Why isn't falafel served at every meal?

FIRST OFFICIAL DAY OUT IN THE CITY !!

     Today was our first free day and we were all gone as soon as breakfast was over. I went with a group to see the Dome of the Rock, which is the beautiful blue building with the gold roof you see in every photo. The tiles up at the base of where the dome part of the building begins are painted with verses from the Qur'an of Mohammed's Night Journey from Mecca and into heaven. Muslims believe that the rock it is built around is the same rock where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac, the Holy of Holies was once kept in Solomon's Temple, and also Muhammed ascended to heaven with the angel Gabriel. We had two hours to kill in the city before getting in line to go onto the Temple Mount, so we wandered the Old City and visited the Wailing Wall, also known as the Western Wall. Because the Muslims don't allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, they pray at the closest wall, the Western Wall. It's known as the Wailing Wall because after the Temple of Solomon was destroyed the second time they would gather there to cry over the loss of the temple. Now it's a place to pray for Jewish, and people fold up little prayers on pieces of paper and stick them in the holes in the bricks or the cracks between. I'll see if I can attach photos of both sites.
     Also experienced today was falafel. And it was delicious.

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     On the Sabbath (Saturday) we all went to the Garden Tomb. As I said in my previous post, it's the site where the Protestants believe Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose again. The Catholics believe it is at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, as it was declared by, I think, Pope Constantine I. I've walked past the outside, but I haven't been inside that one yet. It's pretty crowded all the time.
     At the Garden Tomb there are pastors from around the world there volunteering for about 6 months at a time leading little tours. The director, a British pastor, was late to an appointment elsewhere because he wanted to speak to us before we started the tour. I was told that the Center has a really great relationship with the community, and here was the first proof. They love us over there because we're respectful, we can answer questions with quotes from scripture, and we sing. It's kind of an unspoken tradition to sing whenever a group passes through. Some Asian (we're guessing Indonesian, because none of the RM's understood the language they were speaking and we have most of the Asian languages covered) group was having like a church service in the corner of the garden and sang a few times. The director said, "I fully expect you to sing in perfect, unpracticed, four part harmony." And we did.
     We split into two groups to take the tour. The other group went with a pastor from Ireland and we were with a pastor from Alberta. It was a really great little schpeel--almost a sermon. He explained the importance of how we aren't worshipping the place. We're worshipping the man who may or may not have risen from this spot. The important part is that he took upon himself the sins of man and rose from the dead. Then he told us all of the reasons why they believe it happened there. For starters, it was a rock quarry. You can see where the mountain is cut under the (Eastern?) wall that was once connected to Golgotha. Christ was a Jew. Jewish executed by stoning. It makes sense that Christ would be killed in a Jewish place of death. The tomb was a rich man's tomb. Rich men didn't just take caves to have their bodies placed in (they were reburied a year later after the guts and skin were gone). This was carved from the rock. The stone was also big, and judging by the canal covering the door, there was once a big stone there. It was also in a garden, and they uncovered a wine press there. Gardens back then were more like orchards, for example, the Garden of Gethsemane is an olive orchard. To avoid having to cart olives or grapes around, they had the presses built in the garden. It's located by a road, and as a public execution, criminals were put on display where people could see them, where they could be an example. Jesus also had to carry the cross through the streets, and it doesn't make as much sense that He would carry it into the middle of the Old City (Church of the Holy Sepulchre) than that He would carry it up a main road to a place of Jewish death outside one of the main gates to the Old City.
     The garden itself is well kept, with a cute little bridge and cobbled paths. They have tiles with scriptures strategically placed. At the far right you can see Golgotha, the rock face that allegedly resembles a skull where Christ was (maybe) crucified. You can't see the skull from that angle, but their property doesn't extend far enough. On the far left of the garden is the tomb. It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be. We could only fit maybe five people TOPS in the space to see the two little slabs where bodies would have been placed. I guess that one of the LDS church leaders revealed that this place is very close to where it all happened. Personally, the most spiritual part of the experience was singing together in the middle of the garden and seeing how our voices and spirits affected the other visitors. We may be covered from collar bone to mid-calf/ankle but as it was said, "how can you hide the light in [our] eyes?"