More Mount of Olives excursion pics

Here are some more photos from our trip to the Mount of Olives. This was where Jesus spent parts of his ministry and most significantly where he spent his last evening prior to his arrest. The garden of Gethsemane is at the bottom, and also the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey took place down the mount of Olives and into Jerusalem.

Funny story! While we were coming down the street where in the gospel story people placed palm branches and cloaks on the street for Jesus to walk on I was walking with a young priest from Nigeria. We came upon an Arab man who of course had a ....yes you guessed it, a donkey! He saw us a said "Father, Father......Jesus Donkey Jesus Donkey!" ( I thought he was going to try and convince us it was Jesus' ACTUAL donkey!) So the Nigerian Priest and I posed with the man for a photo which really made him happy. He had a grin from ear to ear. what really helped was that the Nigerian priest was wearing a white ceremonial cassock and looked like the Pope himself! The Arab gentleman was just thrilled. Of course, when we had finished our photo he of course asked for money so I reached in my pocket and gave him what I thought was a good tip. I had not yet really figured out the Shekel system and gave him 10 Shekels. He looked at it and then it dawned on me that I had actually given him 1 tenth of 1 Shekel (or a dime!). Well his face went from ecstatic joy to deep disappointment and he gave me a look that seemed as though I had stolen the food from his cupboards. So I gave my open hand of change to the Nigerian priest who sorted out about 7 Shekels for the man who was then happy again. I think he really liked the "Black Pope from Africa" but I don't think he really liked the "white guy" after that.

There is a church on the Mount shaped into the form of a teardrop that commemorates where Jesus wept over Jerusalem in the Gospel. The Franciscans were doing a mass and so it was closed at the moment we were there. Here is a photo of it.

And then there is Gethsemane as well. The following pics are the garden itself just above our tour guide, a sign indicating the garden and then the church in the garden (of course a church has been built there).