The 13th of December. Where do I begin...?
Our day began at 7:30am sharp with the loud ringing of the hotel room wakeup call, telling us that it's time to get up and ready for the day ahead.
After breakfast, we made our way to the Siloam water tunnels, where we learnt all about the history of Jerusalem before venturing into the knee depth slightly-less-than-freezing water inside the ancient channels.
Then, lunch. For lunch we sat just outside the exit of the tunnels and indulged in some authentic Israeli food; Shawarma.
After lunch we went inside an ancient tunnel that lead us 850 metres underground from the Siloam Water Tunnels to the the Kotel. This tunnel was very narrow and low-roofed and resulted in me having to squeeze my way through a few sections (as well as hitting my head a few times...)
From there, we went to the Davidson Centre, where we learnt about the Roman capture and destruction of the Temple. I found this especially nostalgic as just over three years ago I had the amazing experience of having my Bar Mitzvah at that very place.
By then, it was time for Mincha. For this, we made our way to the Southern Wall, where we spent a few minutes learning about the conflict between the Jews and the Muslims regarding the Temple Mount site, before having a quick prayer session and making our way back to the hotel.
From the hotel, a few of us made the decision to go to Ben Yehuda Street, where I walked around for a while window shopping with my friends. This took up around two hours of my afternoon, but I think it was worth it.
Then, we met the rest of the group back at the hotel to light the Chanukia and sing some Chanuka Songs.
After that, we made our way to Mamilla Mall, where we spent a few hours walking up and down the mall looking at clothes and getting ourselves some dinner.
We made our way back to the hotel where we had free time. And that leads me to the time where I began writing this!