Dear all, apologies that these blog posts are coming thick and fast...it is a matter of when I have time to do it, and today (which is actually Monday) I have stayed back due to not feeling 100% and therefore have unlimited time at the computer!
Saturday I went with Mary and Sandra to see the Dormition church as they hadn't seen it on Friday, and on the way back we decided to get some lunch. We stopped at a little cafe opposite the Zion Gate and were treated to Armenian pizza, flat bread sprinkled with spiced mince meat and grilled like a folded omelette. It came with a home made lemonade (lemon lemon lemon, sugar, sugar, sugar and a little bit of mint) and a salad. It was delicious and we enjoyed every bite.
what was fascinating was meeting the shop owner..she has a PHD in Armenian literature, has just published her sixth book and quit teaching two years ago to set up this shop and live a creative life. She does a lot of craft work and painting and many of the goods in the shop are her creations. It was terrific to talk to her and learn a bit about her life. She lives in the Armenian convent in the Armenian quarter, not quite sure why that is, it seemed impolite to ask. Hopefully her book will be published soon in English and we'll be able to get one...I did have her business card, but I fear I have 'filed' it somewhere....
We arrived back from the pizza lunch (all hot and very sweaty) just in time to go with the others to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Vincent, our resident Franciscan from Phoenix Arizona, said mass for us. The garden can be reached by walking from Ecce Homo, it takes about 10 minutes and involves crossing a very busy road outside the walls, on which we see cars everywhere, and on which the other day we saw someone riding a horse bareback along the road, at full gallop...Only in Jerusalem.
It was very very hot on Saturday afternoon at 3pm, but we found a cool corner of the garden and had mass there. It was quite beautiful. The garden is a lot bigger than I first thought, it is just that there is now a road that goes right through the middle, and they walled it sometime in history, so rather than being a 'paddock' of olive trees it is a walled garden, with some paths in places. We were in one of the 'wilder' areas of the garden, which was easier to imagine as a 1st century Jerusalem space, rather than a historical hotch-potch, so I was pleased. Mass with our group was lovely, and we were aware of how special it was, as we had to apply for special permission to have mass there....which was why we had to squeeze it in among the dashing around.
In the evening, after dinner at Ecce Homo, some of us went for drinks at the Austrian club, which was cool and lovely.
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