Mount of Olives

The view from the Mount of Olives is spectacular. The southern slope is an above-ground cemetery, which continues down to Old Jerusalem's eastern wall, after which, in turn, the ancient Old City and the modern western city unfolds in your view.



Looking right, there is a Russian church of Mary Magdalene, and yet another cemetery in the distance.


The cemetery on Mount of Olives has been in continuous use for more than 3000 years, and the burials continue there to the present.


The Church of Mary Magdalene was built in 1886 by a Russian Tsar. Thus the onion domes.


Dome of the Rock in the distance.


A closer view of the Jewish cemetery on the southern slope.




The cemetery in front of the eastern wall is Catholic.


Another view of the Dome of the Rock.


The street between the church and the cemetery. Believe it or not, it is a two-way street - despite the fact that two cars actually don't fit side by side on it.


An actual olive garden on the Mount of Olives. This one is in the side yard of the Church of Gethsemane.


The olives in this orchard are ancient - some more than 900 years old. They have witnessed the Crusaders.




Finally, a couple of other typical sights on the Mount:

Old City signs

This is the official sign of the City of Jerusalem:

Check out the year this monastery was established:

5th station of the cross:

I have no idea what it says, but I like the script:

Old Jerusalem

Views and impressions of Old Jerusalem.





About to enter Jaffa Gate:


On the ramparts:


The old Roman colonnade in the Cardo, which is the main street of the Old Jerusalem. This section of the street has been excavated:


The colonnade is about 2,500 years old. So is this wall - this is the old original city wall, now located in the middle of the "modern" Old Jerusalem:


The streets and courts of the Old City:

View of Mount of Olives:


This was quite a common sight while we were in Israel. Soldiers traveling with their weapons. They get to take them home when they leave their army bases for the weekend.


Old city walls. They are also "modern" - only from early 16th century!

Green-Wood Cemetery

It's a bright sunny spring morning. What's a better thing to do than go to a cemetery? But not just any cemetery. The Green-Wood cemetery in Brooklyn (along with the Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Westchester) provide the most atmospheric settings for any walk.

A year or so ago, the cemetery undertook a project to identify all of the graves of the American Civil War veterans who are buried there. (Some died in the war, some survived and died later.) Now all of them have updated new headstones.

These baseballs were left at the base of a memorial to Henry Chadwick, "the father of baseball".

What's that on the top of the entrance gate to the cemetery?

Why, it's a monk parakeet nest! There has been a colony there for decades, actually.

The next few pictures show how the nest gets updated:

Finally, I have a pictures pictures from a different location - these are from a Jones Beach walk in early April: