The Dung Gate

Before coming back into Israel we were reminded (as we had been by our Jordanian tour guides) by our Palestinian tour guide that we were welcome in the Arab/ Muslim world and that they along with the Israelis longed for peace among all people.

During our first trip to the Old City, we entered in through the Dung Gate - the lowest in elevation of all the gates - where the "city dump" had been located in previous generations.
From there we went to the East side of the former temple mount (the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim mosque now sits there) and sat on the original 15 steps leading up to the Temple.

Since today was a full day, we raced off behind our tour guides to a spot where we saw the Western Wall (mistakenly named the Wailing Wall, by the British). Before we could think about
approaching it along with other pray-ers, we were whisked off into an underground world of tunnels literally running along the buried portion of the Western Wall. As we ran our hands along its smooth surface and noted its exemplary craftsmanship, the largest stone was pointed out to us - 30 ft. long and 500 tons. Re-emerging to the modern world we re-traced our steps above ground through market streets. We were led back to the Western Wall where we each were allowed time to meditate and pray. We even got to leave our prayers on paper wedged between the cracks.