Day 15 - Old Jerusalem, the Western Wall and the Holocaust Memorial

Early wake up call today in order to make it to the old city and explore the tunnels at the base of the western wall (apparently you have to make reservations 6 months in advance in order to get a 10 minute window to start your tour)

About to enter the Old City

Hard to picture (in this picture) but the block to the right just in front of Samantha is over 500 tons (the size of two 747s)

Just a little clostophobic down here but Sheryl didn't have to duck

Samantha placing her special payer in the western wall

Back in the daylight again we saw the portion of the Western Wall open to the public for prayers and reflection.

At the western wall

We’ll be back again on Sunday as the Jewish people welcome in Shabbat here.

And we had a little time to do some shopping in Old Jerusalem

From the Old city we went to the Military Cemetery on Mt Herzl where, in addition to the military, a number of Prime Ministers and leaders of Israel are also buried.

And finally we visited the National Memorial to the Holocaust. I won’t post any pictures of this but would recommend anyone visiting Jerusalem stop by here for at least an hour. Over 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during WWII. 90% of the European Jews were eradicated because of Hitler. No matter what religion or race you are, a genocide of this proportion should never happen again. Lest we Forget.

Tomorrow is the day we have all been waiting for, Samantha’s Bat Mitzvah. Stay tuned.