Old City with Dad

To get to the Old City from our hotel, we walked through Mamilla Mall because it was faster. And then... a miracle happened. You see, I shop with my mom and sister a lot. But my dad's not really a shopper (that might be an exaggeration). The few times that we've been to a clothes store together, he's patiently waiting for us to be done. Usually on vacations, he just opts for a nap while we go shopping. But I guess Israel changes something about this dynamic, because already in the last two days he'd been to two malls and shopped in the Old City with me.

When we walked though Mamilla Mall on this day, it was his idea to go into a store. I think he was swayed by the name of the store- it was called Golf. But the clothes didn't have anything to do with golf. It was a really good store! I'd been admiring the clothes there during my summer in Israel.

And then...we both tried clothes on and found something we liked. He bought shorts, and I got a shirt. Who would have ever thought that would happen? Such a unique moment in our daddy-daughter vacation. It made my day!

The first site we went to on Day 3 was the Citadel. It's a medieval fortress with a museum about the history of Jerusalem inside of it (the Tower of David museum).

There are archeological excavations (they seem to be really in to those in this country) in the middle that you can walk around.

One of the coolest parts of the Citadel was walking on its walls to get great views of the city.

This is the tower of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (we went there later that day!). And the BYU JC is in the background.

The grey domes on the left are the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We went there too.

And of course the famous Dome. We had already gone there the day before!

The museum had different rooms devoted to different eras in Jerusalem history. It was kind of fun to review some things I learned this summer in my classes. I liked how the museum wasn't super big. It was just the right size! And really, the views and walking around the ruins were the coolest part.

Our next activity for the day was walking around the ramparts of the Old City walls. You can walk around about half of the Old City on a tiny little walkway on top of the medieval walls. There were lots of old, uneven stairs and lots of sun, but it was totally worth it! How often can you walk on ramparts in Jerusalem?

View of an Arab neighborhood from the walls:

Since it was Friday, Jewish things start closing down for the Sabbath in the afternoon. So I skillfully planned to visit Christian sites in the afternoon. We went to the Church of the Redeemer and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (where Catholics believe Christ's tomb was). 

Then we headed to the site that many Protestants believe to be to location of Christ's tomb- the Garden Tomb. The Garden Tomb is beautiful, but it's not ancient and full of history like the Holy Sepulchre.

After relaxing at the hotel for a little while, we got some dinner and headed to the Western Wall to party for Shabbat. I think I've already written about the Western Wall a few times. I still love it. This time I had to say goodbye, so that was a little sad. It was really fun to show my dad how crazy it is there on Friday nights. He said it was his favorite thing we did in Israel.

Goodbye, Western Wall! I hope I see you again someday.

And then...I fell asleep for the last time in Jerusalem. Sigh, my last night in this amazing city. During the last few weeks of the BYU program, I was ready to go home. But these days with my dad were so fun that I stopped wanting to leave. Okay, now I'm just making myself homesick for Jerusalem.