Stray Cats, Zionist Botanist, and Tombs

Day two started with a loss of power in our apt/dorms. This is a problem since we must turn on the boiler 1-2 hours before we want a shower. So I went au natural which I think is the preferred state here based on some interesting smells on the bus rides.
Our group received a tour of the botanical gardens located at the University. The lady giving us a tour was really nice and made me laugh when she oh so excitedly showed off her Weeds collection and stated in her broken english "it could ah cure cancer".
The botanical gardens are not like here in the states with plush greens. OOoooh no, it features the plants native to Israel/Palestine. Yes folks you guessed it, this darn place is a dessert and not to mention we are here in the winter. Anyway, I found a few angles that had the most green and snapped a couple photos. Another unique note about Jerusalem besides being a holy city it has a ton of stray cats. The campus is filled with them inside the buildings and out. Even the botanical gardens had its own personal stray. For those cat lovers, most of them are beautiful and look very well fed.
Our tour of the gardens took a turn for the better when we came to an open area that looked like an amphitheater and were told we were seated near tombs. The tombs housed the remains of Nicanor, who donated one of the gates to Herod's temple and the other is David Pinski who was a big labor Zionist. I'm sure I will write more on the issue of Zionism later. For now it was kind of fun just to see a tomb and I tried not to focus on the glorification of the Zionist's movement in particular. I keep telling myself "be a sponge, be a sponge leave any of your bias behind you and be a sponge dang it" so I did and took pictures. Please see below:

Please note the official stary cat of the Botanical Gardens

First tomb

Nicanor and Pinski tomb


3rd tomb and as you can see I liked the vines

Little doorways