Holiest of Holy

Holy. . .! No, really, that essentially sums up the past 2.5 days I've spent in Jerusalem, which has been a rather intense experience. First of all I'm still trying to get over the fact that I went into the lab today. Sunday here is like our Monday; the weekend here is Friday/Saturday, and Sunday starts the working week. It's weird to think about, no? Anyway, Jerusalem. . .

Tunnels:
First thing on the Jerusalem agenda was the City of David. This is the old/original Jerusalem, underneath which is an extensive tunnel system. The tunnels were meant to essentially safeguard the water supply in the event of war, so that no enemies could cut it off. We walked for about 45 minutes through pitch black tunnels that were usually about only 1.7m high (but it varied). I hit my head loads of times, but the cold water felt nice though (at times it was waist-deep, but mostly it was below my knee).

Western Wall:
The Western Wall is the holiest place for Jews. It represents the western wall of the platform that King Harod build on top of Foundation Rock (for Christians/Jews: where Adam and Eve came down, for Muslims: where Mohammad ascended into heaven). On top of the platform he built the 2nd temple (later destroyed by the Romans). We took a tour through the tunnels at the base of the wall, and our tour guide was excellent. He told us a very moving story about an old man that came to work as a guide at the wall, because he (the man) had survived Auschwitz.

Important Religious Places:
It's weird for me to think about the fact that I touched the marble table that the Christians consider to be where Jesus was resurrected from, and I walked by the cave that he was kept in. We went to the Holy Sepulcher, and Mary's tomb, and some other important places. I wish I knew more about Christianity (now that I know so much about Judaism), so I could have appreciated that experience more. Now that I think about it, most of what I do know about it is from studying European art. . .

Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum):
This is by far the most well thought-out building/museum in the world. Our guide explained that the triangular prism shape of the museum is significant because it repesents half of the star of David, and going through the museum is like going through a time line. The prism gets narrower as you reach "The Final Solution" but then it opens up to look out over the valley (representing hope for the future). There is just so much significance in the architecture alone, and there's no way I can explain how well the exhibits and artifacts (and how many there are) are displayed. I highly recommend looking at the website (yadvashem.org), and visiting Jerusalem just for this museum (you can take a virtual tour online in the meantime). We learn about the facts and what happened in school, but this experience was so emotional in how it emhasized the lives of the individuals.

The children's memorial was a separate building outside (dedicated/funded by a family whose son died in Auschwitz). It was essentially a dark room filled with mirrors, and there were an infinite number of reflections of candles. A voice reads off the names of children that died (1.5 million of them). The significance of that is that when one child is killed, an entire universe is lost (his children, grandchildren, etc), and so whenever a name is read, the room and the infinite candles represent his universe.

Intense.

On a happier note -> Fun Fact: I ate dinner at the restaurant that recently (Jan 2010) set a Guiness World Record for most hummus served at once (>9000lbs). The hummus there was excellent!

I'll talk about science-research things soon, I promise. I do actually work, as hard as that is to believe ;)