Monday was a very long day of walking.  The bus dropped us off at 7:45am on top of the Mount of Olives, and we walked in and around the old city of Jerusalem all day.  But it was well worth it.  Below is a picture of Old Jerusalem from atop the Mount of Olives.  In the lower foreground you can see the top of the original wall of the city.  This is the view Jesus would have of the city when he would come into town from east, as he typically would when staying at the home of Mary and Martha.  Below us on the slops of the hill was a large ancient cemetery with the feet of the crypts facing the temple in anticipation of the return of the Messiah.  These are people who wanted a front row seat at the resurrection of the saints.

 Below is the garden of Gethsemane.  The is the place where Jesus prayed on the night he was arrested.  Next to it is a church build over the rock that Jesus prayed over that night.  There was a mass going on inside the church so we did not get a good look, but the rock is under the alter in the front of the church.

 This is the remains of the pool of Bethesda.  This is the place where Jesus healed the man who had been lame since birth.  St. Ann's church is next to this place.  St. Ann is the traditional mother of Mary, therefore the grandmother of Jesus.

 This is inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  The picture below is the traditional site of the crucifixion.  People were standing in line for hours (not us) to touch the stone beneath the alter as it supposedly had Jesus blood spilled on it.

 Below is the ancient City of David.  This is inside old Jerusalem and the original city build by King David after taking over as King of Israel.  The ruins in the foreground are of the original palace of David.

 

This is the walk up the Via Dolorosa.  It was totally lined with shops and very crowded.  This is one of 4 possible routes that Jesus walked from the place of the trial to the site of the Crucifixion.  

 We walked through Hezekiah's tunnel.  This was the tunnel that connected the highest point of the city to the springs outside the city to provide water.  Hezekiah built this 1600 foot long tunnel as the Assyrian's were bearing down on the city to secretly secure the water supply to prevent them from cutting of the water.  This was a common means of capturing a city at that time.

 

This is the pool of Siloam.  This is where the tunnel above comes out, at the lowest end of the city.  It is the place where Jesus healed the man born blind.