Wednesday Adventures

You may have already noticed, but today is kind of a catch-up on my blogging day. 

I also realized I had only been posting my pictures to my Facebook, so people who are Facebook haven't been seeing the photos from this break. 

These pictures were taken on Wednesday, March 27th, 2013. We went out just looking for a little walk to the Mount of Olives and ended up walking all over the place. Going into churches. Wandering through tomb complexes. Seeing Augusta Victoria hospital. It was a very eventful day. 

I apologize for the order. It is a little scattered. 

The beginning of the Tsurim Valley.

A semi-old looking fountain at Augusta Victoria.

Looking down into the Tsurim Valley. You can see The Old City on the Left, and all of the new city on the right.

This is looking at the Augusta Victoria Hospital.

A more complete view of Augusta Victoria Hospital.

Looking at the "separation fence" (WALL) from the grounds at Augusta Victoria.

Another photo of the "separation fence" (WALL) and some fence.

A section of road/trail at the Augusta Victoria grounds. 

The view from the lookout spot. On the right you can see the "separation fence" (WALL) and in the back you can see the desert. 

Stairs that led up to a lookout spot on the grounds of Augusta Victoria.

The doors to Augusta Victoria Hospital. They appeared to have been once on the outside, but now a new structure is being erected around it, so there will be two sets of doors to go through.

If you look in the hazy distance you can see some mountains. Yeah, that's Jordan. The Dead Sea is in between, which you can very faintly see.

Here is the King's Valley Trail. We somehow ended up hiking along this for about an hour.

A goat. Not really much else to say about this one.

A cool window on the grounds of The Church of Agony. 

A statue of Jesus, praying in the garden.

The windows on the outside of The Church of Agony.

The grounds of The Church of Agony. Really old olive trees

The front door of The Church of Agony.

Coming around the corner to see the door.

Inside The Church of Agony. It was rather dark in the church. 

The tiled floor at The Church of Agony.

Coolest. Tabernacle. Ever.

We actually never saw the front since you enter from the side of the church. When we finally saw it, we thought, "Hello, awesome façade." 

All the pointy wrought iron fencing around the church.

Here is the outside of the Tomb of Virgin Mary.

The archway above the front entrance of the Tomb of Virgin Mary. 

The massive steps descending into the Tomb of Virgin Mary.

No album of mine is complete without a shot a burning candle. So, here you go world. 

Fancy golden incense and/or candle holders. None of the holders were in use, so for let's just say they were only for decoration.

Church of Mary Magdalene (with the gold onion domes) and The Church of Agony.

The Church of Agony. This was taken across the street on our way towards the Mount of Olives.

Mount of Olives. Yes. Lots and lots of dead people. Those are all graves, not just sand. Definitely not sand. 

I still have yet to get to The Church of Mary Magdalene. It is only open for 2 hours, and only open 2 days of the week. 

Stairs leading onto the Mount of Olives. Many, many tombs. 

Some tombs. Tomb of Zechariah (the one with the pyramid on top) and Tomb of Benehazeir (the one with columns). 

One of nine (I think) domes at The Church of Agony. This was the most central and ornate of the domes.