Our last day began at the Mt. Of Olives, where we were able to see all of the Old City of Jerusalem as well as the City of David, the Garden of Gethsemane, and more than I can list here. It was good to end here but I wish we had also started here. Our second stop was at the Jerusalem Archiological park. We saw the different levels of stone that had been uncovered by the archeologists. We walked on the ancient streets that Jesus and Paul walked on, and sat on ...

Monday morning started at the Temple Mount. This site is important to Muslims, Jews, and Christians. This was the site of the first and second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, as well as the site where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. It is also the site of the Dome of the Rock. The Dome marks the spot from where most Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. And from this site, you can see C...

In the middle of the day, we crossed into the West Bank to visit Bethlehem. Our bus driver was able to go into the area, but our guide was not, so we had a special guide. He is a Palestinian Christian. After lunch we shopped for souvenirs made of olive wood and mother of pearl. Capitalism seems to be alive and well in Bethlehem. Next we went to the Church of the Nativity, which is over a grotto or cave called the Holy Crypt, where it is believed that Jesus wa...

We went to the garden of Gethsemane for Sunday worship services. This is where, according to the New Testament and Christian traditions, Jesus and his disciples retreated to pray after the Last Supper. In our service, we used olive wood communion cups given to us by our guide, Eli (pronounced Elly).

The guide book says that Jerusalem is the holiest city of Judaism, and is of special significance to Christianity and Islam. It is also one of the noisiest and most crowded cities I have ever seen. It seems like the locals are frustrated by all of the tourist busses clogging the streets, but it also looks like tourism is the major industry here. The day began at the City of David. We heard more about the history of the city than I could absorb. We saw Warren's...