Pam goes to Israel: The Old City, Round 2

We ventured off early this morning as we wanted to go to the Temple Mount. Please read Paul's and Noa's blogs for the details of this fascinating place and our experience there.
http://fulbrightisrael.blogspot.com/
http://catlinnoaisrael.blogspot.com/

I'm writing about my experience after they went back to our apartment. I walked on the ramparts of the old city. Please click the link if you want to see a map of the Old City http://www.itsgila.com/images/tipsgatesmap.gif

It is a bizarre arrangement as you go up at the Jaffa Gate, and can go to the right and follow along to see the inside and outside of the Zion Gate and the Dung Gate, then you have to turn around and either retrace your steps, and there are a LOT of steps as it is up 10 steps (think 12-15 inches per each step), then down 20, etc. I opted to walk through the old market again, and then you have to go back to the start and go the opposite direction. This time past the New Gate, Damascus Gate and Herods Gate. The scenery was so different than seeing the old city from street level, now I saw the back of the buildings, markets, the basketball courts towards the inside of the ramparts.

And then to the outside I could see the commercial areas, the Mount of Olives, and the valleys in the distance. It was strange to see what looked like millions of grave sites, the wall separating west and east Jerusalem (the security wall). And lots of poverty. Sometime just before I reached Herods Gate I saw men who looked like locals, and not those who paid the $5 to walk the ramparts. All the guidebooks say "Do not go alone in the Arab part of the rampart". The hackles on the back of my neck were up and I was gone. I walked for over two hours and saw only 8 other tourists (mostly Germans).