Photos from today's visit to the Old City

Today I finally visited the Old City, and here are some of my photos. First, I met friends at the Mamilla mall, and we had breakfast together. Then I took a leisurely walk along Mamilla Street. There are a number of small sculptures displayed along the street, and this is one that I particularly liked.

Looking down at the Western Wall, with a view of the Dome of the Rock and a minaret next to it.

A view of the entire wall. The women's section has been enlarged, and there are now places to shelter from the sun. One of them is the ramp that goes up to the Temple Mount.

Close up of the Dome and minaret.

Behind the Dome, on the left, is the Mt. Scopus campus of Hebrew University.

Looking north.

Dome of the Rock

Another look northward.

Minaret of Al Aksa, and to the right, Silwan.

Robinson's Arch.

A beautiful Chihuly glass sculpture in the entry hall of the Wohl center of Aish ha-Torah.

This is the new south wall of the women's section of the Kotel - built by the Mamelukes, my friend Dani tells me. Nonetheless, people have put little pieces of paper with prayers written on them, as they do with the Western Wall itself.

Underneath the steel girders that hold up the ramp.

The Mameluke wall, with shelves full of prayerbooks to the right.

Women praying at the Kotel.

A nun, and a whole row of tourists praying at the wall (see their yellow baseball caps).

More tourists.

A woman dressed all in black praying in a covered area in the women's section of the Kotel.

Closeup of Robinson's Arch.

A Herodian stone in the western wall of the Temple Mount, in the section now called Ezrat Yisrael, to the right of the ramp. This is the area that has been designated for egalitarian prayer.

Huge stone blocks from the fall of the Second Temple.

The minaret next to Al Aksa mosque.

The minaret next to the Dome of the Rock.