Yesterday was also the only day I haven’t felt very well. Something I ate must have disagreed with me. I’m feeling perfect this morning, so it must have been pretty minor.
Yesterday afternoon, I met some people I have gotten to know over the internet. Todd Bolen teaches at a Master’s College Jerusalem extension campus and has taken literally thousands of pictures of Israel. He introduced me to Tom Powers who is an American ex-pat scholar who does volunteer work and is taking guide training. With a few other people, we did a tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Tom is somewhat of an expert on it) and then we all met an Armenian guide who gave us a tour of the Armenian Quarter – one of the more inaccessible parts of the old city.
After that, he was able to get us into a normally locked chapel in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that the Armenians control, called St. Vartan’s Chapel. It’s a part of an old rock quarry, where on one stone someone has drawn a Roman ship and left an inscription. It dated to the 3rd century. It could be one of the earliest signs of pilgrims coming to the area to area to worship; it could also be common graffiti. Still, an interesting place few people get to see.
I had planned on one day of rain during my visit and got none, so I find myself on my last day having seen all I planned to see and ready to be heading home. It is cloudy today. I’ll wander leisurely today and get packed up. I have to leave here at 2:30am (aghhhhhhhhh) to be on time for a 5:45am departure. This is when saving $300 of airfare doesn’t seem worth it.
