Gram's Musings

Friday, February 5, 2016

Day 8 Big Breakfast

Morning of Day 8

More shots in and around new hotel

Eureka!!!! I finally found bacon

Now this is a breakfast

New group from England came to our hotel and they were short a room and so the whole group threatened to leave. I offered to move and the hotel wiped out all my incidentals and they put me up at a luxury hotel down the street (The American Colony Hotel) - didn't like to move hotels away from group but it was a nice consolation

feel like I'm back in US at a Four Seasons

End of night and dinner back at the Christmas Hotel with rest of the group

Outside of Caiaphas' House / Stone steps walked on by Jesus

DAY 7: STOP 29

Great pano outside of Caiaphas' House. I often wonder how people would look at me if I had a prison in my house - probably wouldn't get many people to come over and hang out

The steps below were used by Jesus to walk up from the Garden at Gethsemane to his imprisonment here.

Mount Zion

DAY 7: STOP 26

This map gives a good perspective of where we are and have been

Beautiful pics and panoramas on eastern slope of Mt. Zion.

Honestly Father Peter told us about so many things that happened here my brain was incapable of retaining all this information - trust me a lot of really interesting sites of "Biblical Proportions" - no pun intended

Guard Room - Prison @ Caiaphas House

DAY 7: STOP 28

Now to the underground caves - guard room, prison and pit where Jesus was held

Photogrid of the prison under the house and guard station - it is believed Peter was also held here with his hands and legs shackled and spread apart

Here is the guard station where the guard could look below and check on Jesus in the pit and also see the other prisoners including Barabbas

Now to the Sacred Pit

Psalm 88 with the group at the bottom of the Sacred Pit

Pic below- I am looking up at the hole that they dropped Jesus through - nice view Father Peter as well

“I am reckoned with those who go down to the pit; I am like a warrior without strength. My couch is among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave. You remember them no more; they are cut off from your influence. You plunge me into the bottom of the pit, into the darkness of the abyss. Your wrath lies heavy upon me; all your waves crash over me. Selah”

Psalms 88:5-8

Apostle James (more from Armenian section)

Visiting Armenian Quarter where the remains of the Apostle James lie. The Armenians don't use bells - instead they clack wood and other things.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Tower of David Citadel Museum

Tower of David Museum on our way to Mt. Zion in the Armenian quarter of Jeruselem.

Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu (Denial by Peter)

DAY 7: STOP 27

Walked over to Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu - Catholic church located on the eastern slope of Mount Zion, just outside the Old (walled) City of Jerusalem and near where we visited the Cenacle (Upper Room) of the Last Supper – Gallicantu is Latin for “cock's crow” in commemoration of Peter's triple denial

A Byzantine shrine dedicated to Peter's repentance was erected on this spot in 457 AD, but was destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1010. The chapel was rebuilt by Crusaders in 1102 and given its present name. After the fall of Jerusalem the church again fell into ruin and was not rebuilt until 1931 - Today a golden rooster protrudes prominently from the sanctuary roof in honor of its biblical connection

Statue of golden rooster below

Check out this ceiling in its own pic

This is also House of the High Priest Caiaphas. Another way to get here as referenced in biblical times is going up to the Old City from the Pool of Siloam along the eastern slope of Mount Zion

Jesus was imprisoned here and dropped into a dark cave below Caiaphas' House.