Old City

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Today we woke up and had a lively pannel discussion/debate with members of the Kinneset which was really great. It was wonderful to hear the different sides and easy to see how hard it is to be in government in such a trouble filled region! We then went first to Mount Scopus to the old Hadassah Hospital where we saw some amazing physical therapy innovations they are doing, I tried to meet with the head of the social work department but she was busy and left me her card.
We then went to the old city and shopping in the cardo and shook...then lunch on our own before visiting the Kotel, or Western Wall. (I forgot to mention it was snowing this whole day, big wet freezing rain and snow....NOT normal for Jerusalem and pretty miserable to walk around in, let alone pray at the wall in! NONE of us had clothing for this weather and all of mymany layers were not cutting it!) at the wall we all did a little praying on our own and left prayers in the cracks of the wall and then went to the Archeological Museam there which shows what they have discovered of the other walls and what had been there before of the Ancient Temple. That night we were on our own so a couple of ladies and I went shopping on BenYehuda street in the freezing rain and then had dinner at this cafe on Ben Yehuda. We walked in and had to go through a metaldetector and get our bags searched then they said "milk or meat?" we choose meat as we were very hungry from a long day with a tiny lunch....we sat down and one friend said "let's get the meat platter!!!" it said it was an assortment of grilled meats and sides that feeds 3-5 and so we got it and when it came it was a platter of meat that wouldhave fed 10-12! We ended up passing plates of meat to other tables of patrons and taking a ton of it back to the hotel but it was delicious!! Great food! Then I bought a sweater and some socks so I wouldn't keep freezing!

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