It was early and Herod’s Gate was already a busy place.

People were bustling, heading out on important errands: with eggs and bread.

Shops were open.

Traffic Jam on the Via Dolorosa.

Our first destination was St. Anne’s Church, a Crusader era church with exquisite acoustics. We sang a few songs.

Outside the church are the excavated ruins of the Pools of Bethesda, where a healing miracle took place during Jesus’ ministry.

Residents of the Old City.

We walked along the remains of the Cardo, the main street of Roman Jerusalem.

Just before lunch we visited the Shorashim store and met Moshe who talked with us about the Jewish faith. At lunch, a visit with Ellen, who was our guide on two previous visits. The previous evening at our hotel I had run into Tom, another guide from a previous trip. It’s good to see old friends when traveling.

After lunch, a visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum.

In the Valley of the Communities, where each Eurasian city with a devastated Jewish community is remembered, I was surprised to see the guard from the entrance join us and listen raptly as our guide, Shlomo, shared with us his personal family story of the Holocaust.

The always sobering visit was even more so this time, in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine and its millions of refugees.

We returned to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Southeastern corner evidences the many different eras of wall construction and reconstruction.

The Southwestern corner was “the place of the trumpeting.”

Below the southwestern corner are the remains of the first century street. Shops were located to the left, and the large stones hurled down by Romans during the Temple destruction remain where they fell.

The southern steps would have been the approach to the temple that Jesus and his disciples would have taken during the first century.

The southern entrance to the temple is now blocked.

As always, John DeLancey connected the site to the Scriptures to give us the important context of where we were sitting. A great way to end the day.