Today I am really excited because we are going on our first field trip (“site learning experiences”!)........bright and early we met at HUC to catch the buses. Off we went to the Tayelet- Haas Promenade for a brief overview of different points in Jerusalem and the Kidron valley. We took a little hike down a path and got to see pomegranate, date and olive trees. We boarded the bus and headed to East Jerusalem. Wow! What a difference from where we came from. Everything is in Arabic and the mannerisms were different. We got off the bus along side part of the Valley and saw the Mount of Olives Cemetery. Absoloms tomb is located there. It was so interesting to see the beautiful masoleums hewn out of the stone. All of the tombs have biblical names but were built in the 2^nd Temple period. A 3000 year old tomb we saw was the grave of Pharoah's daughter. Originally there was a pyramid on top by that was destroyed to use the stone for other uses. Along the same wall there were lots of openings that led to caves that were burial chambers. (Location: Silwan...Arab/Palestinian village)

It was amazing to be right next to the Old City wall and have the Al Aksa mosque right there on the other side. We continued down the road to Ir David- City of David. We stopped to look around and discuss David and Bathsheba. After lunch we headed down to Warren's shaft which led to water but was impossible to obtain water from since clay jars dropped down that far would hit the walls of the shaft and inevitably break. Off to Hezekiah's tunnel we went. So glad to have my Tevas! The water was really cold at first but felt great coming from the heat. We walked and walked and walked through the tunnel which seemed never ending. It was so amazing being inside and thinking that human beings dug it out over time. I would love to go back again and walk through it in complete peace!

After a shower and power nap....we went to hear Shlomo Artzi and Shalom Chinuch (think Israeli version of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen) at the Sultan's Pool, they were amazing. Not to mention that we had the Old City walls to our right, a real, WOW I am in Israel moment!