Park Hotel Jerusalem

... their “korkenetim” (scooters). Especially at night, and especially in the Old City. In part, because no other kids in Jerusalem do such a thing. The Kotel was cool and quiet, a welcome contrast with our previous day-time visits. We had prepared “Refuah Sh’layma” (get well) and “Shiduch” notes in advance and divvied them up amongst Adin and Ezra for placement in the wall.

Saturday morning, I headed out the door at 5:15 for my final run. Again ...

... the City of David tour, we were the only ones, so she said that 3 would be enough and she would call the guide to come right away. While we waited I ventured into the Christ Church museum next door and had the most amazing talk with a Messianic Israeli woman from the museum. She explained to me the vision of some English Anglicans at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a few of which were Jews. How in 1809 they had founded the ...

... one of 9 in the Nassar family and various gamily members are always coming and going from the farm. Daoud himself lives mostly in Bethlehem with his family as it is closer for the kids to go to school. I was met by all his family when they picked me up in the van on my first day. Jihan is his wife and they have 3 gorgeous kids: Shaadine, 10; Naradine, 7 and Bishara, 4. Bishara is an adorably cheeky little boy and, with his mop of curly-osh hair and twinkly eyes, reminds me a lot of Manu ...

... my bag isnt too heavy so it was all fine.

After getting a little bit lost I asked a policeman who wasnt much help and then I stumbled accross her road, found her address, knocked on the door and some American dude answered the door! - I got the wrong house.

Im pretty sure it was Olias mistake though, I was at 15a she lives at 15 - the only prob is I do not know what an A in hebrew loks like!

Anyway, after a phonecall ...

... told--a cautionary tale to those of you in Seattle); the colonial powers' buildings from the late Ottoman era; and the hills beyond, housing the university, churches, and the ancient Jewish cemetery. Along the way, we saw the guard stations dating from the 16th century, and positions the Jordanian soldiers held when the Old City walls faced the no-man's-land with Israel after the 1948-49 war of independence.


We descended at the Damascus Gate (my favorite, not ...

... center and Old City. As a machlakah of about 33 soldiers, we behaved pretty unruly during this time. It was perhaps a combination of the relative inactivity compared to previous weeks, the fact that we were in a city and not a base, and maybe most of all, the knowledge that we would soon break distance with our commanders.

We were also taken to Mount Hertzl, which I had already done with Taglit. It was here that, after seeing my beret in the mirror, I proceeded to ask my ...

I love this guest house. It's simple, even spartan, to be sure, but it's wonderful. The staff are all very friendly, and the rooms, though small, are prefectly comfortable and adequate. And being right in the old city, with the Muslim prayers ringing through the night sky, the orthodox jewish men walking briskly by, makes this place very special. It's all well secured, too. There is a gate at the entrance to the compound, another gate up the ...

... of Adam and Eve, equating to the 6 days of creation.

What really shocked me was his view that evolution is in fact compatible with the Torah. I asked then about Adam having parents - he said that Adam did, in fact, have parents. Apparently many Rabbis, including the head Rabbi of Brendan's yeshiva in Israel, privately hold this to be true, in spite of apparent contradictions with the concept of Adam being the first human. So how is this ...

... a Chariot, that is why there is a road opening here. We go into the Armenian quarter and learn of their history in the old quarter, their religion, persecution, daily lives and businesses. Then into the Jewish quarter, it is recently built in 1967, learn of their history, religion, persecution, daily lives and businesses. We went down the Roman Cardo Maximus, which was the main street that was preserved after the '67 war. They also preserved a part of the ...

... some kilometers and dropped me of again, since they had to go the other way. From there, I hitched another ride, this time almost all the way to Jerusalem. The driver, a very religious Jew, said it was a Mitzwah to help people (e.g. hitchhikers). Sounds good to me :-) Dina, Netta and Alona are 3 Israeli girls just fresh out the army who started ...