Last full day in Jerusalem

November 15th

We began our day by taking the city bus to Hadassah Hospital to see the Chagall  stained glass windows.  No photography is permitted, there are 12 windows for the 12 tribes of Israel.  Here's a website: http://www.casaisrael.com/chagall_windows.htm

view of Jerusalem from Yad Vashem

Next, and with great importance, we visited the Yad Vashem Museum - a history of the holocaust.  We were there for 4 hours, could easily spend an entire day there.  The museum was excellent, very well done and huge.  It's free, which is good because it's an important thing that everyone going to Israel should visit.  Filled with photos, interview from survivors and artifacts, it testifies to life preWW2, during and post.  A piece of history visited by many, all silent, some with tears, forever changed.
I've read much about the holocaust over the years, I've felt it an important thing to know about, perhaps an effort to keep the memory alive of the 6 million who suffered and died in such horror.  And it saddens me to think of the genocides that have taken place since 1945 and the world has stood by and allowed - darfur, kosovo, rwanda, to name a few.

6,000,000 murdered

inside Tower of David (Herod's palace)

Our last stop was the Tower of David Museum which focused on the history of jerusalem.  

Now I sit on our hostel roof top, the sun is setting, the muslim call to prayer has just finished and I'm enjoying the cool breeze.  The hostel sells sleeping-spots on the roof, all numbered.  Easily 30 people sleep up here each night.

designated sleeping spots on roof, all numbered

Taxi drivers here see us with our backpacks and are alway honking at us to see if we want a ride.  I much preferred the  Egyptian way of calling out the window, "taxi, taxi".  The drivers here are also quick to react to other drivers, honking at the slightest wrong move, even when it's obvious that the driver is fixing their error.

Soon I'll go buy some more pastries, have leftovers for supper and pack my bag.  Tomorrow morning we'll visit the Dome of the Rock, then head to the bus station for our trip up to the Roman theatre at Beit She'an, then on to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee for the night.

My trip will soon be over, it's truly has been an opportunity of a life time, I'm so glad.