Day 8 (June 3, '08): Today we were back in Jerusalem for more sightseeing. First we went to the City of David, which is currently an active archeological dig. From there, the Old City can be seen, as well as Acel'dama or "Potter's Field," the place where Judas hanged himself after he had betrayed Jesus. Then we went to the Peter of Galicantu site, where the House of Caiaphus is located. This is the place where Jesus was taken and imprisoned after he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is also the location where Peter denied Jesus three times prior to the rooster's crow. To signify this, there is a rooster on top of the church that commemorates the site, as well as a live rooster on-site that crowed while we were there. The ruins of Caiaphus's house can still be seen, as can the Sacred Pit, the place where Jesus is believed to have been held in custody. Also remaining is the Roman Road, which we were able to walk on - this is the road that Jesus took from Gethsemane to the House of Caiaphus on the night before his death. On our way out, we drove by the grave of Oskar Schindler, but unfortunately, we weren't able to stop. The remainder of the day was spent in museums, the first being the Israel Museum. The highlights were the amazing model of Old Jerusalem showing the 2nd Temple and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scroll of Isaiah is finally on exhibit after 60 years of restoration, and the first visitor to see the scroll when it was unveiled for the public *only two weeks ago* was George W. Bush. This scroll contains the entire book of Isaiah, and has been dated to more than 2000 years ago. Yesterday we saw the cave near the Dead Sea where the scroll was found. Last on the itinerary was the Holocaust Museum, which chronicles and remembers a truly horrific chapter in world history and was an unbelievably sobering experience for me. Late tonight a couple of us will be visiting the underground tunnels...should be interesting...I'll report back later.

Update: It is midnight, and I just got back from the Western Wall tunnel tour. This was great! The tour was extremely fascinating and informative, and the nightlife at the Western Wall was interesting to see. There seemed to be more serious "prayers" at night, very few tourists, and the cooler temperature felt so much nicer. The eight of us bought some drinks and sat down for awhile, enjoying the sights and people. It was the perfect "last night" in Jerusalem. Off to bed - tomorrow will be a very full day!

This will be my last journal before going back to the states. Tomorrow will be another full day of sightseeing in Jerusalem, and our flight leaves around midnight. We'll arrive in Los Angeles around 6am on Thursday, June 5th after a 15 hour direct flight from Tel Aviv.