October 23, Yad Veshem, Dead Sea Scrolls, Old City again

Our first day with the tour proper. A knowledgeable guide and some good company a relief since you never know!


Our first stop was Yad Yeshem. It is their Holocaust museum. Obviously a lot of thought put into the memorial but altogether depressing.
An interesting museum of the events leading up to and about the camps. There was also an exhibit of the dead sea scrolls. Unfortunately it was Friday (Shabbat) and the entire country (the Jewish part at least) closes up until Saturday at dusk. So we got run out before we were ready to leave. Guess who was the last one out.










Then off to the Israeli national Museum. A little disappointing since most of it was under construction. There was fascinating model of Jerusalem in 67 AD based on Josephus' writings. This was just prior to the Romans destroying the city and temple after the revolt in 66 BC.









Following the recapture of the city in 1967 the Israelis found that the Jewish quarter of the old city had been destroyed through neglect and vandalism. While rebuilding it they realized the archeological value of what they were finding so they built many of the buildings over the ruins that they found. This is part of the Cardio that ran north to south through the entire city from the (now) Damascus gate.






Here is a part that is near the southern end of old Roman Jerusalem. The columns lined the street and a wooden frame is in place to cover the sidewalk. Where the wall is had shops in many places. Here it is believed that this is a retaining wall instead of shops. You can clearly see other locations where the shops were. It look very much like what the old city shops look like today.

Following this Dolly and I did some shopping and ate dinner in the same restaurant form the first night. Tea, hummus and falafel sandwiches, as close to a national snack as you can get. Then back to the hotel.