Day 1 in the Old City

We have had a busy time already! We arrived at Ben Gurion at 5 a.m., promptly navigated Passport Control and customs and met up with the driver I had contracted through the Internet. The connectedness of the modern world certainly makes things easier. We were in Jerusalem before 7 a.m. and dropped off at the Lion's Gate entrance to the Old City as no taxis are permitted within. Witness me dragging my bag up the Via Dolorosa....... and arriving at the Austrian Hospice. It is great to be familiar and know where we are going this visit. As we could not get in to our room until about 3 p.m. we left our bags in a storage area and headed out into the City. No one was out and about yet, which was quite nice. We first visited the church of the Holy Sepulchre which houses Christ's tomb. It is exquisite and perhaps my favorite in the Old City. Josh became very proficient at navigating the rabbit-warren like souks-narrow alleyways with hawkish vendors!

We came back to the hospice and had breakfast in the gardens and then headed out across the Old City to the Damascus Gate and raucous Arab markets. Anything and everything can be had for a price. We changed some dollars into shekels at a money lender and continued our wanderings. It is quite hot and humid- over 90 degrees.

After checking in to our room and showering we felt revived enough to go in search of dinner. We were delighted to discover our favorite hummus guy across the street is still open for business and the food was as savory as I remember. The best part was a frozen lemonade mint drink- definitely offsetting the heat.

The muzzeins calls to prayer 5 times a day are DIRECTLY outside our window and somehow seem louder than I had recalled. The hardest to deal with are 1030 pm and 3 and 5 am. Earplugs are a necessity.

Tomorrow we are in search of a fan in the marketplace for our stifling room and look forward to Louise joining us early morning. Stay tuned for more adventures. I promise to post more photos tonight. love and prayers- t and J

Via Dolorosa-dragging the bag!