Layers

Jerusalem is a city of many layers. I thought I knew a little of this fascinating city's history before coming here. Now I know how little I knew. There are thousands of years of history reflected in many multiple layers. When you're walking on the street you may be walking over the site of an old church, or home or another street. There might be Roman columns or Mameluke arches under your feet. You walk downstairs to see the purported "upper room;" you go into a basement and see an old roman street or a cistern that has a solid wall blocking it. Then you go into the building next door and see the other side of that wall and the other half of the street or cistern. You see half an arch over the street you're walking down and go into a building to see the other half incorporated into an inside wall. Things here weren't cleared away over time, only built on or next to.

I'm experiencing many layers of emotion as I make this trip. Excitement, curiosity, laughter, sadness. You name it, I've probably felt it. It will take time for me to work through those layers.

One of my favorite layers are the layers of a falafal sandwich on pita bread that we've had for more than one lunch here, yummy!

Martha