Mount of Olives

Dead Sea and hotel pool, Qumran, Benedictine chapel and icon, Pater noster church wall, Dominus flevit church.
Wed Nov 12th. Liz went in the Dead Sea again while I swam 10 lengths of the pool. It took 2 hours to cross back into Israel over the Allenby bridge. At Qumran we watched a film and Miriam took us on a tour. The coach is uncomfortable although the driver is cheerful! At the Mount of Olives we celebrated Mass at the Benedictine French convent. A horrid organ but lovely icons and chapel. The Pater Noster church is famous for the many versions of the Lord's prayer and we went into the cave over which Constantine ordered a church to be built. Liz slipped over as the road was wet from some rain. We visited the lovely Dominus flevit church built in the shape of a teardrop - it commemorates Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. We are staying at the Ritz hotel which is in the Palestinian part of Jerusalem conveniently close to the Old city. The hotel was closed for some years but has been refurbished.