ISRAEL - Chapter 1: Arrival in Jerusalem

So ensues the first installment of photos. To break up the gazillions I have to post, I will be posting everyday in the coming week.

Upon our arrival in Jerusalem, our dear friend Mary cooked us a wonderful Shabbat supper in her apartment. Jacob was so happy to fully fill himself after our skimping on food in Italy. ;o)






After supper, we went to visit Mary's brother Malcolm at the lovely house where he is staying right outside the Old City walls.




After staying up most of the night with the new friends that we made, we fully utilized the blessing of Shabbat in Jerusalem by sleeping way in and then having a wonderful picnic in Moshe Park right outside the Old City Walls. Gorgeous day...




Shabbat (sabbath) in Jerusalem was actually amazing to experience. Most of the city (and it goes most of the country too) shuts down from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. All shops are closed, all buslines are shutdown, traffic is much diminished, and even the Israeli airlines take a break. So we spent the remainder of the day just lazily wandering around the Old City.

Most of the signs throughout Israel are a combination of Hebrew, Arabic, and English.












This is the solid gold menorah the Temple Institute has created for future use in the new Temple, which is on display in the Jewish Quarter.







A quick shot of the Mount of Olives




Jacob and I with the backdrop of the the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock.







Our dear companion Mary :o)




The Wailing Wall...




A quick walk through the "Christian" Quarter, which this portion is basically just a shopping district extension of the Arab Quarter..




Just took a few shots from the hip....you don't dare stop and linger or look or you get shopkeepers who tail you trying to get you to purchase something.













This is the "Windmill" settlement, which was one of the very first settlements ouside the Old City walls. It was so dangerous back then that they had to pay people to live there, but now it's one of the most prominent and sought-after areas.




Another late late night with friends ;o) We even ordered in big Israeli burgers. We both are such social people that I think we we starved for friend interaction after our 5 days in Italy. So we definitely got our people "fix" our first couple days in Jerusalem. :o) Besides, Jacob and I actually began to like our 20 min walks back to our flat across town at 3am ;o)




Our flat that we stayed in was so wonderful (gotta love good connections), and it was right across from the Knesset, which is Israel's Parliament building.




Staye tuned for the next installment where we trek down into Arad and the desert wilderness of the Negev...