Jerusalem Adventure
From Qumran, the bus took us to Bethlehem, where we visited The Church of the Nativity, and then checked in at the King George Hotel in Jerusalem. After taking dinner at the hotel I attended a light show, which was based on the life of Herod the Great.
Dr. Lewis had two sons, Jerry and John who were with us. They asked me if I would like to visit Hezekiah’s Water Tunnel, which is one of the few places of antiquity that can be definitely identified. I told them I would. About five of us joined together and went to a book store in Jerusalem. Jerry had spent a year living in Jerusalem, when his father was studying at the American School of Oriental Research, so he knew the city quite well. He also knew the proprietor of the book store, who agreed to take us to Hezekiah’s water tunnel.
When we got there, he let us off. We thanked him and told him we would take a taxi back to the hotel. We found the entrance to the water tunnel, but there was an iron bar gate that had it locked off, so we couldn’t pass through it. The water tunnel empties out at the pool of Siloam, so we walked over there. Then we decided to take a walk around a part of the wall of the ancient city, which was absolutely breath taking. There was a ledge on the side of the wall that we choose to walk on. To begin with it was about a foot off the ground. Before we got off of, it was twenty feet off the ground, and only about a foot wide. Here were five Americans in the middle of the night clinging to the wall, hoping we wouldn’t fall off and be injured or perhaps arrested or maybe even shot. For a moment I thought I might die in Jerusalem. If I did, how would Ann get my body back to the states?
Melvin Wise was one of our number. Melvin was in his sixties and had a bad limp. But he was a good trooper and made it safely across with the rest of us.
We decided it was time to find a taxi and make our way back to the hotel. It was only then that we realized taxis don’t run in Jerusalem after midnight. So there was nothing to do but walk back through the old city to our hotel. I had no idea where our hotel might be. Fortunately Jerry did. So we set out on foot and made it back to the hotel about 3:00 A.M. What an adventure. Had I been in a similar circumstance in any American city, I would have been scared to death. Here I was in one of the most dangerous cities in the world and I felt no fear. People were still up. They were sitting in front of their houses talking. I don’t know why they were up that time of night. They knew we were Americans. We were in the Arab sector, but they could not have been friendlier.
Unfortunately people had begun missing us back at the hotel, and they called the police. We only found that out the next morning at breakfast. The police never found us. I’m sorry we scared the others, but it was a magnificent experience. From then on the five of us were notorious travelers. This wouldn’t be my last time to get in trouble.
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