Day 8

Today we began the day with a short walk from our hotel to St Georges Cathedral.  

  This very English-looking building was built in the late 19th Century and today serve the local Palestinian Christian population, as well as pilgrims and tourists.  The service was conducted in both English and Arabic, and was very moving.  The experience of worshipping alongside the "living stones" of this land is one that I know many of us will remember for a long time.  

The preacher was Rev Hosam Naoum, the Dean of Jerusalem.  Rev Hosam will be spending some time with us tomorrow evening in the hotel to give us an insight into what the experience is like of living in this land today for his Palestinian congregation. We then went to the Western (wailing) wall

And the Ophel Excavations

While we were here, the heavens opened, so we went on for lunch - intending to visit the City of David and Hezekiahs tunnel afterward.  However, the traffic was so bad that we have had to postpone this until tomorrow...😒  Still, while some were taken back to the hotel, others had the opportunity to explore the Jewish quarter if the Old City, and we are all happy and relaxed-flexibility always has to be our watchword when on pilgrimage in this land! So...tomorrow it's City of David, then the Dead Sea and surrounding region.