Jerusalem Trail - December 25th 2009

The weather was beautiful on Fri. Dec. 25, 2009, for the last hike of the Gregorian calendar year.
Although we couldn't visit inside the churches because of services, Shelly the guide (whom we last "saw" in the darkness of the Armon Hanatziv aqueduct and at sunset) took us through the Jerusalem Trail, the city walk not covered by the Israel Trail, marked with blue/gold/blue striped trail signs with the Jerusalem Lion symbol.
We met in the parking lot of the Mormon University on Mt. Scopus and began our city walk by descending the "Flintstones" wadi, Nahal Tzurim.
Resting under an old olive tree to hear about the archaeological sifting project and about King David and his troublesome children.
We then continued down the trail, which gave an incredible view of the Old City walls, St. Stephen's Gate (The Lions Gate), the al-Aksa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, old cemeteries, and heard an explanation of how the Trail was landscaped and developed.

The intrepid Mosaic hikers, with several new faces joining us, continued downhill past the Church of All Nations, Gethsemane, and onward to Absalom's Pillar, then through Silwan, where we saw the exit from City of David (where we ended a previous tiyul). A little climb up Gey Ben-Hinnom and an explanation of the Sambusak cemetery added information, exertion and a beautiful view. We continued up hill to the "back" of Abu Tor, where we said goodbye to Shelly and found ourselves under the bridge of the Cinematheque where everyone parted for the weekend.
A good time was had by all, thanks to Joel's first-time coordinating and the good moods everyone brought to the outing.