Jarom in Jerusalem: Last two days in Jerusalem: Day 1

The next day, or second to last day we were in Jerusalem, was a free day to do what we wanted. The next day would also free but we needed to prepare to go the airport in the evening and most people had to pack so today was really our last free day. Michele, Ashley, and I headed out on a slower picture taking/ time taking walk through the city in the morning. A lot of the shops don’t open until 10 or later, so the city was fairly empty, and we got some great camera shots. We ended up going through New Gate, through the Christian area of Jerusalem, and ended up at the Church of Holy Sepulture again. Ashley wanted to go inside the actual tomb they have, I guess you’d call it a crypt, which she hadn’t been able to do because usually the line is so long but it was my third time through. This time a nice Greek priest told us we could take pictures-> something I wasn’t able to do before. It was a good site to visit my last day or two in Jerusalem.

After that we made our way over to the Austrian Hospice, where the girls bought some orange juice and hot chocolate. We hung out on the roof which had a super good view of the old city as well. I’d forgotten what a good view it had of the old city. Anyway, we exchanged some gossip there and relaxed, then headed over to the Western Wall one last time.

Have I mentioned I love the Western Wall? I’m pretty sure I have. This time Ashley wanted me to take her camera over onto the men’s side to take pictures so I did. It was actually pretty fun and addicting to take lots of pictures. I felt kind of guilty taking pictures of people praying at the wall, but at the same time cameras are allowed. I expected someone to appear and tell I’d made the Lord’s House a house of photography and throw me out. But that didn’t happen.

We also visited a Jewish Bookstore, kind of a Deseret book for Jews as one of us put it. We also went into the old city to buy souvenirs for a little while.

Well by then we were hungry and headed over to the Jewish quarter again and bought some good shwarma for lunch. Shwarma is specially cooked lamb meat. It kind of reminded me of J-dawgs with all the toppings.

We then decided to go to the park in West Jerusalem; there I don’t think we felt like going anywhere so we just hung out there for like an hour and a half or more. This day was definably more laid back than the other days I’ve had in Jerusalem. Usually we were always running around to get to different spots where people wanted to go; today we knew we had all day and had already visited the sites we came here to Jerusalem to see. We also wandered over to Ben Yehuda street for some Ice cream and other goodies. After that we headed home.

Unplanned I realized we’d visited most of the places we’d walked though our very virst or second day in Jerusalem when our teachers gave us tours in small groups to orient us. The Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulture, the Western Wall (I think), and Ben Yehuda street in West Jerusalem. I guess those are just the best places to visit, and by chance we went by them all again.

That evening was a goodbye Barbecue dinner, which was excellent (my only regret is that I have but one stomach to give to those meals.) At the end we gave the kitchen staff a big hand. At 8 we had a final slide show/ class skits that people came up with. Both were very good. Of the skits I’ll only mention one. There was a boy and a girl here who have kind of been dating and are the subject of a lot of gossip because she has her mission call and will leave in a couple months but they really like each other and people wonder if she’ll stay home (although last I heard she’s not planning too). Anyway, in the skit, which consisted of “pillow talk” with girls acting like boys and boys acting like girls, she kissed him goodnight. Kissing or any other PDA’s are not allowed at the Jerusalem center and so to see someone kiss someone else on stage on the mouth at the Jerusalem center, and having it be a real couple at that, we all went crazy. The branch president even called out “I want that mission call back!” Anyway, I think it’s an indicator of how we’ve all been cramped in the same social setting for too long. However, the slide show, which contained pictures from everything that happened this last semester, was exceptionally good and I enjoyed it very much.