The Laughlins

Before classes started, Mark and I did a daytrip to the Garden Tomb and the Museum on the Seam (which are really down the road from us - right near the Old City). The Garden Tomb is located on a side street (outside of the Old City) near Damascus Gate in a quiet alleyway. It is free to visit, and the garden itself is very pretty, green, and quiet. Until recently, it was thought that this could have been the tomb that Jesus was placed in. However, more recent archaeology (specifically that of Gabriel Barkay whom Mark is taking an archaeology class with right now) has shown that this was an Iron Age tomb - too old for the time of Jesus. My favorite part was looking at Skull Hill. Even if this was not the Skull Hill (Golgatha) mentioned in the Bible, the features look a lot like a skull (see pictures below), which make it interesting to look at. Here is a link to the Garden Tomb and also to the BiblePlaces Page on the Garden Tomb. Afterwards, we walked to the Museum on the Seam , which we enjoyed. In the museum's words, it is "a unique museum in Israel, displaying contemporary art that deals with different aspects of the socio-political reality." Many of the installations were video projects of different types that lasted anywhere from a few minutes to almost an hour. Needless to say, we stayed until the museum closed, but didn't watch every minute of all of the videos. It was the kind of cultural experience that I really enjoy and usually prompts me to talk to Mark for the next many hours afterwards. We'll have to visit again when they change exhibitions. You can also go up to the roof of the building for a lookout. That is where all of the final pictures and sunset shots were taken from :)