I arrived back in Jerusalem from Nazareth yesterday afternoon (Sunday). I'm staying again at Ecce Homo where we did our Biblical Programme. I was glad to be greeted by Sr. Bernadette, the director of the programme, and to meet some of the staff and volunteers who work there(whom I knew fromSeptember). On the other hand, I very much felt the absence of the 17 others with whom I shared the four week Biblical Programme. It's unusually hot in Jerusalem so I took yesterday easy and went to bed early. This morning (Monday), I was woken by our neighbour who is a muezzin - insisting at 4.30 a.m., that prayer is better than sleep!). I succeeded in going back to sleep. After breakfast, I tried to visit the Temple Mount (site of the temple in Jesus' time, and now housing the famous Dome of the Rock and the el-Aksa mosque). There's only one entrance where pilgrims or tourists can enter, and there was a huge queue at 9.15 a.m. I queued for 45 minutes; there was only about 25 ahead of me at 10.00 when the gate was closed! Have to try again to-morrow. But there was some good news from this effort. In the queue, I got talking to a Scottish man, Alan, and we went around for the rest of the day together. We visited the Citadel (Tower of David) which was most interesting. It's a fortress that has gone through many reconstructions. In the time of Jesus. it was a much, much larger place and included a palace, where the Roman Governor (Pilate) would stay when visiting Jerusalem. It's thought likely that this is the place of the "praetorium", where Jesus was sentenced to death. We climbed the biggest tower (David) from where there were great views of the city. There was also an excellent animated film on the history of Jerusalem; very interesting exhibits of the First Temple (destroyed in the 6th century), and of the Second Temple (existing in Jesus' time, and destroyed in 70AD). I was glad to have seen it all. We had lunch in a local arab restaurant I used to drop into in September, and then at 3 p.m., went to Sung Vespers in the Orthodox Armenian Cathedral, St. James'. Vespers were sung by the Armenian monks and seminarians. Very middle-Eastern. My Scottish "friend for eight hours to-day" is off to Galilee to-morrow. I'll try for the Temple Mount again.
