This weekend I stayed in Jerusalem and explored the old city a bit more. First I went down to the Western Wall (aka the wailing wall- as seen in the picture) and sat around and comtemplated it a bit- the women's prayer section is much smaller than the men's section but I sat there for a while and watched as people prayed to this treasured and holy stone wall of so many thousands of years, putting their written prayers on little bits of paper into the cracks of the wall. I was tempted to put in a prayer that they stop killing people in the name of it... but decided that might be a bit blasphemous. After that I meandered back through the Arab quarter. El Wad street was a lot quieter this time than last time I was there when I had accidently stumbled into an area where a rally of green flags was going on you could barely move. I had gotten out of there pretty quickly then, but this weekend it was nice and quiet and relaxed. I made my way up some streets (not really knowing where I was going) and suddenly among all the tourist shops was a group of Orthodox Jews praying. By the signs it appears this was the place where a young jewish student was killed last week. The end of this street brought me out at Jaffa Gate, and then I wandered back down through the very quiet streets of the Christian quarter until I came out again at the bustling, happy marketplace at Damascus Gate with loads of noise and colour and music. All in all a fascinating little journey for a Saturday afternoon walk.
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