Day 25:Tower of David Museum,Enrico Macias Concert
Trip Start
May 14, 2008
1
27
42
Trip End
Jun 17, 2008
Jerusalem,
Israel
Monday, June 9, 2008
We go back to sleep and when we wake up, we are really tired. We had not gotten the rest we had anticipated in Eilat (nor in Shacharut - total of three nights), plus the long bus ride to Jerusalem and the cumulative affect of twenty-four days of travel have caught up with us
Jerusalem as seen from Tower of David Museum
. Maybe we can't quite absorb that we are here in Jerusalem, the iconic city, and how it appears to be so different from everywhere else in Israel. We go down for breakfast and we meet two people who say they are with a messianic group and start giving us more information than we had a need to know...are they trying to convert us?
We feel a bit unschpialcus (that is a technical term and I don't know how to spell it, but means something like antsy, as in this case not wanting to stay in the hotel). We decide to go to the Tower of David Museum for a few hours to get an introduction and historical overview of Jerusalem. It is open on this holiday. After the positive experience with the national park pass, we consider getting the Holy Pass, which is more restrictive allowing two admissions of one category site and three admissions of another category site. We think it is a good deal considering what we plan to see and go for it. This is the first Holy Pass the attendant has sold and she is excited!
Imagine walking through 5,000 years of history, seeing pictures, maps, hearing music, and seeing models. The Tower of David Museum gives you a panoramic walk through so many civilizations in Jerusalem, the endless cycle of war, the conquerors and the conquered, so many tearing downs and building ups
Inner courtyard of Tower of David Museum
. Sometimes the conquerors were tolerant and sometimes not. So many times history has repeated itself. One gets the feeling that it is Jerusalem's destiny. We hear the peeling of church bells and that brings us back to the present moment and how thirsty we are. We make our way to a delightful shaded area overlooking the ancient ruins of the museum and Harvey finds the soda machines near the bathrooms. We sit outside and strike up a conversation with Sylvia and Clyde from the U.K. We have some interesting conversation about Brits and Americans and then decide to continue over lunch at the Armenian Tavern just down the street from the museum.
After lunch, we notice that the burst of energy that got us to the museum has now dissipated and we head back to the hotel. When doing the trip planning, we had told people that we would be spending nine days in Jerusalem, and some people wondered what we could possibly do there for that length of time and others thought it was too short! We comment that we'll see how we feel at the end of our nine days. Right now we are overdosed on sightseeing and travel and are just plain tired. We take a long nap.
Before leaving home, we had arranged for three concerts here in Jerusalem and one of them is tonight. We will be seeing Enrico Macias, a French singer with Middle Eastern rhythms and it promises to be a change of pace. The theatre, Binyanei Hauma, is at the other end of town, so we take a taxi. The driver is a Palestinian who talks about inequities he feels living in Israel. Harvey engages him in conversation. The driver says that Palestinians are treated like dogs
We join our Brit acquaintances for lunch
. If a Jewish taxi driver parks in a restricted area there is no problem. If he does then he gets a ticket. Harvey asks if there were equality would he serve in the army. The response is that Israel is secured by Bedouins and Druze. They are the ones in dangerous assignments. The Jews are the officers. If there were a peace agreement would he want to stay in Israel? No, he would pay 300 NIS, give up his passport and move to the West Bank. Couldn't he move there now? Harvey asks why he thinks that the West provides so much aid for the Palestinians and the Arabs provide weapons. The answer was that there is so much corruption in the Arab world that if they donate $100 million, only $10 million will get to the people. It is a very complex part of the world here. (Note: we checked out the statements about parking and assignments in the army with several others and were informed in great detail that these statements are not true).At the theatre, we go through security; our bags are checked and we walk through a metal detector. People are pushing to get ahead and cutting into the line - what's a line? This drives Harvey crazy. We go to the "will call" area (I won't use the word line), and the staff person could not find the tickets for all three concerts under our name. Fortunately she cares enough to do some detective work and finds our tickets by our credit card with the name of Kigel, Avi's father who had purchased them for us
Marketplace in Old City
! Good thinking! With our tickets in hand, we notice that they are all in Hebrew! We haven't a clue where we our seats are! Harvey figures out that we can match the words on the tickets with those that are displayed over the different doorways to the theatre. With confidence we approach a doorway and are escorted to our seats.
As soon as the concert begins we learn that seating is a fluid event. Everyone gets orchestra center seats whether they purchase balcony or front row seats. You simply walk to a vacant seat and take it. There is no embarrassment after the usher takes you out of the seat when the true seat holder arrives; you just look for another alternative. And forget about going to the bathroom; if you get up, you lose it. The rush to fill in orchestra seats keeps going the entire first half of the concert. At intermission, there is a line in the women's room, of course. Many of the doors to the stalls have difficulty closing, so friends are standing guard for each other. I have no such friend with me, so I have to do some stretching to hold the door for myself as others try to open it a few times (I don't want to be too graphic here). At intermission, we are looking around the audience. The older women are not in good shape; it doesn't look like they exercise. I don't see another woman with grey hair; they must dye their hair
Shop in the Old City
! Now, the young female soldiers that we have seen in Israel? That's another story, they look great! There is a man seated in front of us who is in his 80's. His date is in her 20's or early 30's. At first we are not sure if he is with a young relative, but after a while we realize that they are not related. Harvey says that if he can afford it, let him enjoy himself.It seems as if everyone in the audience knows the words to all the songs. Most of the songs are in French, so these people are really serious fans! Enrico is accompanied by two drummers, three guitarists, and an accordion player. Their sound is high energy with driving rhythms. The audience claps, hold their arms in the air and point, sway to the beat - the whole theatre is vibrating! When Enrico sings "Jerusalem of Gold" and "Ya-a-se-shalom", he brings the house down with participation. It is unlike any other concert we have ever attended! We highly recommend going to a concert by a popular singer while you are in Israel!
Click here for today's photos!
