I’ll try to combine reasonable smallness of writing with legibility. You see where I am by the front. There is no claim by the Management that the other David stayed here. As it’s all extremely new & very swish I think it unlikely. It’s a great place & the GHQ have taken the third & fourth floors. It’s near 6o/c P.M. & I am waiting to call on Col Farleigh (from whom Ian took over) at 730 when he comes in. I’ll dine here I think. Maybe Farleigh will treat me. ¶ A Heavenly day today, blue sky & warm sun & wondrous clear. I “did” Old Jerusalem this morning, with my nice guide of yesterday. We pattered through the Bazaars, the quaint steep narrow streets (2 laden donkeys can just pass each other) & didn’t buy. We saw the Wailing Wall & being the Jewish Sabbath they wailed loud & long to be allowed to return to the temple. Then we saw the Church of the Holy Sepulchre & moving it is, the place of the Cross, the stone where he was laid when taken down, the Scourging Pillar, the Tomb & the stone, & it’s disturbing to consider the 2000 years of pilgrimages. There are crusaders crosses & many things. From there we went to the Temple Area, & that is lovely, with a Renaissance view of the outer slopes, with the Mount of Olives & Gethsemane. The Mosque of Omar we saw & the site of Solomon’s Temple, the sacrificial stone & this & that. Then back up the Via Dolorosa, with the Stations of the Cross, Veronica’s House & the Pilate Court Room. It’s all very indigestible of course. My guide then took me to his own house for coffee & to see his canaries!
After lunch I walked alone, around the walls, past the Newgate & the Damascus gate to the Rockefeller Museum, a very lovely new building, all in the best white stone (the Bible calls it Milk Stone). Solomon’s Temple had it & so does the British Residency! Then back observing & sniffing & listening. It’s all very clean, unlike the bazaars of Cairo. Now I’m basking in the luxury of this hotel & after seeing Farleigh shall dine here. I think I’ll go to Haifa tomorrow. There’s so much to see I don’t like staying on.
My love, ever thus in public –
