At the top of the Mount of Olives there is an amazing view of all of Jerusalem, in particular the eastern wall in its entirety. The Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount is a prominent figure that stands just below the skyline. West Jerusalem, the much newer part of the city, appears above it, built on a higher hill. It's like looking out in a miniature of a city. Anything metal shines in the afternoon sun. Wind blew the entire time we were on the top. There is a ...

It's pure tradition that the last three prophets in the Old Testament of the Bible are buried in this series of underground tombs on the side of Mount of Olives. It's more of a catacomb than a simple tomb, complete with rings of interconnected passageways lined with individual tombs. Our guide told us that the disciples of the prophets were often buried near their teacher. Regardless of who was originally placed in this hewn catacomb, there is evidence that Jews,...

We climbed out of the hole and onto the streets outside of the City of David. There was a hill to climb to get back up to where our bags were stored. We weren't quite through with half our steps for the day but we were all physically exhausted already. Little did we know what lay ahead. The group split for lunch. Lena and I had a nice quiet lunch in the Jewish Quarter with Alejandro and Sue. Of course they had their adorable toddler with them to keep us entertain...

At one point during this trip Steven and I began competing to see who walked the most steps on any particular day. It's easy to record because we both have smartphones. A normal day for me is around 10,000 steps if I can help it. There was one day on the trip where both Steven and I did about 33,000 even though we were sometimes in different places. The day we visited as many places as we could in Old Jerusalem, Steven had at least 1,000 steps more than me. My to...

One of the first things we did after separating into slightly smaller groups was enter through the Damascus Gate into the Old City and search for food. I must admit, Lena and I feel more comfortable in the Muslim Quarter of the Old Jerusalem since we lived for a year in a Muslim country. We know some of the language and most of the foods. I'm not sure how the Arabs there feel about us, but I hope they appreciate our feeble attempts at speaking in Arabic. We went ...