1 post tagged “old city”
So before the third day of the trip officially began, we had a run in with some of our Birthright compadres in the hotel. We went to bed the night before around 11 (I think) and promptly passed out... only to be woken up by drunken, pot smoking, yarmulke wearing 18 year olds in the hallway. I popped my head out into the hallway and used my deepest Camp Counselor Voice to tell them that I didn't give a shit what they were doing, but that they needed to move it into their rooms. They slurred their way into the rooms, shut the doors and everything was good.
Until it happened again. And again. And again. Apparently, staying in the room is far too difficult, and the party kept leaking into the hallway. Sleep total: Less than 6 hours.
The morning of our third day, I woke up before my roommates to use the shower. The shower was... interesting. It was clean (thank God) (heh), but odd. It was a tub/shower combo, but instead of a shower curtain or a sliding glass door, it had half a glass wall and... that's it. So when you took a shower, water sprayed all over the bathroom. The bathroom that had no fan. So everything fogged up (including the glass counter). It was very awkward. Oh, and I forgot about the teeny, tiny beds! The beds were so, so narrow and teeny, we all felt like giants.
We meandered downstairs (where we encountered the loud 18 year olds and glared at them a lot) for delicious breakfast of french toast, pancakes, grapefruit and other fantastic things. After breakfast, we headed upstairs to meet Our Soldiers. I say it like that -- Our Soldiers -- because that is how we referred to them the whole trip. Joining us that day -- and for the next four days -- were eight Israeli soldiers (three girls and five boys). I can't say how fantastic and valuable it was to have them with us. Whenever I had a crazy offshoot question or didn't understand something or just wanted to know why the water heaters were on the top of the buildings in Tel Aviv, they could tell us.
After we met the soldiers, we were off to the market to pick up food for shabbat that night. Baklava, challah, chocolate, dates, fresh fruit -- it was like the best farmers market ever, with everyone yelling in Hebrew and no room to breathe, much less move more than two steps at a time. Dor, the soldier who was with our mini-group of six, navigated us through and negotiated for us, something that came in very handy as the market was one of the few places on our trip where signs were exclusively in Hebrew (which I can't read, write or speak, thank you very much)
After the market, we hopped on the bus and headed to the Old City. Standing outside of the archway entrance, I was amazed at how old it really was. I know that sounds cliche, but it really was incredible. The wall in front of us had slats in it (to shoot arrows at intruders!), the archway dated back thousands of years and I kept thinking "It's like 10th grade Western Civ! Only not boring!"
We headed through the entrance and into the Jewish quarter. We visited the Cardo and walked around the city, but I felt distracted since I knew our eventual destination was the Wall. The Wall is pretty much the only holy site in Judaism and, to put it mildly, kind of a big deal. It's the last remaining wall of the old temple, a place where battles were won and fought over hundreds of years (if you believe the bible, that is). As we rounded the corner to see it for the first time, it really did take my breath away. It's massive and intimidating. And crowded. The Wall has two areas -- one for men and one for women. You'll notice from the picture that the section for men is larger, has tables and chairs and, I can't confirm this, has air conditioning (I don't think I believe that one). The women's area is crowded and cramped and you have to wait for a spot at the wall.
Sanding at the Wall was really incredible. Some people were crying around me and praying and clutching it, and some were silent and reflective. All I can say is that it felt really calm, right there, just for that second. Behind me, I heard a woman sobbing. I turned around to find an older woman -- in her 80s or 90s -- struggling to stand. I gave her my spot and found ofne of the many plastic chairs that were laid out to sit and write for a bit.
After we left The Wall, it was time to head back to the hotel. It was shabbat at sunset, which in Jerusalem meant that everything was going to shut down. We hopped back on the bus and back to the hotel, where I met up with my aunt and uncle and my two cousins. They all live in Jerusalem (with their many children and grandchildren) and because of the tour's tight schedule (and rules), this was the only time we could get together. They looked great, but I was so disappointed to not get to see everyone. The last time I saw all the kids, I was 13 and now half of them have kids of their own. Sheryl and Ellen brought pictures, but it's just not the same.
We had dinner, eating all of the fabulous treats we bought at the market earlier that day, and then settled in for the night. Again, the rules were cramping our style, as we were now stuck in the hotel and it was barely 8 o'clock. After many negotiations, we were shut down and were pretty much on lock down for the night. As you can imagine, this didn't really go over well with all of us. The bratty 18 year olds were upstairs in the hallway being loud and drunk, and all of us were hyped with Getting To Know Everyone energy.
All of this led to many card games, reopening the bar in the lobby (much to the chagrin of the manager) and some drunken political conversations that I stayed out of (a first!). When we did finally go to bed, it was a repeat of the night before, with the loud kids and all of us old ladies yelling at them. It would get worse the next night...
Next up: Shabbat in the Holy Land, crazy protesters and the foreign theater
