First of all I'm sorry but due to technical difficulties I don't think I'll be posting pictures on this blog. Those Of you on Facebook can check out the pics there or for those of you not on Facebook (hi Mom and Dad), I'll email them to you.
This morning we tried to sleep off the last of our jet lag and didn't leave the hotel until 11:30. I'll remember this fondly when our group leaves the hotel at 8am tomorrow. After walking through the very modern Mamilla mall and having a bite to eat, we headed for Old Jerusalem. After entering at the Jaffa gate we then did the walk of the Ramparts which was a cool trek across the roof Of the old city along the stone ramparts that date back to the 15th century. Lots of steps, ladders, etc and after passing the Armenian quarter and the Kirk Douglas sports complex, we ended up in the Jewish quarter and more specifically the western wall. We ran into our friends the wildmanns there, Hugo and I took the boys to the "men's side" (which included an indoor portion that was at least 20 degrees cooler than outside) and Samantha, Laura and Leah went to the women's side. The boys seemed a bit intimidated in the beginning but eventually became comfortable. Afterwards we had cold drinks, walked back to the hotel through the Cardo, ( a mostly underground shopping district with everything from fine art to funky tee shirts).
After a dip in the pool we met up with our group of 70 friends from temple beth Abraham in Oakland as well as our rabbi and the tour guides. Tonight we had an initial orientation to the tour ahead and a meal so that we could all see our friends. Tonight Sam went with some of the other adults to see a laser light show in the old city and I stayed back with a fee other parents to watch the kids and relax. Wake up call is 6:30 tomorrow!
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