Old City Jerusalem

(Sorry this is a couple of days late! Blogger has been having some issues so I couldn't post Jen's last letter; but here it is now):

Dear blog,

Here's a little taste of Old City, Jerusalem. This is by no means representative of the varied experiences that exist for the intrepid traveler, but it brought a little smile to my lips this afternoon.

Given vague instructions to visit "the Tomb of the Kings" and not knowing what it was, our group of five students searched out a green door in East Jerusalem where we were supposed to knock loudly for entry. Speaking through an intercom, we indicated that we would like to come inside, and a female voice said that they were open. We knew that a fee was required, so we offered 5 shekels per person for entry. The woman quickly revoked the "open" status and announced that they were closed for the day. We upped the bid to ten shekels per person, and she retorted that now they were closed--forever. Not knowing what to do (but now thoroughly intrigued as to what lay behind this green door), we debated about putting on our best foreign accents and approaching the woman with a new strategem.

As we were preparing to bargain again with the mysterious voice behind the intercom, a bus pulled onto the sidewalk and scattered us from our places at the door. A man hopped out and unlocked the door, took our ten shekels, and left us without explanation.

Bemused but satisfied, we wandered around a stone courtyard with a few watery tombs. It was an anti-climatic find after our exciting entry process, so, feeling like we were missing something, we called our professor for further instructions. He told us to find a hole under some messy looking scaffolding, which we did. A crate was covering an opening in the ground, and he said that we were to remove the crate and climb inside. It all seemed a little shifty, but we did as we were told, and by the dim lights of our camera flashes and cell phones, we explored a few rooms in an incredibly creepy old underground tomb. I still have no idea what it was and we will have to go back again with flashlights and more shekels to discover the place further, but it cheered my day considerably.

Happy Wednesday. This is life in Jerusalem.

Love, Jenny :)