Angie Clark: Onto November!

The next day, on October 31st, we had sabbath Saturday. And I went to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was a wonderful day. We had discovered that there's a garden across the street for certain people go to in. It is a private Garden of Gethsemane, and because they know us there, we can go in it. It's more peaceful and quiet, and less trafficked than the normal one. It's really nice. We just have to ask them and they unlock it for us. It's great!

The next day, on Sunday November 1st (is it already November? Weird!) We set out on a little adventure to get some site visits done before our site logs were due on that Tuesday. We were starting finals week, and it was so so intense of a week.

Anyway, so we set out. First on our list of things to do was the Dome of the Rock and the temple mount! I'd never been up there, because they change the times it's open, and there have been riots and unrest and etc., so a lot of us just never have gotten up there. But, we did it! And it was awesome. It was really amazing. I am glad that we went! Since studying it in Art History my Junior year of High School, I honestly have thought that I would never see it with my own two eyes in my life, let alone be close to it. But, that day was an incredible privilege! As is being here every day. You can see my excitement in my pictures....here we go!

This is Kathryn right after security. The entrance where they let non-muslims in is by the entrance to the western wall. You just go up this ramp, after you go through security. So, this is just after security.

This is Amanda, Allyssa, and Tessa on the wooden ramp up to the temple mount.

Dome of the Rock! Temple Mount! Ahhhh!

This is a sweet picture! Look how cool it looks! Ahhhh!

Me touching the Dome of the Rock :)

Look how big it is! Can you see me leaning against the pillar?

Aren't the doors and arches beautiful? Muslims don't believe in iconography so they decorate with geometric design and calligraphy. It's really cool!

This is the North Side of the Dome...me by an arch again :). Also, the other arches in the other pictures were the South side of the Temple Mount.

It was a really great experience to get to go up there!

Next we decided that we would go to the Kidron Valley and do some sites there. So, first on the list was Mary's Tomb. It's a traditional location for her tomb, and there is a tomb rock there, like in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but I think this was more surprising, because at the entrance there was a big staircase down into the earth, to the level of the tomb.

Okay, so these pictures are a little backwards, but this is Mary's Tomb :)

And this is the lanterns and things in the foyer of the tomb...it's really cool! I liked them!

These are the great stairs that you walk down to go down into the tomb!

After that we continued through the kidron to the Garden of Gethsemane :) We decided to stop in, and today I had my camera, so here are some pictures of the secret garden versus the public garden. Let me know what you think!

Okay, this is the public garden. You can't go past the gate, and you can only stay on this little sidewalk around the side. So..here is the private garden:

I really love the private garden. It is so much more quiet and peaceful. I really like it. We sang here that day, in parts, and the few groups that were there passed by us with smiles. I really love singing in the garden!

After that, we went to Absalom's pillar. Absalom was the third son of King David who tried to take the throne from him later in his life. Anyway, his tomb is in the Kidron Valley! It's pretty cool, too. Also there is Jehosephat's tomb and James, the brother of Jesus, his tomb! So we visted them!