In my first few hours I managed to climb the supremely narrow stair case passed the bells to the top of the tower of hte Divine Redeemer. And saw the entire city laid out.
From their I had to beat of another person seeking to take me on a city tour for like 200 shekels. It is this annoying thing that these guys do, they sit around the city looking for people who look lost and they keep offering to take you on a city tour in their broken English. "I am a school teacher, I live here my whole life." yada, yada. I had trouble shaking one of them off when I told him I was planning on going on the free tour offered he said, "fine you keep making the rich richer." In the end I did go on a tour of the Mount of Olives through the same company with their certified guides and much better english for 70 sheks which is about $20. So for anyone planning to visit the Holy city DO NOT ACCEPT tours from these guys on street corners they are trying to overcharge you and do not know the city well enough to pass the exam and become a legal licensed city guide.
Anyway irrelevant tangent over, after shaking off the angry would be tour leaders, I headed over to the church of the Holy Sceplcure. I know that for many faiths this is considered one of the most holy sites in Jerusalem. It mostly felt confusing and sad, it felt almost completely tense, like the church was caught in the middle of this ancient turf war and each faith was so consumed in jealous protection of their site they had forgotten about the place itself. The building was worn down, and it had just stuff randomly stored in hallways and behind doors,nothing was lit or labeled and it did not feel much like a church at all. Fortunately my early hour left the church mostly empty, but I had no idea what I was supposed to be seeing.
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