We had the morning free to do as we pleased; I chose to celebrate the Sabbath by catching up on the rest that I had been missing all week. Do not be misled—this trip is exhausting! For those who wanted to attend services, they were available both through Hillel, as well as local synagogues.

After a group lunch at the hotel, Madeleine led an optional walking tour of a Jerusalem neighborhood that was right outside the old city walls. The following pictures are all from that little tour, where we saw everything from a stray horse wandering the streets, to some of the most beautiful and most expensive houses in Jerusalem, each of which had an amazing view overlooking the Old City.

jerusalem - ymca	jerusalem - ymca tower	jerusalem - ymca tower view panorama
jerusalem - king david hotel	jerusalem - ymca plaza	jerusalem - old city mosque
jerusalem - mount of olives	jerusalem - judean hills	jerusalem - montifiori windmill close
jerusalem - montefiori windmill	jerusalem - looking into judean hills	jerusalem - corner of old city walls
jerusalem - wild horse	jerusalem - wild horse 2	jerusalem - old city walls
jerusalem - new city neighborhood	jerusalem - new city neighborhood 2	jerusalem - new city neighborhood 3
jerusalem - new city neighborhood 4

There were a few hours free before it was time to go to the MEGA-EVENT, the biggest, baddest show in town. All the birthright israel groups that were in Israel at the time were in Jerusalem, and they all went to the Convention Center. We were lucky enough to have gotten seats in the Main Hall (as opposed to having to watch it via video-broadcast), where all the action was. Apparently there were upwards of 5,000 students there, and we were treated to many spectacular performances, as well as speeches by Charles Bronfman, Michael Steinhardt, and Ehud Barak.

Unfortunately, it was rather dark in the auditorium, and most of the pictures didn't come out that well, but you can still see Barak, the many members of his security detail, the Israeli drumming group, and the modern dance group. It really was a mob scene there, and afterwards, they had a little dance party out in the entranceway. They even gave us these nice yellow scarves that you see in the pictures.

megaevent - entrance hall	megaevent - before security	megaevent - stupid canadians
megaevent - anna, ramon, nicole, dan	megaevent - people	megaevent - another canadian flag
megaevent - the brown ladies	megaevent - barak enters	megaevent - barak entering (blurry)
megaevent - barak and stage guards	megaevent - barak sitting next to us	megaevent - drummer silhouette
megaevent - drumming group	megaevent - drumming group (dark)	megaevent - charles bronfman
megaevent - barak's guards	megaevent - barak's guards again	megaevent - barak going onstage
megaevent - barak and bronfman	megaevent - barak speaking (blurry)	megaevent - barak speaking
megaevent - stage	megaevent - barak leaving	megaevent - barak leaving 2
megaevent - barak leaving 3	megaevent - modern dance group	megaevent - modern dance group 2
megaevent - modern dance group 3	megaevent - modern dance group 4	megaevent - drummer playing quads
megaevent - brown sophomore women

Overnight at Hanagid Hotel.