The Ramparts Walk and the Wailing Wall

Today was our free day, aka no classes, in Jerusalem, yay :) We all decided to go to the Ramparts walk after exchanging our american money into shekels from Aladdin in the old city (yes that is his real name haha)

Paying to go on the ramparts walk basically means you get to climb up to the top of the ancient walls surrounding the old city and walk around the border of Jerusalem. It took about five hours to finish the entire thing, but it was so much fun! The views were incredible and it was amazing to experience the city from this angle.

Half way around the wall we took a break and stopped at the Wailing/Western Wall. This was a site I was really excited to see. It was amazing to see how many little prayer scrolls were shoved into the wall, considering they clear them out every single day, and to see the jews pressed up against the wall, rocking back and forth.

After we finished going around the entire wall, we stopped and visited the catholic church where Mary Magdalene's tomb is supposedly housed. The church was almost cave-like and dark, but it had some gorgeous ornate artwork and you could tell that this spot was very sacred and special to many of the visitors there.

Mary's Tomb