Day 20: The Old City...Finally! (July 1)

Julia had spent the days Rachel and I were in Jordan exploring the neighborhood of our airbnb (whose history I still want to learn, according to wikipedia:  Nachlaot is a grouping of 23 courtyard neighborhoods in central Jerusalem, Israel, known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many small synagogues).  Julia was able to guide us out of the neighborhood out a different route to a breakfast place she found on one of her runs.  We ordered shakshouka (surprise) and a Norwegian breakfast that was delicious.  She went off to work and Jim, Rachel, and I set out to explore the Old City.

Our audio tour of the Jewish Quarter was to start at the Zion Gate so we thought
we'd walk along the outside of the wall to get there but discovered we couldn't do that without going up on the ramparts.  We were torn about going on another ramparts tour, but then we saw it started with a spiral staircase (an item on our summer scavenger hunt) and had to go!  Luckily I had already downloaded that half of the ramparts tour on my phone so I was able to read about what we saw as we walked over to the Zion Gate, which was so flooded by military at the bottom for some reason it was difficult to exit through all of them.

The Jewish Quarter tour took us from the Gate to the Four Sephardic Synagogues (liked the story of Elijah the Prophet), through more squares and synagogues, the Broad Wall (the oldest thing found in the city), the Cardo (Roman shopping area), and ended at the Western Wall, the holiest site in the world for Jews.  Perhaps it was the time of day, but the Jewish Quarter was full of young kids playing and running around and lot of families picking up kids from preschool.  It felt very different than the more touristy feel of the Muslim Quarter, but that is likely based on the route the tour took us.  While we've spent a lot of time in the Muslim Quarter, I think we have been mostly on the highly-traveled shopping streets.

We wanted to introduce Jim to the special treat we had found the other day at Zalatimo's, the 200 year old bakery that makes one thing, but when we got there it was closed.  We were super disappointed but a man outside assured us it would open tomorrow.  So we went in search of the "number one" hummus we had saved for Jim, and it too was closed!  Luckily a man nearby told us that Abu Shukri has multiple locations so we went and found the other.  When we walked in the waiter, instead of handing us a menu, said "All we have is hummus, vegetarian falafel, and salad."  To which we said, "Perfect, one of each please."

Jim wanted to go to the Temple Mount (above the Western Wall) but when we walked in to the Western Wall security they told us Temple Mount was closing in 10 minutes (at 2:30 pm).  So we raced past the Western Wall and found the entrance to the wooden bridge that would take us up.  We got to the top with three minutes to spare. I thought once we were in they'd let us walk around, but they ushered us basically from the entrance to the exit.  We got to see the Dome of the Rock and the mosque, neither of which we would be allowed to go into anyway.

Our plan for the rest of the afternoon was to walk the Stations of the Cross - we struggled to find the first one but eventually did and followed Jesus' progress from his condemnation by Pilate to his crucifixion and burial at the site of what is now the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  About midway through his progression, we stopped at Jafar Sweets for a traditional kunafe (goat cheese covered in delicious sweetness).  Rachel put her baseball cap on backwards briefly and when Jim went up to pay, the man behind the counter gave him some free pieces of baklava, pointed to Rachel, and said "for him."  We got a big laugh out of that; it really could have been a translation error, but it has been some years (not never for those of you who missed Rachel's boy phase
) since people have confused her for our son.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was buzzing with activity and people wanting to worship at the various spots along Jesus' path.  We mostly watched from a distance and saw a group of monks (including one very unhappy one who had been put on security detail to control the crowds) making their way through the church and up to the spot where Jesus had been on the cross.

Almost time to meet Julia, we walked through a beautiful park and an old neighborhood (the first neighborhood built outside the city walls in the mid-1800s.  I said "I think I could live here" and in that moment, passed a for sale sign.  Rachel said "If that's not a sign, I don't know what is."  You probably had to be there, but to call a sign a "sign" made me laugh for a long time.

We got to First Station (where we had met Julia before) to meet her again and realized that there was a soccer game on.  We searched First Station for a place playing it but couldn't find one so decided to enjoy the walk to our restaurant destination in the German Colony.  We walked through Train Track Park again and to the cool bus station turned book exchange where this time Rachel picked up a cool pocket version of the New Testament.  We passed a little bakery called Bread and More that was playing the game and discovered the game had just gone into overtime. We had dinner reservations in 30 minutes but asked if we could sit and just have a drink and watch the game.  The place was totally empty.  (Julia said that she actually missed us more when she would pass by people watching the games and was interested in watching with us -- clearly she meant reading her book while we watched!)

He brought us our drinks and then a free treat, and then a few minutes later another delicious free treat.  After the game ended with PKs (and a surprising defeat for Spain) we walked across the street for a delicious dinner.  Then, because it was part of the plan and we had to stick to it, we walked a block up the street to the Waffle Factory and ordered a sample platter of waffles and ice cream.  That is some impressive eating!  By the time we got home, the second soccer game of the night was in overtime and also ended in PKs (and another surprising defeat, this time for Denmark).