Zedekiah's Cave and Sephardic Synagogues

Good news! I actually went out into the city today! I surprised myself because I've been feeling so tired the past couple of days and have had a hard time waking up in the morning. (Left - outside of Zedekiah's Cave, also known as Solomon's Quarry). In fact, I didn't want to get up today. I figured after class I would go back to bed and sleep for awhile, but instead I went out.
I'm really glad I did, though. It felt so nice to get out of the Jerusalem Center. Besides field trips, my stints in the emergency clinic, and my ultrasound visit, this was my first time out of the center since before Egypt. It was such a relief.
We went first to a place called Zedekiah's Cave. It cost 10 NIS to get in. Then we went exploring. (Right - me inside of Zedekiah's Cave). Most of the places were well lit with paths, but we managed to find a little place to the side that went up and down where not many people have traveled. Sometimes we were crawling through tight spaces. (Left - Standing on the Roman Main Street in the Old City). It was really fun, though we got very dirty (I'm sure you can tell from the pictures if you pay attention). We even found a place that said do not enter. There were skulls painted on the wall. We didn't go down there, though it was tempting. We figured the skulls probably meant there was poison gas down there or something like that. Plus, there were cockroaches and spiders down that hole.
After that, we decided to go do something else. We decided to find the synagogues in the Jewish Quarter. As we were walking, we saw the Cardo. I had never seen the Cardo before. It is the Roman main road that was part of the city during Christ's time. We went down there and walked on it a little. It has been reconstructed, but a lot of it was the original stone (from what I understand).
That didn't take long and we were once again off to find the synagogues. (Right - one of the Sephardic synagogues). We found one and went in. In our group there were two girls and two guys. We didn't realize that the entrance to this synagogue was for men only, and went in. There was a rabbi or someone inside that shooed us out. He told us to go around, but we couldn't find another entrance. But, I did get a look inside.
Then we went to a group of 4 Sephardic Synagogues dating back to the 16th century. Those were interesting, but we had to pay 5 NIS each to get in. (Left - While walking around the Old City, we saw this staircase which a lot of people were coming down. We decided to see what was up there and headed up. It just went onto the rooftops, but we could see holy sites for the three major religions in Jerusalem. We could see the Dome of the Rock, the Hurva Synagogue, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Besides that, we could see the Russian Orthodox Church and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. It was very interesting. It was a nice little rest stop). I don't really think it was worth it. There wasn't much to see, but oh well, it was still interesting.
After that, we walked through the Old City to get some lunch. I had my second falafel and it was much, much better than the first. (Right - while walking around the Old City, I wanted a picture of this street. I asked my traveling companions to show their faces and this is what I got. From left to right: Danny, Ashley, and Rich). It was actually really good. After our quick lunch, we contemplated going to see something else, but we didn't have as much time as we would have liked, so we came back to the center instead. I was pretty wiped out by the time we got back, so it was probably a good thing. I still need to take it easy so I don't have a relapse.
P.S. I had my Ultrasound report translated today and I am stone free!! Let's hope I stay that way!