First day in Israel

The First Day

Jerusalem the Golden,

With milk and honey blessed .......

I know not, oh, I know not

What joys await us here......

I could hear the clear, tenor voice of Harry Secombe on an old scratchy piece of vinyl I have at home. For me, he accompanied the song on the bus's PA as we made our way along the Rabaa-al-adwaya  to the Mount of Olives to see for ourselves what awaited us there. And we saw. The emotion of it all. A moving beginning and then it all began .....  moving more quickly.

that initial panoramic view, the oohs and aahs and the odd tear, the dome of the rock, watch out for pickpockets, the man and his donkey, beautiful view, only two dollar, the wall, which wall? the dome of the rock, the valleys, in the shadow of death, the green line, temple mount, palm sunday road with bitumen and taxis, the crowds were there but where were the palms? the chapel of dominus flevit, dominus who? franciscans, maroochy, pavarotti, antonio barluzzi, yes, barluzzi, we shall meet him again, teardrops from heaven, church of the nativity, white limestone buildings, windmills, chickens under my wings, graveyards, stones, you must build this way, hedron valley? no kidron, hell, ottoman empire, ossuaries, necropolises, the jerusalem cross, peter and his rooster, st pierre en gallicante, armenians and greeks, orthodox and roman catholics, dominicans and franciscans, the stump of jesse, olive trees which refuse to die, church of the nativity, o jerusalem! jerusalem! as the deer pants for the water, vulgate, st catherine, hadrian, 386ad or is it ce? 530ad, queen helena, why do you sleep, atms, cabramatta, parramatta, oodnatta, what the hell, what's it matter? 24th december, 2nd january, 19th january, united nations, united nations? no the church of the nations, doric, ionian or corinthian, byzantine, and the cock crowed thrice, in the shepherds' field, shopping, dancing with the turks, retail therapy, constantine and caiaphas, king soloman and the queen, what a day this has been...

What! could you not keep up with me for one day? (Memories of Matthew 26:40, including a mistranslation and quoted out of context).

OH, what a day this has been!!

I fell quickly asleep, my mind abuzz with sights and sounds, places and dates, architects and columns, queens and saints, carvings and oliv...........zzz.