OK. Where do we begin?... What a crazy day!
Travel across the King Hussein bridge to Jerusalem from Amman is an adventure on its own. I for one, will never complain about waiting at the Thousand Islands bridge or the Cornwall bridge between Canada and the USA ever again!
It took us 5 hours to travel the distance of about 80 kilometers, and it wasn't that busy.
We got to the terminal on the Jordanian side and were processed by the authorities there pretty quickly. Had to buy a ticket and get on a bus...there is no crossing here on foot. As we were sitting on the bus waiting to depart, I noticed 2 familiar faces come around the corner. Sarah and Sarah from the Wadi Rum desert. It was nice to see them again.
We were expecting a huge, spectacular bridge. Not so! It's pretty underwhelming as far as bridges go actually; and quite short. We crossed the bridge in the bus pretty quickly...that wasn't so bad, right?!? WRONG!!!
We get to the first Israeli security check point on the shuttle bus and the bus driver "chats" with the official. He turns the bus around and drives back across the bridge to start again in another line that is moving at a glacial pace. Ahhh that's more like what we expected... Creep creep creep... natives getting restless on the bus. Some busses pass us and get through no problem... THAT'S NOT FAIR!...I'm thinking..ahh shut up Jamie... I'm sure they really care what you think is fair or not!
Anyway...we finally get through the first checkpoint and then had to wait at the second for another half hour. Not in Israel yet though. Now for immigration. As soon as you step off the bus there is a dude..yep dude, jeans t shirt sunglasses, standing there with an M16 machine gun. We go through 1 passport check at the office, do some explaining show passports then get pointed to security scan. Dy gets shuffled through first and shows a man in the booth just beyond the scanner our passports. Now I'm told to go through the scanner. The moment I'm through, the guy at the booth says "What are you doing? Go back through, and sit over there!!!" I wanted to say..., Ahhh never mind actaully...those that know me, know what I wanted to say - instead I said nothing, walked through and sat down. They're armed, I'm not. About 10 minutes later I am brought through with a security official to a 4 foot by 4 foot room. This is what my uncle Steve was telling me to be prepared for. (FYI... Uncle Steve served in the Golan Heights in the Canadian army for 2 years). My new friend draws the curtains...
I can't talk about what went on in that room or I risk.... Ha! Just kidding! He was really cool, and just scanned me with the manual scanner and that was it! Another line up and passport check... Phew, this one is actually the official immigration! We asked that they not put an Israeli stamp in our passport, as it could complicate the entry into other countries. Instead we get this cool visa card.
Yay... We're through! Israel finally! Jerusalem here we come! We get on a bus on the Israeli side, after a little wait we're off. We drive along the highway for about 15 minutes, then we pull into a highway checkpoint. A young lady no older than 25 gets on the bus in full military gear complete with M16 machine gun to check our passports. I wanted to snap a quick picture...buuut I assumed she wasn't a simple tourist attraction and decided against it. All was good and we were off.
Twenty minutes later we arrive in front of the Domascus gate entrance to the old city of Jerusalem. All totally worth it!
Jerusalem is a religious city for many major religions and you can really feel it, see it and hear it. You can get your history lesson here if you wish.
We entered the old city through Domascus gate and were immediately placed into the Arabic quarter. To be honest it wasn't at all what we expected. Shops galore. Selling everything from cheezy T Shirts to nuts and figs. We carried on straight through what seemed like the endless souks you find all over the Arab world. Then finally a tunnel and some open space. Oh..there it is, the western "wailing wall". To be honest I know it's a very important Jewish pilgrimage, but not much more than that. That's OK. It gives me reason to read and understand more. Because of this I didn't think it was appropriate for me to turn it into a simple tourist attraction, so I decided I would just watch the rituals and praying from afar. There was some sort of military swearing in ceremony going on that day and they were handing out machine guns to new military recruits. There were literally hundreds of them! It was very strange to see, I have to say.
From the wall we headed through more alley ways zig zagging, up and down. Then finally we found the Christian quarter. We walked in to a shop, and bought some post cards. We asked the sales clerk if he could point me in the direction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was right around the corner. We walked through this place in absolute awe. The history alone of what went on here and memories of Sunday school/ catechism classes came rushing back. There's not really much more I can put into words because we're still processing it really.
From there we wandered the streets up and down looking for the rest of the stations of the cross as 5 of them were in the church. (Dy and I do things backwards at times). We eventually found all of them as we wandered our way down the Via Dolorosa. What an experience that was!
We spent the rest of our time walking the streets, just taking it all in. Honestly there's obviously soooo much more to do in Jerusalem, but we didn't really plan enough for it all.
Earlier in the day on the bus we met a nice German couple that were doing the same "simple" day trip we were. They had a car and offered to give us a ride back to Amman when we returned to the border from Israel. We met with them after the day in Jerusalem and haggled with the cab driver for what we knew was a decent price (for tourists). Thee processing back into Jordan was pretty easy (a cakewalk in comparison to the way there!)). A short entertaining drive back to Amman with our German friends (dankeschön George!)
And that's it. Jerusalem in a day! Easy right!?!
OK OK...blah blah blah Jamie! We want to see some pictures... Here you go...
You may notice the last few blog posts, it looks like the camera lens is dirty, but it's actually light sand in the air when the wind picks up at night.
Oh, and yes Dad, I did save a few Sheckles!
At the end of the bus ride back over the bridge a nice Muslim lady asked Dy how she enjoyed her trip to Palestine... Not the time or place for that discussion...
Travel across the King Hussein bridge to Jerusalem from Amman is an adventure on its own. I for one, will never complain about waiting at the Thousand Islands bridge or the Cornwall bridge between Canada and the USA ever again!
It took us 5 hours to travel the distance of about 80 kilometers, and it wasn't that busy.
We got to the terminal on the Jordanian side and were processed by the authorities there pretty quickly. Had to buy a ticket and get on a bus...there is no crossing here on foot. As we were sitting on the bus waiting to depart, I noticed 2 familiar faces come around the corner. Sarah and Sarah from the Wadi Rum desert. It was nice to see them again.
We were expecting a huge, spectacular bridge. Not so! It's pretty underwhelming as far as bridges go actually; and quite short. We crossed the bridge in the bus pretty quickly...that wasn't so bad, right?!? WRONG!!!
We get to the first Israeli security check point on the shuttle bus and the bus driver "chats" with the official. He turns the bus around and drives back across the bridge to start again in another line that is moving at a glacial pace. Ahhh that's more like what we expected... Creep creep creep... natives getting restless on the bus. Some busses pass us and get through no problem... THAT'S NOT FAIR!...I'm thinking..ahh shut up Jamie... I'm sure they really care what you think is fair or not!
Anyway...we finally get through the first checkpoint and then had to wait at the second for another half hour. Not in Israel yet though. Now for immigration. As soon as you step off the bus there is a dude..yep dude, jeans t shirt sunglasses, standing there with an M16 machine gun. We go through 1 passport check at the office, do some explaining show passports then get pointed to security scan. Dy gets shuffled through first and shows a man in the booth just beyond the scanner our passports. Now I'm told to go through the scanner. The moment I'm through, the guy at the booth says "What are you doing? Go back through, and sit over there!!!" I wanted to say..., Ahhh never mind actaully...those that know me, know what I wanted to say - instead I said nothing, walked through and sat down. They're armed, I'm not. About 10 minutes later I am brought through with a security official to a 4 foot by 4 foot room. This is what my uncle Steve was telling me to be prepared for. (FYI... Uncle Steve served in the Golan Heights in the Canadian army for 2 years). My new friend draws the curtains...
I can't talk about what went on in that room or I risk.... Ha! Just kidding! He was really cool, and just scanned me with the manual scanner and that was it! Another line up and passport check... Phew, this one is actually the official immigration! We asked that they not put an Israeli stamp in our passport, as it could complicate the entry into other countries. Instead we get this cool visa card.
Yay... We're through! Israel finally! Jerusalem here we come! We get on a bus on the Israeli side, after a little wait we're off. We drive along the highway for about 15 minutes, then we pull into a highway checkpoint. A young lady no older than 25 gets on the bus in full military gear complete with M16 machine gun to check our passports. I wanted to snap a quick picture...buuut I assumed she wasn't a simple tourist attraction and decided against it. All was good and we were off.
Twenty minutes later we arrive in front of the Domascus gate entrance to the old city of Jerusalem. All totally worth it!
Jerusalem is a religious city for many major religions and you can really feel it, see it and hear it. You can get your history lesson here if you wish.
We entered the old city through Domascus gate and were immediately placed into the Arabic quarter. To be honest it wasn't at all what we expected. Shops galore. Selling everything from cheezy T Shirts to nuts and figs. We carried on straight through what seemed like the endless souks you find all over the Arab world. Then finally a tunnel and some open space. Oh..there it is, the western "wailing wall". To be honest I know it's a very important Jewish pilgrimage, but not much more than that. That's OK. It gives me reason to read and understand more. Because of this I didn't think it was appropriate for me to turn it into a simple tourist attraction, so I decided I would just watch the rituals and praying from afar. There was some sort of military swearing in ceremony going on that day and they were handing out machine guns to new military recruits. There were literally hundreds of them! It was very strange to see, I have to say.
From the wall we headed through more alley ways zig zagging, up and down. Then finally we found the Christian quarter. We walked in to a shop, and bought some post cards. We asked the sales clerk if he could point me in the direction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was right around the corner. We walked through this place in absolute awe. The history alone of what went on here and memories of Sunday school/ catechism classes came rushing back. There's not really much more I can put into words because we're still processing it really.
From there we wandered the streets up and down looking for the rest of the stations of the cross as 5 of them were in the church. (Dy and I do things backwards at times). We eventually found all of them as we wandered our way down the Via Dolorosa. What an experience that was!
We spent the rest of our time walking the streets, just taking it all in. Honestly there's obviously soooo much more to do in Jerusalem, but we didn't really plan enough for it all.
Earlier in the day on the bus we met a nice German couple that were doing the same "simple" day trip we were. They had a car and offered to give us a ride back to Amman when we returned to the border from Israel. We met with them after the day in Jerusalem and haggled with the cab driver for what we knew was a decent price (for tourists). Thee processing back into Jordan was pretty easy (a cakewalk in comparison to the way there!)). A short entertaining drive back to Amman with our German friends (dankeschön George!)
And that's it. Jerusalem in a day! Easy right!?!
OK OK...blah blah blah Jamie! We want to see some pictures... Here you go...
Bus across the King Hussein bridge
Checkpoint along bridge route
Domascus gate into old Jerusalem
One of many gates inside.
Western "wailing" Wall
Israeli recruits gettin' their guns...
10th Station
13th Station. Stone of the Anointment... ("Well behive" is what my Father in Law Ron is probably saying right now).
Entrance to the Tomb of Jesus
3rd station. Jesus falls for the first time
5th Station. Simon forced to carry cross
Why Not!?! (and No... I didn't). I noticed the bike first actually.
Must have been the pre Axl version of the band. I'm sure they would have blown Axl "Guns n Roses" out of the water!
How modern kings navigate.
Walls of old Jerusalem from outside.
Oh, and yes Dad, I did save a few Sheckles!
At the end of the bus ride back over the bridge a nice Muslim lady asked Dy how she enjoyed her trip to Palestine... Not the time or place for that discussion...