The Kidron Valley

A beautiful mural was painted in the cardo. I hear if you stand just right you will look 

like part of it in a photograph. 

There is nothing special about touching the Wailing Wall other than.....

I wanted to touch it because you can see where it's smooth from thousands upon

thousands of people praying here. 

We made our way down to the Kidron. Here, I briefly took over as tour guide.

This was a place I was familiar with and took the girls to see the tombs.  The Kidron Valley separates the Old City from the Mount of Olives. King David crossed here as he fled from Absalom; Jesus crossed over coming from the Mt. of Olives.

 It became the receptacle for all manner of impurities. Asa destroyed idols of his mother, Athaliah was executed Urijah from Egypt was executed and his body thrown among the comman graves. The uncleaness from the Temple was brought here to the Brook of Kidron.

The Pillar of Absalom. See how small we are? It is majestic.

I was happy to share an unusual part of Jerusalem with my friends. 

You won't get this on any other tour.

We circled around the Tomb of Zechariah. These are more than likely monuments named for them.

I need to read more.

Looking toward the city from the Tombs in Kidron. That long path you see...

it's where we go next. Back up...everything is uphill in Jerusalem.

Behind me you see the curve of the Kidron and the banks that lead up to the city.

The long long walk. Uphill, of course.

We reach the top and walked along the parapets and walls.  

We had to climb up for pictures.

As we wandered back through the city we stumbled upon a large group of people and decided to see what they were visiting. We were stunned to find, The Church of the Holy Sepulcre.

It is enormous and beautiful and most likey the burial spot for Jesus.

I lit a candle because I could. I have never even been in a Catholic church but the candles were there.

We were picked up from Beit Shmuel near the Old City and taken to our guesthouse,

Beit Yehuda. We were welcomed by this very large banner so we posed for our first 

Academy shot. We made it!