Day 2 - The way to the wall | Shorashim - Israel with Israelis

Day 2 - The way to the wall

We started off our first full day as a group bright and early with breakfast at 7:30. Then, we met for a quick group activity outside the hotel where we drew clocks on pieces of paper. We filled in the names of group members who we did not know next to each hour. These were out “dates” for later in the day when Shahar called that time out for bus rides. Then we took the bus to a trail in the mountains called Sataf. It was a beautiful hike through the mountains with an amazing view of Jerusalem. We stopped during the hike, and Shahar gave us an overview of the history of Jerusalem. We also were given maps of Israel to look at that we will decorate later. We continued our hike down to the ruins of an ancient village. We saw hundreds of olive trees along the way and stopped at the village’s spring, which it was built near for water. Some of us climbed into a cave to see where the water was coming from. It was a beautiful and fun hike to start the day off with.

After the hike we took the bus to the same overpass that we stopped at the first night: The Haas Promenade. We saw a beautiful view of Jerusalem in the sunlight. After some pictures, we took the bus to the first , or most modern,“layer” of Jerusalem: Independence Park. We walked through the park, and then Shahar told us about the development of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel when it became an independent nation. We then walked to the YMCA, which looks like the other ancient buildings in Jerusalem from the outside. We sat in the grass and ate Bamba and “bagels” (pretzel sticks).

After the YMCA, we went to Emek Refaim for lunch. Most of us ate falafel and shawarma and were really excited about it. Then we took a very nice long walk through New Jerusalem to the old city walls, where we stopped for more history from Shahar. We learned about how the walls protected the people who lived there from animals and bandits, which is why people were hesitant to expand outside of the city. Then, we walked through the gates into the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. We walked through the very windy and narrow paths. Then, Shahar told us to close our eyes. We were led somewhere, and when we opened our eyes we were all standing on a balcony overlooking the Western Wall at sunset. It was a beautiful and amazing experience, even for those of us who had seen the Wall before. Then, we wrote notes to put in the wall, and walked down from the balcony to the wall. The boys took a lot longer at the Wall because some members of the Chabad started dancing with them in a circle right in front of it. It was great. After the Wall we walked back to the bus and headed back to the hotel, all exhausted.

At the hotel we had time for showers and naps before dinner. After dinner we had another group activity, where we played some funny group games and split into small groups to talk about our long day in the amazing city of Jerusalem. We had a great first day- we all learned a lot about Jerusalem and Israel and our group has already had a lot of great times together on this amazing trip!

Jen.