Day 1 in Jerusalem

Shalom!  We have arrived safely in Jerusalem!  After a very long flight full of disgusting food (Mom said, "my food tastes like bread disguised as meat, bread disguised as cheese, and bread disguised as bread..."), we touched down in Tel Aviv around 10am Israeli time.  There was only one minor scare of a lost passport (the loser shall remain nameless), and then we made it through customs and to our rental car.  The GPS we brought along didn't work, and neither did our other electronic devices, so I got busy interpreting a map for John, who drove like the Boston cabbie he used to be.

We found our way to our AMAZINGLY gorgeous neighborhood, Yemin Moshe, just outside the walls of the Old City.  The neighborhood is like living in a garden.  You can see john and Coretta (his daughter, who is living here for a year) outside our rented apartment.  The long hanging flowers are nasturtiums, according to Mom. 

After an epic nap, which refused to let me out of its grip even after I officially woke up, Coretta led us on a walk to the outskirts of the Old City for dinner.  She told us that everything in Jerusalem is required to be built of Jerusalem stone, the tan-colored stone you see in the pictures.  It's a bit bland by day, but at sunset, when the light hits it just right, it's absolutely gorgeous. 

This is us walking through Yemin Moshe.  We believe that this is Herod's tower, now called King David's Tower, in the background.  I might be able to confirm that once we've actually visited the Old City.

The cafe that Coretta took us to was in a labyrinth of back streets.  We had to go through a small doorway and down a narrow stone passageway into a courtyard, then up some stairs. It felt like we were getting let in on a little secret!


Once inside, it turned out to be both a cafe and a bookstore, full of interesting reads tucked into old stone archways.  They even had a pride fiag hanging in there, which was a delightful surprise.  The food was delicious, and it was nice to have lots of vegetables after all that bread this morning!








As I must always do, I checked out the restroom at this cafe, and found this sign.  I recognized the feeling from the airpiane last night...

Coretta helped us plan some of our next few days, and we headed home down a street famous for its nightlife.  There we found some interesting kitsch (including a store actually named "Kitsch").  My favorite items for sale were these yarmulkes decorated with whatever cultural reference you might want to revere whilst worshiping.  Facebook, Spongebob, Mac, the GAP -- pick your pleasure!

We're about to turn in for a short night before we get up to meet Coretta at her Hebrew history class in the morning.  Goodnight!