We arrived in Jerusalem today for a quick two night stay. Our hotel, Hashimi, is in the Old City and is on Via Dolorosa, believed to be the route Jesus walked on his way to crucifixion.
Tel Aviv >> Jerusalem
We woke up in Tel Aviv, packed up and hit up a delicious bakery, before going to the bus station for a quick one-hour journey to Jerusalem. It's Sunday, which is the start of the work week and we discovered, is also the day that Israeli military return to duty after the weekend. It was hard not to notice them, many with their rifles casually hanging from their bodies. Surprisingly, the girls didn't seem to think anything of it.
Chickpeas Anyone?
After dropping off our bags at the hotel in Jerusalem, we headed out for lunch. Fortunately, just a couple blocks away was a restaurant recommended by Sarah's cousin Joey and his wife Alicia, who recently lived in Jerusalem for a year. It was billed as some of the best hummus in the city...it was delicious. Our only complaint, they don't warm the pita bread, but that seems to be typical in both Israel & Egypt too.
Alona from Palo Alto!
In July when we had a sleep over with the Jasik family in San Francisco, we had a chance to cross paths with Alona, Benji's sister who was staying with them at the time. Alona moved to Israel in 1997 (and has off & on since then) and graciously spent the afternoon playing tour guide for us and the girls!
It sure was nice to have someone navigating the small and windy street/alleyways without needing to open up google maps.
The Jerusalem Scribe
Alona took us to meet a friend of hers, Kalman - otherwise known as the Jerusalem Scribe. Kalman was raised Orthodox Jewish in Minnesota. Taking a gap year to visit Israel prior to starting college over a decade ago, he never left. After studying in Jerusalem, he turned his passion to becoming a scribe.
It was really interesting to learn Kalman's techniques. He uses real bird quills and his paper is made of animal hide. His specialty is to join scripture in the form of art and he shared some of his work with us.
Sadie, who has an art bug in her, was particularly entranced. She's told us in the past that she wants to be an artist, but that she doesn't want to be famous; attention is not Sadie's favorite thing, so makes total sense. A few minutes after we said goodbye to Kalman, Sadie said to us “Jesus had no choice; he had to be famous.” Gotta love Sadie's sound bytes.
Choose a Word
Kalman graciously offered to not only show us how he wrote, but offered to write a word we could take away. He asked us to choose a word, so we huddled up to brainstorm. Immediately, Sadie chimed in with "WORLD". Perfect!
Kalman etched "World" in Hebrew onto a piece of animal hide for us. This will absolutely be one our most treasured souvenirs from the trip!
The Last Supper
We strolled through the room of the Last Supper.
The Western Wall
Our tour continued, this time to visit the "Western Wall," considered the holiest place for Jews to pray.
Men and women approach the wall in separate sections. The girls were a bit taken aback that we wouldn't be able to go together. I did snap a pic of the Bohagirls over the separation barrier.
A tradition is to write a prayer or thought which is placed between the cracks of the wall. We each took a moment to participate.
In a quick moment of reflection as we left the wall, we considered how fortunate we are that in the past week we've been to the Acropolis, the Egyptian Pyramids and the Western Wall!
Thank You Alona!
It was special to connect with Alona and spend the afternoon touring around Jerusalem.
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