All great plans...

...demand flexibility! Late Monday afternoon we received a "WhatsApp" text that our Tuesday "Jesus's footsteps" tour (prepaid) had been cancelled because we were the only two that had signed up for it...in our case three months earlier. Either the tour had a reputation to really suck or the bus broke down. Either way, after a late sleep-in still adjusting to the time change, we started this day at the front desk enlisting the help of everyone from the concierge to the hotel CEO (seriously) trying to locate our still-lost luggage. At one point they had three telephones calling the lost-luggage department at Ben Guiron International Airport. These airlines are smart. These days, they have outsourced the baggage department to a separate company so that when these mishaps occur the airlines do not have to deal with it AND it does not blacken the airlines' eye. Problem is, the baggage company tries to limit communication by emails and doesn't like to answer their phone. SO...it's virtually impossible to talk with a human at the baggage company, and Virgin Atlantic has no information so refers all calls to their baggage company. For all those non-techies, we attached to the inside of both bags an Apple AirTag which tracks within five feet anywhere in the world. So, when we arrived at TelAviv one day prior we could see that our bags had not arrived with us. We could also see that they were on the next day's flight and were currently sitting in the TelAviv baggage claim area. WE JUST COULD NOT GET SOMEONE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS...AND TELL US WHEN THEY WOULD BE DELIVERED!

Anyway, towards noon and with the assurances from hotel staff that all this was normal and that our bags would certainly be delivered by evening we headed for the Jaffe gate of old town Jerusalem in search of the city's best falafel and hummus.

Too bad you can’t see the yummy ness on the inside! 

The old town is encircled with an ancient wall...actually it's the second, larger wall around the city. All that remains of the first, smaller one is the famous "wailing wall" and is what Jesus saw and cried about as he foresaw the city inside the original walls being burned to the ground. Today, inside the walls are a maze of ancient streets, bazaars and shops sectioned into the three great religions of the world: Muslim, Jewish and Christianity. (There's actually a fourth section...Armenien). Today, these three great religions mostly co-exist inside the walls with the occasional flair-ups over theology and property rights to the great religious sites within. Speaking of which...that's the main reason we are here is to see the sites and after gorging on falafel, we start at the famous Via Dolorosa, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Dolorosa?wprov=sfti1 the path Jesus took from conviction through entombment. The path is organized into twelve stations of significance with the first one being the spot where Pontius Pilate delivered the death verdict and Jesus took up the cross. 

Station 1, where Pontius Pilate delivered his judgement on Jesus is in the Muslim Quarter and where a school is currently built. Station 1 overlooks the Temple Mount where the Muslims believe Mohammad ascended into heaven. 

 Via Dolorosa Sstands  for “way of pain”. 

What follows is the path Jesus took to Calvary. Walking these same steps cannot be put into words so we will not even try.

 4th station where Jesus meets his mother. 

 5th Station, Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross

7th station, Jesus falls for the second time

The last stations are the actual spot of the cross and the tomb where Jesus's body lay. A church was built on top of these sacred places to preserve them. What's surprising is that this entire sequence of events occurred in an area no bigger than a football field.

 The church of the Holy Sepulcher12th Station, Jesus Dies on the Cross

Andrea is touching where the cross was placed for the cruxifixction. 

The tomb where Jesus was laid. 

Inside the tomb. 

A very moving and incredible experience. 

With the luggage situation still on our minds, we headed for the bazaars to buy a few clothes. This is an excruciating process of trying to buy something with no price tags from an Arabic man with a heritage of 3,000 years of negotiating skills. After consistently losing the battle, we then headed for the nearest mall with American Eagle, GAP and Aerie, all stores that included price tags.

Arriving back at the hotel and hoping the airbag location was wrong and we would have our luggage awaiting, we found they were not. After Andrea's meltdown #3, we regrouped, had a nice happy hour and caught a taxi to Nafoura Restaurant, a beautiful Israeli place built right against the inside old wall. Although the dinner was great (really), the real significance of the previous sentence was the taxi driver: Golani. Golani was a slick middle-aged Israeli all dressed in black, driving a very new and clean Mercedes. After hearing our sad baggage story he proposed that for US$200, he would drive us to the TelAviv airport, accompany us to baggage claim and supervise the reclamation of our luggage. And, he even offered a warranty: no luggage/no charge. After refusing to accept our payment for the dinner ride, we said we'd eat on it. So, after a beer or two, we decided that time was running out, we had no confidence that our bags were going to ever show up, and this dude seemed like the answer to our prayers.

The ride to the airport (about one hour away) was something out of a Disney World play book. Reaching top speeds of 150 kph and weaving in and out of traffic, it was quite terrifying and Andrea spent most of the time digging a hole in Bill's arm. But we made it; the dude should get a job as a NASCAR driver. Golani was the master at navigating the bureaucracy at TelAviv airport. After all...it is not easy just showing up and wanting to go into the baggage claim area, circumventing security, customs, etc. After several incompetent people insisted that our luggage was still in London, a fellow approached us that said he had a photographic memory and remembered the location of one of our bags. This, along with Andrea's AirTags showing where the bags WERE and alas...there they were! Money exchanged hands somewhere between passport control and claiming our bags (lets call it tipping) and we were escorted thru customs and on our way. Let it be noted here that the baggage claim area was in complete chaos and disarray. Literally, there were thousands of bags stacked everywhere...some even open with the contents falling out. No one had any idea what was there, not to mention when the bags would be delivered to the owners. Clearly, our decision to retrieve our bags was the best decision ever, as we would have never seen them again! So, after a 150 kmh ride back to the hotel arriving at midnight...all is good and the economy of Israel is a bit richer! 

All is good!