Day 13: On our own in Jerusalem (June 24)
I got Rachel out of bed earlier than usual to meet Julia for quick breakfast before she had to go to work for the day at a Starbucks-like chain called Aroma. They had a full breakfast menu and we had really good shashuka and eggs on toast (and a danish). One the walk back through the market Rachel wanted to buy a few dates but the smallest quantity he wanted to sell was 1/2 kilo, luckily he told us to be "the good ones". We went back to our apartment to figure out how we wanted to spend our time this week with Julia at work and Jim arriving on Friday. There are some really obvious things to do in Jerusalem but we know that we will want to do them with Jim when he arrives. I was looking into day trips around Israel but Rachel got really excited about the idea of going to Cairo. My mom (who has traveled extensively) has never been to Petra and it is high on her list (which put it on my list). So, we sat and looked at the possibilities of going to one or the other or to both. When I called a tour company to see if we could work it all in, we didn't have enough time and she felt that we would be better served to do three full days in Jordan - she felt it was a safer country for two women traveling alone. That was all I needed to hear, combined with the great distance to get to Cairo and the short time we would have ended up being there.
With that decided and booked, it was now time for lunch and Rachel was set on middle eastern food, specifically hummus. We went to the highly-rated Azura restaurant in the Market and lingered over hummus with chickpeas and a tomato salad. We took the leftovers to go and walked them back to our apartment.
It was pretty late in the day and we knew we had to report doing something with our day to Julia so we set out for the Israel Museum in the western part of Jerusalem. We turned down our street away from the market (a way we hadn't turned yet) and a few blocks away a woman had transformed her house into a used clothing store. She tried to sell us some really pretty (but unpractical) dresses which we weren't interested in, but we did both get additional sun protection. Rachel's hat completed her 10-year-old boy look.
We took a long walk, through a park, passed the zoo, a cinema center, the Supreme Court and other government buildings, and finally arrived at the museum just after 4 pm. The woman giving out the audio guides seemed very put out that we would arrive so late, and she was right, it is a museum that deserves more attention than we had time to give. We did get to go through the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept and into the permanent collections where we focused on limited time on Jewish objects of daily life. It was really interesting and a beautiful museum.
After we were ushered out at closing, we took the much quicker option of the bus back to the market. We did a Nike Training program while waiting for Julia to get off of work and were dripping with sweat when she walked in. Then we all walked together into the Old City part of Jerusalem. We walked through the Jaffa Gate and out the New Gate - realizing how much exploring we have to do of this most historic city. The restaurant Julia wanted to take us inside the gate was closed so we walked back to a restaurant we had passed on our walk down - Houmus Ber Sin - and this time ordered hummus topped with roasted cauliflower. Delicious! Our walk back was interesting because even though Israel doesn't have a team in the World Cup, there were a remarkable number of TVs turned to the game up and down the streets.
With that decided and booked, it was now time for lunch and Rachel was set on middle eastern food, specifically hummus. We went to the highly-rated Azura restaurant in the Market and lingered over hummus with chickpeas and a tomato salad. We took the leftovers to go and walked them back to our apartment.
We took a long walk, through a park, passed the zoo, a cinema center, the Supreme Court and other government buildings, and finally arrived at the museum just after 4 pm. The woman giving out the audio guides seemed very put out that we would arrive so late, and she was right, it is a museum that deserves more attention than we had time to give. We did get to go through the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept and into the permanent collections where we focused on limited time on Jewish objects of daily life. It was really interesting and a beautiful museum.
After we were ushered out at closing, we took the much quicker option of the bus back to the market. We did a Nike Training program while waiting for Julia to get off of work and were dripping with sweat when she walked in. Then we all walked together into the Old City part of Jerusalem. We walked through the Jaffa Gate and out the New Gate - realizing how much exploring we have to do of this most historic city. The restaurant Julia wanted to take us inside the gate was closed so we walked back to a restaurant we had passed on our walk down - Houmus Ber Sin - and this time ordered hummus topped with roasted cauliflower. Delicious! Our walk back was interesting because even though Israel doesn't have a team in the World Cup, there were a remarkable number of TVs turned to the game up and down the streets.
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