Day 13 - 9.00am start on a sunny cold morning. First up The Temple on the Mount - seems you need to get there early to avoid the crowds, and we did. We stormed through the Jaffa Gate again, following Allenby’s footsteps, through the market, turning neither right nor left, past the Western (Wailing) Wall and up the Gentiles new staircase to the Temple Mount. It was huge, spacious, not many people, very peaceful. Non Moslems are not allowed to go into the El Aqsa Mosque nor the Dome (gold roof) on the Rock. We wandered round the gardens and surrounding buildings for a while, lots of history from Guide Graeme and finally we left this story of religious tension behind.
We carried on by vehicle to the well cared for Jerusalem War Cemetery and found the grave of 21yr old Thomas Sharland, a Nelson boy who joined the Mounted Rifles and got killed in the 1st Battle of Amman. Thomas is the great-uncle of Brian and John Dobson - both members of Southern Star Lodge with me. We passed on greetings from the Dobsons (Brian & John’s mother remembers Thomas going away to war) and fired off a salute which was photographed for the record.
We rolled on to the Holocaust Museum (must see in Jerusalem) - which despite its very sad story is a very classy place, design, presentation of the story both stylish and memorable- we sure aren’t going to forget that any time soon.
Two hours later it was back to the hotel, a wander round the local market, couple beers and a big pack of lollies. Time for bed