Old City Jerusalem.

Martin and I woke up early to be ready for our friends to pick us up.  Uri and Tali were taking us on a tour of Old City Jerusalem.

Left, is the photo of Tali taken around Ashkenazi Square.  Right, the photo of Martin, myself and Uri at the Jaffa Gate.

Tali and Uri gave Martin and I a great tour of the Old City.  Below is a little fuzzy photo of a typical market street:

As we slowly made our way around the Old City, looking at all the things that I could stuff my suitcase with.  I decided to not buy much, knowing that I would drive security crazy at Ben Gurion.  We found our self in the Muslim Quarter.  I was not 100% comfortable, but being with friends I was "grinin' and bearing" where I was.  We steped outside of the Damascus Gate:

Next, Tali and Uri took Martin and I up to the roof of the old Austrian Hospice.  The only drawback was the elevator in the Hospice was not working.  That ment climbing a few flight of stairs.  I am not fond of climbing stairs at the moment, but I knew it was worth it.

Tali and Uri tried to see if we could walk up on the Temple Mount, but I guess we came on the "wrong day."  I was upset, but tried not to show it.  I was not happy being at the whim of a Muslim, I wanted to walk on the Temple Mount.  This was as close as we could go:

As we made our way around the Old City, we just had to take a trip back to the Western Wall.  No trip to Jerusalem is complete with out a trip to the Western Wall.  Here is Martin, Uri and Tali in the Western Wall Plaza:

Here is another great shot to show you how large the stones of the Western Wall are:

Martin celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall (could not think of a better location.)

Here is a small synagogue located on the Western Wall Plaza.  I was impressed to see how many people were there praying.  Uri told me that the large wooden structure was the Ark of The Torah:

 Next, Uri and Tali took Martin and I to a great observation point that gave us a great view of the Western Wall Plaza and the archeological dig underneath:

Next we toured the Roman Cardo (street) near the Western Wall.  In the first picture is how the Cardo looked:

Here is a view of a synagogue that was originally destroyed in the 1948 War, and recently rebuilt: