TUESDAY NOVEMBER 14TH-BACK TO THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE

I got up early and availed myself of the hostels traditional communal do it yourself breakfast on the top floor kitchen with outdoor seating on the roof.  These breakfasts are typically bread, hummus, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, butter and other toppings for bread or toast, coffee and tea.

I shared an outdoor table with a woman from Finland named Anna Liisa.  She was a Christian who had first visited Israel, volunteering on a kibbutz, in the 1970's motivated by a strong sense of sympathy for the Jewish people who had perished in the Holocaust. 

On my way to the Old City I encountered this disabled woman making beautiful music on the violin.  

The picture shows she has a rather hi-tech mobility system.  It appears to be an electric three wheel wheelchair on which she can turn around to perform and be shaded from the sun.  I was happy to give her some of the gelt which won't seem to ever end.  I continued my walk to my last day to visit the Old City.

The following picture is my last view of the Damascus Gate on the North side of the Old City of Jerusalem.  This is the gate most convenient to the Arab residents of East Jerusalem.  Unfortunately, it's also the site of a number of fatal terrorist attacks on the guards who protect it in the past few years.

I took my regular shortcut through the Old City to get to the Lion's Gate on the east side near to the road leading up the Mount of Olives to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.  I was put upon in the Arab Shuk (the extensive and intense covered market place) by an Arab merchant selling leather goods including fancy hand tooled backpacks.  He tried to encourage me to upgrade to a camel leather backpack for only 550 Sheckels (about $156.00).  I told him I was a volunteer in Israel and I already had a backpack as he could plainly see.  His tenacity and perseverance would have been impressive had I not been in a hurry to get to the Church.  I ended up spending 50 Sheckels ($14.25) on a very soft wallet he claimed was camel skin and made in Jerusalem.  I had been looking for a gift for my friend Rick Lucci in Hollywood, Florida who was gracious enough to store my car during this trip.  I wanted to get on my way and didn't take a picture of this super salesman.  This next picture is of an ungrateful recipient of $2 of my shaliach gelt.  I asked directions of him to make sure I was on the right track to the Lions Gate.  He explained that he worked sometimes for a Jewish charity and could I give something.  He got upset with the $2 I gave him and he didn't like my admonishing him as my Mother and Grandmothers would by explaining he "shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth".  He was further miffed when I prepared to take his picture, hence the back view of him.

I walked the now familiar route out the Lions Gate to the Old City.  On the way I gave more gelt to this Arab woman whom I'm pretty sure was in the same place last year.   

 I arrived at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene just after 10am where I breezed through the gate without seeing the mean nun who had tried to keep me out two weeks earlier.  Iwent first to the gift shop where I did not find my friend or any other nun.

I looked around and found the younger nun who had recognized me from last year when I visited two weeks ago.  I asked again about my friend in the gift shop and she said she was a little ill and was resting at "home" on the church property.  She called her with the idea that she would come down (there are hills and steps within the church property) to see me.  I wanted to see her but I also didn't want to impose on these people who had been so nice to me.  Instead of her coming to see me.  I wrote an note wishing her well and telling her I would be back possibly in six months instead of a year.  I suggested the younger nun take my picture on her celphone so the older nun would know exactly who the good wishes were coming from.  I made a second $20 donation (I had made one two weeks prior) to the girls school the nuns operate in Jerusalem and I bought another of the same and only refrigerator magnet that they sell (Its a picture of the church).  I thanked the younger nun and took a seat on a bench across from the front of the church to get my final view of things which seem to have become an important thing in my life.  There was a tour group of Russian speaking people at the church and this woman took a seat on bench where I was sitting. 

Her name was Julia and she told me that the Russian speaking people were Russians who had emigrated to Belgium and came to Israel as a tour group.  She was curious when I told her about my volunteer experience and told me that she was a nurse and her husband was some kind of urban planner and when the object of the next picture appeared we discovered that we are both "cat people".

She was quick to proudly point out that this beautiful gray cat was a "Russian Blue" that was apparently not just a stray that lived well on the church property, but had a stylish blue collar that made him a real resident of the Church.  I said goodbye to Julia and headed back to the Old City for my last view of the Western Wall and then on to my quest to find the elusive windmill.  I had Googled the "Montefiore windmill" and figured out how I had gotten lost on previous attempts even with what I thought was a good map.  Once out of the Old City it was probably another 1 1/2 miles until I came upon this site in the middle of Jerusalem's fancy hotel district.

 There is a nice park around the windmill and the carriage that Sir Moses Montefiore, who lived from 1784 to 1885 (yes he died at 101) had shipped wherever he was traveling is preserved behind glass.

 Moses Montefiore and his Wife Judith Montefiore (the former Judy Cohen) traveled extensively from their home in England, and were great supporters and financiers of the development of the first Jewish neighborhood outside the walls of the Old City.  Oh, the windmill was to grind grain for the first inhabitants of the neighborhood created by the Montefiores.

I headed back to my room being mindful of the time and my need t wake up at 430am to begin my journey home.  Here's a picture of the front of my accommodations in Jerusalem.

I had one last falafel from my favorite falafel stand and some cookies from my newly discovered bakery and headed to my room to get organized for tomorrow's too-early travels travels.