Shabbos in the Holyland

I intentionally left Friday's itinerary empty to take into account unpacking, Shabbos Prep and Jet lag. We walked around the Mercaz to pick up some odds and ends. We welcomed Shabbos at 4:24. One of my boys slept most of Friday so he was up for davening and dinner, the other one who didn't take a big enough nap could barely keep his eyes open to eat a piece of challah. He slept off his jet lag and woke up at a decent hour Shabbos Day, my other son and I were not so lucky. We were both up at 5 am. We arranged our blanket nests on the stairs to read and pass the time.
This Shabbos  was Parshas Yisro, so we all went to shul across the alley to hear the Torah reading. Eli got an Aliyah and benched Gomel. After davening I went to a shiur in English with my sister before returning home for lunch.
Shabbos passed uneventfully.  We wrapped it up with a ruthless game of Bananagrams.
Shortly after Shabbos we headed out to Kever Rochel. www.keverrachel.com

Last time we were there it was day time and very crowded. This time the concrete fortress otherwise known as Kever Rochel was nearly empty. We were actually able to find a tehillim and sit down. We were able to get up close to the Kever. It was a much more spiritual trip than last time when we had to fight the throngs of people. It is still shocking to see and think about the concrete barriers and walls around one of our holy site that happens to be close to an Arab controlled city. Not exactly a testament to the success of the peace process.