After moving in and choosing a bed upstairs, I had a little time before my first scheduled activity for the day, so I took a morning walk through the Old City. I wound up in the Christian Quarter, before all the shops had opened yet - it was so peaceful and quiet, and I had to keep reminding myself where in the world I was - just wandering the old streets of Jerusalem! (Which became a common theme to my stay, actually).
A Syrian convent in what I think was the Armenian quarter.
Shops in the Christian Quarter, not yet open for the day.
The Muristan (the entire square, not any particular structure pictured) - I had no idea what this place was until I randomly found it on Wikipedia as I was writing this entry - it has an AMAZING history, you can read about it by clicking here if you like - I don't want to make this entry into a novel so won't write any more here, but I highly recommend reading about it.
That first "scheduled activity" was making pancakes with Yonit, one of our Birthright guides who lives in Jerusalem. By some stroke of luck, I got on the same bus that my other 2 Birthright friends joining me were on, and we found our way to Yonit's apartment together. It was a wonderful morning of drinking chocolate milk in a bag (an Israeli curiosity that is actually quite amazing), laughing, and eating pancakes, and Yonit was so wonderful to invite us over. It was comforting having a friend in the city, and a very nice morning spent together before Hannah and Natalie had to leave (their extension was only a couple days long).
Hannah and Yonit's wonderful pancakes!
After pancakes, the three of us took a taxi to Mahane Yehuda, the Jewish Shuk (market). Going to local markets is one of the best ways to experience local culture in a new place, and who doesn't love food? I picked up some dried fruit that wound up lasting me almost my entire extension, and a brick of halva (a sort of sesame seed cake) that unfortunately went mostly uneaten.
Dried fruits in Mahane Yehuda
Fresh fruits and Hannah in Mahane Yehuda - look at the size of those pomegranates!
Mahane Yehuda market, AKA the Jewish Shuk
After the market, Hannah and Natalie had to go back to Natalie's family in Beit Shemesh before leaving Israel in the morning, and I finally really felt like I was on my own - I still saw a couple friends during my time in Israel, but for the first time it wasn't continuously the same people, making future plans together or any sort of promise of "see you tomorrow." I was off on my own adventure!
I started by walking from the market down Yaffo Street back towards the Old City - I decided not to take the Light Rail because I was on my way to the Israel Museum (I thought), which was (I thought) only a couple stops away. As it turns out, when I had looked up the Israel Museum on Google, the map plotted some sort of office, not the museum itself, and I wound up wandering aimlessly around the municipal government complex looking for it. Eventually I looked at my Jerusalem tourist's map, saw the museum plotted quite far away, and put it off to do another day.
I don't remember how I did this, but when looking for a different entrance to the Old City with the goal of doing the Western Wall Tunnels, I walked almost completely around the other side - and the gate I was looking for didn't seem to exist. Zion Gate is somehow a tricky one to find, and I kept finding myself back on the outside of the wall. After fending off more "helpful" local men (always eager to help a lost foreign lady with hopes she'll go out on a date with them), I walked around a great deal of the city. I eventually found my way in, found my way back to the Kotel, and got intimidated by the "RESERVATION ONLY" signs around the Tunnels ticket window. I still had a couple hours until I would be permitted to come back to the Heritage House, so I went to the Arab shuk (non-food markets) and promptly proceeded to get lost again.
"The Cardo" in the Jewish Quarter, near the Arab Shuk - the main street of Jerusalem in the 6th century. Ruins like this are all over Jerusalem - there is some incredible history at every step.
More of "The Cardo" and the beginning of the markets.
The markets of Old City Jerusalem are like a maze, a vein running through the heart of that ancient stone, and connect all the quarters of the city together seamlessly. Stall after stall of scarves, ceramics, jewelry, prayer shawls, paintings, cheap souvenirs, hookahs, spices... it all just blurs together. The only way to tell if you've gone from one quarter to another is the language on the more permanently-structures shops/restaurants and the sort of religious iconry being sold - when the necklaces being sold were no longer stars of David and started being rosaries and crosses, I was in the Christian quarter. When scarfs gave way to hijabs and the restaurants were advertised in Arabic, I was in the Muslim quarter. When there was a giant Jesus tapestry hanging outside, I was either back in the Christian quarter or in the Armenian quarter. I spend a couple hours completely lost in that maze, absorbing the smells and the languages, not planning on purchasing anything, fascinated by my constantly shifting surroundings.
Imagine a maze of this - I was lost in it for hours.
Just as it was starting to get dark and I thought it might be time to "find" myself and get back to the hostel, I stumbled upon one of the biggest landmarks in the Holy Land (from a world history perspective, obviously not a Jewish perspective): The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For anyone unfamiliar with it, the church is built over two locations where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried. It's controlled by several different denominations in complicated agreements that have been periodically fighting with each other for centuries. It's an incredibly holy place for Christians (obviously), and is quite beautiful inside. The onset of twilight added to the mystique, but also made photography somewhat problematic.
Back out in the Muristan from this morning (again, click here to read about, incredible history), where I realized the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was right in front of me.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The site where Jesus's body is said to have been laid after his crucifixion (which is said to have happened upstairs to the right).
The entrance to the Holy Sepulchre - I didn't feel like waiting in line to go in... one of many things to add to my to-do list on my next trip back to Israel.
I came back to the hostel just as the house family was about to light their Chanukkah candles, so another girl staying there and I got to go up to their apartment on the middle floor (with a separate outside entrance) and sing/watch as they lit their candles - her husband lit the oil candles in the outside case (common in Israel to have candles displayed outside and protected by the wind), then we went inside her apartment to eat muffins and let her kids light their menorahs they had made at school - they were adorable! The 3-year-old had made one out of bottlecaps, and her father melted the bottom of some wax candles to stick on each of the caps for her. Then they all danced together - including the youngest 1 1/2-year-old. It was so precious, augmented by the knowledge that similar little families all around me in Jerusalem were spending their evenings in a very similar way.
The Hurva Synagogue and a minaret of a nearby mosque - yet another fascinating history I just learned: http://commentfromisraelblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/hurva-synagogue.html
Chaya's two oldest kids with their menorahs
The kids' menorahs
Later that evening, any girls hanging out in the hostel were invited to a Chanukkah party at a local Rabbi's home, and we all got very excited and dressed up to go! When we got there, it turns out "party" and "Torah discussion" have a very similar meaning - so different from what we expected, but I still learned a lot from the Rabbi's wife about Chanukkah and new interpretations of the holiday, which was neat - at this point in the trip, I was grateful for every and any new experience thrown my way. I left with a girl from the hostel during a break later, we got some falafel, and went back to the hostel so I could FINALLY do laundry (first time since leaving America!) and sleep.
Menorahs on the ground floor of some apartments - the entire Jewish Quarter of the Old City looked like this during Chanukkah, it was beautiful.
The Chanukkah candles ablaze outside the Heritage House. Happy last night of Chanukkah!
As always, I do not include all (or even close to all) of my photos
here in my blog. To see all my photos from my post-Birthright travels,
see my Flickr album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtashalocke/sets/72157628990457609/
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