A visit to Jerusalem - July 2014

Looking up in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Tiles on the ceilings

I absolutely loved walking around in the Old City Jerusalem. 

 

Beautiful passageways everywhere

Star of David

The Western wall - or Wailing Wall - is the last remnant of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem 

Overlook of Jerusalem

People at the wailing wall

Only men could approach the wall on the left.  The women were separated by a fence and could approach on the right.

We had fun walking through all the obscure passages

The door to the right was where we stayed

The gold dome is a muslim mosque situated where the Holy of Holies was in the original temple

News was spreading

The courtyard of our guesthouse

I'm not even sure what all is in this dish.  It's what every restaurant served so we ate it multiple times.  Hummus, chicken kabob, veggies, pita bread... it was good!

We heard that names ending with "ian" are typically Armenian.

 

 

Visit to Jordan July 2014

Flying over a pretty vast desert

It struck me odd to see houses here and there without any landscaping or nearby stores, etc.

A visit to Petra

The canyon walls reminded me of Utah

A city carved into the rocks

These look like homes to me but they say they were tombs

Wow, this was amazing

How did they get up there?

A lot of rock and not many trees

It's funny to watch a camel stand up and the rider try not to fall off

The Treasury

I asked this girl if I could take her picture and she wanted Tori with her

Stepping into the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized

We visited a place that makes carvings form olive wood.  The workers are mostly disabled and are glad to be hired for work.

Unfinished camels

Everyone at their stations working.  This woman is sanding.