Jerusalem Cityscapes

So, it's after 3am here in Jerusalem and I find myself awake and flipping through photos and writing a blog post...go figure.  I spent all day Wednesday hiking through the Old City exploring the sites, taking in the culture,  snapping photos and letting my imagination run wild.  As evening rolled around I attended orientation for the class I'm taking and then, headed over to Hebrew University with my host to hear a lecture on life during the Ottoman Empire, which was overseen by the renowned Dr. Shimon Gibson.  It was a very full day.  In about 5 hours, my class sessions will begin and they will run from around 8:30am - 4:00/5:00pm every day; it is going to be quite intense!  If I'm not completely exhausted, I hope to post some more photos, videos and even explanations of what's going on in my brief time of study here.  Yesterday alone I snapped a few hundred photos but of course, I have not had time to upload them all or post anything significant as of yet.

Having said that, I did want to post, briefly, a few of the cityscape and/or panoramic shots that I took yesterday.  In the future, I plan to post some photos with more in-depth descriptions later but for now, I'm going to try to get some more rest before things pick back up again in just a few hours.  Enjoy!

(Standing on the Mt. of Olives in the Jewish burial grounds, looking toward the Old City Wall. To the left of the Dome of the Rock is the old Temple and the Temple Mount and just behind the Dome is the Western (Wailing) Wall and of course, more of the Old City. Just in front of the wall, you can see the 3 burial areas.  Beginning with the closest you have the Muslim burial grounds, just below that the Christian tombs and then one the near side of the valley and on the Mt. of Olives, the Jewish sarcophagi.  The valley between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olive is called Kidron Valley. Click on the image to enlarge the photo.)

(This is the view from North Talpiyot. The Old City is directly in the center of the photo, you may be able to spot the Dome of the Rock. Just below the Old City and to the left, we have Mt. Zion and the Hinnom Valley, also known as Gehenna. Just behind the Old City and to the left is Mt. Scopus.)

(Looking from the Herodian Square, to the left we can see the Dome of the Rock. Just below it, we see the Western (Wailing) Wall. The bridge leads up to the other side of the old Temple, some of which you can see just to the right of the bridge and in the center of the photo. Just behind and to the right of the grayish dome you can see the Mt. of Olives and a small village in the Kidron Valley range.)

(To the left of the small town, we are looking directly at the Mt. of Olives. Just to the left of that, in a small forested area, we have the Garden of Gethsemane as well as Mary's tomb and the church of St. Mary. To the right of the Mt. of Olives and just below the small housing area, which you cannot see in this photo, we have Absalom's Pillar, Zakharias's Tomb, and the Pool of Silo'am among other things.)

(This is me standing on the Mt. of Olives getting my photo taken by the slickest Arab sherut (taxi) driver in all of Jerusalem. For more details, refer to photo 1 above.)