Bethlehem - Day 3

As we boarded the bus for the 20 minute trip to the city of Bethlehem, I wondered if it was going to be a different feeling than Jerusalem. The bus was supposed to go through the checkpoint and then we were to walk 10 minutes to the city center. But for some reason, the bus bypassed the checkpoint and we were dropped off in the middle of the city. After asking a few locals on where to go, we meandered through the streets feeling totally at home. It looked and felt like Jordan. Which was a little strange as Jerusalem didn't have that same feel.

The door is straight ahead and looks like a window on the floor to the left of the parked car.

We located the Church of the Nativity, the place where Jesus was born, and entered. It was interesting as the doorway to enter was actually just a small square opening. I thought it was strange at first but after doing some research found that they made it that way to make people literally bow to come inside. Also, it was a great way to stop soldiers and horses from entering because the entrance was so small. Once inside, you could see the trapdoors in the floor showing the original mural flooring. It was amazing. There seemed to be tons of tour groups from all over the world gathering to see the site of Jesus' birth. As we stood in line with 300+ people, we listened to all the different languages being spoken around us, Spanish, Russian, German, English, French, just to name a few.

After the over hour wait in line with some pushing and shoving, skipping of line, and other usual touristy line antics we made our way up to the stone stairwell that led to the small room of Jesus' birth. The room itself, the size of a small bedroom had a small fireplace type memorial with a gold star on the ground marking the place of birth. I didn't feel the Holy Spirit as I had felt it when near the Anointing Stone in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but it was still pretty neat.

Our next mission was to haggle with a storekeeper to get an olive wood manger scene made in Bethlehem. We visited many stores up and down the city center but still came back to "the one." Rob, the best haggler ever, was able to get the price within our range and we happily walked away with our prize.

Since, as I mentioned above, we didn't go through the checkpoint to get in, we had to go through it to get out, which was a little daunting to me. Not really knowing what to expect, we made our way to the crossing. As we passed "the wall" I got a little nervous. The wall surrounding Bethlehem is twice the size of the Berlin Wall topped in places with barbed wire with lookout towers everywhere. I have to say the graffiti was intriguing while beautiful at times, it also showed the frustration of the trapped population at others. The crossing itself was deserted when we went through but the process was yet again long and tedious.

Once we returned back to Jerusalem, we had an enjoyable lunch and set off to walk the Stations of the Cross. To give you an idea of what you are looking for, it is a medium sized round metal plaque hung up on the wall with the Roman numeral of the station. I think the obvious Americans strolling around with their faces upturned looking at the high walls gave us away most of the time. For those of you looking to do this, I highly recommend a tour guide because even with the Stations of the Cross pamphlet we purchased which included a map, loads of help from local shopkeepers, and attempting to follow large tour groups, we still spent over an hour trying to just find stations 8 and 9. They were so hidden, I felt like we were on a scavenger hunt with really vague clues. I have to say, after everything was said and done with screaming pain in my knees from going up and down uneven stone stairways, probably original cobblestones, and so many alleyways I couldn't keep track, I don't think I could have ever, ever, ever carried a cross of any size or weight through all of that. It really made you think about the meaning of the walk and how thankful we should be.

As I look back on our trip, I feel so blessed to be able to see and experience the powerfulness of both Jerusalem and Bethlehem. I don't think I can give it justice by attempting to describe the feeling you have when you are there. So if you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it.