MONDAY NOVEMBER 13TH-RETURN TO JERUSALEM

At 830am I met with the owner of the hotel so I could pay him for my stay.  I thought traveling to Jerusalem would involve taking a train to Tel Aviv and a bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  It turns out there is a direct bus with very few stops to the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem.  It cost the grand sum of 37.5 Sheckels, about $10.50.  The taxi ride from the hotel to the bus station cost 50 Sheckels, about $14.50 (I may not have bargained strongly with an arab cab driver).  Here are some photos taken along the way.

 All of the buses in Israel have wifi, air conditioning, some have adjustable foot rests, reading lights, fold down tray table for your laptop, and a place to charge your electronic devices.  This is the overhead panel from my bus ride to Jerusalem. 

 And some scenery along the way from Haifa to Jerusalem.

 These two pictures do not do justice to the amazing "bridge of strings" in Jerusalem.  A unique structure to say the least.

 The next picture is of the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem.  Public transportation on buses and trains is a big deal in Israel.  It is reliable, comfortable, safe, and a very inexpensive way to get around in Israel.  All soldiers, sailors (yes there is also an Israeli Navy), border guards, and Air Force personnel ride the buses and trains for free at any time just by showing their military ID or being in uniform.

The blurry pictures of the orthodox men is to advance a theory I have that when they graduate as rabbis they are given a celphone and directed to use it constantly.  Although that may be true of everyone in Israel.  I called my Sister from a train and I commented that every person I could see was either talking on the phone, texting, or listening to something stored on their phone.

I returned to the very well located Jerusalem Hostel/Hotel where I had a private room with bath.  It was also $75/night but wasn't anywhere near the comfortable space of my room in Haifa.  It does have a great location which you've seen from my earlier weekend in Jerusalem.

 Among the conveniences of the location of the Jerusalem Hostel/Hotel is the close proximity to one of Israel's best and busiest bakeries.  This place was always busy and had great cookies and chocolate croissants etc.

The following pictures are some of the recipients of the "Shaliach gelt" (the tradition of taking money for the poor when we travel abroad).  I included street musicians and entertainers as deserving of this charitable gesture.

This man played an amplified autoharp (or is it a zither?) with a sound that reminded me of the theme music to one of my all time favorite movies:  "The Third Man".

I arrived after 2pm and headed on foot to the Old City to say a few (previously forgotten) more prayers at the Western Wall and looked unsuccessfully for a certain falafel place that my Swiss walking companion in Haifa referred me to.  I couldn't find it so I went back to my old reliable place for a late lunch/dinner.

After dining I walked the neighborhood including the very popular Ben Yehuda street which is a pedestrian mall without cars and places to sit and eat in the middle of what was once the street.

This building is directly across the street from my hostel/hotel.  It has a bank on the ground floor and several very popular ATMs.  The upper floors appear to be luxury condos which, at least the upper ones, have a great view of the Old City.  The building also does a light show of sorts on the front of the building as shown below.

The following picture is looking down Jaffa Street in front of my hostel/hotel.  It shows the tracks for the light rail train.  In the evening there are rarely cars on the street and when the trains aren't going by, people freely walk in the street.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be my last day in Israel and I plan a return visit to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene to find and say hello to the nun who had treated me so well the past two years.  As Tuesdays from 10am to Noon are included in the posted visiting hours at the church, I do not expect to have a rematch with the really mean nun who did her best to keep me out two weeks ago.  I walked around on Ben Yehuda Street and bought some gifts (t-shirts and refrigerator magnets) and enjoyed some improvisational jazz from this man whose English wasn't so good but did manage to communicate that his daughter is a first violinist somewhere in New York.  

 

I spoke with him about the jazz I enjoyed and we clicked on Stan Getz and the Brazillian Jazz sound of the 1960's and Chet Baker.  I sat for a while realizing that the next evening would be my last in Israel and I would need to get to bed early for my morning flights home on Wednesday.  The following pictures are two more recipients of my "shaliach gelt", the money I had brought to give to the poor and had been less than successful so far.

I went to bed anticipating how I could get the most our of my last day in Israel, planning my return to the church for the morning and a last walk through the Old City and to find the elusive Montefiore windmill.