The traditional name for this last remnant of the Temple is the Wailing Wall, but the pc name appears to be the Western Wall. Entering the Western Wall Plaza requires a full security check and passing through a metal detector, and a passport check. The guard was fairly disinterested in me after looking at the Australian passport! I was relieved that he didn’t want to do a full search of my backpack. Might have found my rosary – on second thoughts, they are looking for explosive devices and sharp implements. It’s sad that its come to this.

This was the closest from which I could get a picture, it being Saturday, we were advised closer photos weren’t kosher. We were also told not to insert prayers in the wall as it was Saturday, but there were large numbers of people doing it sneakily anyway. I figured that my prayers didnt need a bit of paper.

In fact, today, we should be able to “text” prayers to a server in the Wall that will then broadcast them heavenwards. The bits of paper in the Wall are very unsacred looking, but yes, we had to go the the women’s section and pray, it was hard to get a spot at the Wall, with all these women snuggling into the Wall for the sole purpose of sneaking their prayers into the cracks!

It appears that you have to walk away backwards from the Wall, I guess in view of this notice, its advisable anyway.