I’ve never actually stayed in a hotel in Jerusalem that cost more than $20, so maybe I am unqualified to answer the above question. Last night, however, I did spend $4 for a mattress on a roof of the oldest hotel in the Old City. There are disadvantages, like the cold and the noise, but I can’t imagine a better view of the sunrise over Jerusalem, no matter what the price. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that 99%+ of the rooms in the city have much worse or no views of the sunrise/sunset.
The trip as a whole went extremely well. I was a bit afraid because 1) I was feeling sick when we left on Tues evening; 2) I hadn’t prepared very much; and 3) the weather on Tuesday was positively lousy. But the Lord was good to strengthen me, get the logistics to work smoothly, and give sunny skies and warm weather today. On the lunch break, I got to see something new. I must have tried to get into this place dozens of times over the past decade. Today the shop was open and for 5 NIS the shopkeeper opened the door so I could take a look. I’ve seen photos and drawings, but it’s always better in person. This is part of the entrance to the Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulcher. As I said here not long ago, there’s always something new to see in Jerusalem.
One ongoing development is the ramp leading to the Temple Mount (Mughrabi Gate) next to the Western Wall plaza. Work is underway now in constructing the replacement ramp. Perhaps the plan is to finish the replacement before removing the current (deteriorating) mountain of earth. The first photo shows workers putting wooden plans on the metal scaffolding. The second photo gives some idea for the damage caused by the collapse of the slope a year ago.
A comment on the Temple Mount situation. Since it reopened a year ago, the atmosphere has cooled considerably. This morning I was there for two hours with our students and never had a problem or a hint of a problem. We were able to view at length the relatively new entrance/exit into the underground Marwani Mosque (in “Solomon’s Stables”). There were police and soldiers around, as well as the occasional Waqf official, but no one seemed concerned about us. Neither did the security guys check my teaching binder for diagrams of the Temple, as they have done (to forbid) in the past, nor did they say anything to us about our Bibles, as they have before. In general, I felt like things were similar to how they were pre-2000, except that the holy buildings are not open to visitors.
I got home and both the boys beat me in “Memory” (aka Concentration) in separate games and I sure wasn’t trying to let them.