Ramparts and Wall Walks

Today was our first free day. It was so much fun. Basically everyone left for the city right after breakfast. I went with a group of seven people; Brooke, Emily, Heidi, Alex, Kirk, and Sean. One thing that I have learned is that it is really hard to coordinate all the places that every single person wants to go. For the most part our group was good, expect towards the end when everyone was getting a little tired and irritated, me included. But regardless of that, the day was really fun. I am getting more and more comfortable with being out in the city. All the venders know who we are and they call out "mormons" or "byu" all the time. It is really fun that they all know exactly who we are and they told us it is because we always look well dressed and clean. We started off the day at the money changers. I exchanged $40 and got about 120 NIS (New Israeli Shekels), so it's one U.S. dollar for 3.67 shekels.
Then my group went through Damascus gate, (this gate is probably my favorite) and we walked towards the other side of the city towards Jaffa gate. I bought some pistachio baklava. IT WAS SO GOOD! We looked at a lot of candy, leather bags, genie pants, sandals, and other things. As soon as you look at something that a vender is trying to sell, he immediately pounces to try and get you to buy it. It is crazy. Everyone always wants out attention which is fun, but also a little annoying.
We bought tickets for what is call the Rampart Wall Walk which is the walk way on top of the wall around the city. It was so beautiful up there and we could see every part of the city and everything that surrounds it. It went almost all the way around the city.
After that we stopped for some lunch. I had packed a lunch from the center, so nothing exciting, but some people bought pizza. haha. We are actually starting to miss American food already.
After that we left the old city and went to West Jerusalem which is the Jewish side. It is more modern and where everyone likes to hangout. We just did some shopping. I bought some ear plugs so that I can sleep through my roommates and the call to prayer.
We tried going to the Dome of the Rock, but we didn't make it in time before it was closed for prayer. We even asked a Jewish lady for directions and she was like, "WHY WOULD YOU GO THERE? NEVER GO TO THE MOSQUE!" But then when we asked her for directions to the Western Wall, she showed us the way no problem. It was funny, but really interesting to see the harsh feelings that the Palestinians and the Israelis have for each other.
After that I was so tired, so me and three others split from the group at headed back. Going back up to the JC is so hard because we have to climb up to the top of Mt. Scopus and after a long day in the city, it is hard. But, it was a good day. Tomorrow we have a field trip all day!