again, better pictures and more history see go here).

From Mount of Olives

What do you think? Footprint of Jesus as he began his ascension? Apparently Ignatius Loyola visited here with his Franciscan Brothers after some difficulty with the Muslims that were in control of the Chapel/Mosque. But they say Ignatius forgot which way the footprint was facing and just had to come back that night. So he bravely snuck in to see. His Brothers were not very happy with him after they found out. I have no idea which way the footprint is facing. Do you?

From Mount of Olives

Next stop was the Pater Noster convent. Again, I really have to recommend this site for photos and a better job with the history. Straight ahead in this picture you can kind of see the back of our tour guide, Dr. Kirsten Stoffregen Pedersen. Our soft spoken Sister has written many books and articles about the Christians here in Jerusalem.

From Mount of Olives

A few Our Father's we found interesting:

From Mount of Olives

From Mount of Olives

Aramaic? Perhaps the language Jesus spoke it in.

From Mount of Olives

After this, Dr. Pedersen showed us the Benedictine convent where it seemed she lived and we saw their chapel there. Many of these nuns specialize in making icons. Dr. Pedersen talked about how the Mount of Olives used to be a heavily Christian area, but the in the last several decades the Christians have moved away. What we saw was an economically depressed neighborhood as well.

By noon we were all very tired and said goodbye and thank you to Dr. Pedersen. The fastest way to get back to the university was actually taking a bus to the Damascus gate and then take another bus up north from there. But, once we got to the gate, we felt like getting something to eat in the old city. We made our way down a few streets and found a place with mirrors on the walls. There were serving falafels and shawarma, which we were all ready for. We ordered hummus and pitas which were served with pickles and olives. The girls ordered falafels (with shredded cabbage, pickles, and tomatoes) and the boys ordered shawarma (here you can find them with either chicken or lamb).

Later that day, after a good nap and an iced tea, we visited a reformed baptist congregation where the sermon was in English and translated into Russian for most of the members were Russian. What a full day!

A note of caution: Be meticulous about where you buy a shawarma sandwich.

Distracted by Food and Markets

So I said that the Mount of Olives would be next, but I lied. I've decided to talk about food a little bit and share a couple of pictures from the market.

Zatar pyramid.


Nice toys. This shop was in the old city. Shawn learned a Hebrew saying the other day that was something like "eat more", "eat all that's on your plate...so you'll grow big for the Army."

And eat we have. We bought overripe figs this week. I didn't know what they were but the salesman opened one and gave it to us. It was amazingly wonderful. I was really surprised.

You eat the whole thing!

I have done a little cooking. Last night I made no bake cookies. This is the recipe that I have memorized because it has been such a regular treat in the last ten to fifteen years. I have to say though, I had never before tasted no bake cookies like the ones I made last night.

Dark and gooey!

The items that may have made the difference were the butter, cocoa, and vanilla. The package on the butter said it was dutch. The cocoa package I haven't read with a dictionary yet, but it smelled delicious.
Good vanilla. The vanilla was actually given to us by a very nice student was leaving after completing the same degree Shawn is going to be in. This gentleman and his roommate left us several dishes and pots and pans. We are very grateful and wish them the best as they BOTH start PhDs at Harvard this fall.

Shawn has a level test this Sunday. It will be a really tough one but its important that he pass because if he doesn't, he'll start from the beginning of the first level in the next Ulpan class that starts in August. Please keep him in your prayers!


Shawn, diligently memorizing vocab on the iPod Touch.

John 11:18

"Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off" John 11:18 NASB

So I haven't been to Bethany or where it was, but I thought this verse was great because I live about 2 miles from the old city.

We are very thankful that I have been able to come on some trips with Shawn. The tours we have gone on have been with the school and they weren't quite sure they were going to let me go because I wasn't a student at the university. But they eventually said ok and we paid for four tours: Practical Jerusalem, Western Wall and tunnels, Tel Aviv and Jaffa, and the last one was last Wednesday, Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea. The Practical Jerusalem tour showed us a public library, the Jewish Shuq (market), and some popular bars in the Ben Yehuda area of the new city. There is one bar popular with Americans called "The Yankee". Since then we have had some really good gelato in that area. Here is some interesting action while on the practical tour:
He was diligently concentrating.

The Western Wall tour was our favorite one so far. The tour started at 8:30pm so it was nice and cool as we walked from the Jaffa gate to the Jewish quarter of the old city. Our guide was excellent and he gave us a sweeping history of the old city and showed us some of the Cardo (Roman road in the center of the city at that time), and parts of Hezekiah's wall that they have uncovered while rebuilding the Jewish quarter. It was fascinating to see how they just have to go down to uncover amazing history. The further down you go, the older it is. At 11pm it was time to start our tour of the Western Wall tunnels with an archeologist as our guide. Our camera didn't like the dark so I recommend seeing a few here. I barely got a picture of the model of the second temple:

After such a great and informative tour of the Western Wall tunnels we were expecting some great things from Jaffa. Jaffa is mentioned serveral times in some letters that were written from the land of Canaan in the 14th century BC, and is the only natural port in the land of Israel, and a very important area for this town. Unfortunately, our guide was far more intrested in the soap-opera surrounding some of the houses, then actually giving us information, so will have to go back after reading more about the town.





Above is Shawn at the very old town of Jaffa (near Tel Aviv), also a historic port. It's called Joppa in the bible. One of the things we saw is a church to memoralize that Peter had his vision of unclean food here (Acts 10). Here is the view looking towards the church from the beach (sorry its the best picture I got):



We also meandered through an early 20th century neighborhood between Jaffa and Tel Aviv (Neve tzedek, for more on community go here).




The next post will have the mount of olives. Stay tuned! שבת שלום (shabbat shalom: Blessings for your Sabbath)