Jerusalem

Yesterday, I returned from The Holy City of Jerusalem! What a shame I’m not religious. Perhaps I would have gotten to experience the notorious Jerusalem Syndrome then.

… the name given to a group of mental phenomena involving the presence of either religiously themed obsessive ideas, delusions or other psychosis-like experiences, that are triggered by, or lead to, a visit to the city of Jerusalem.

Wikipedia

Day one, my credit card was already sweating as I walked into this absolutely beautiful ceramics shop. It contained unique pieces of artwork by 10 or so artists. All the pieces were really imaginative. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a decent photo.
I took a 1-day tour of “Jerusalem - Old and New” which involved visiting a bunch of really important and holy sites as well as the most depressing Holocaust Museum. I was surprised to see how much of it I had been exposed to already as a child, and how much I had managed to forget from then. It was highly interesting, but after so many murders, remains, and interviews, it became a little too much to grasp in one run. No photos from there, (un)fortunately. The tour group consisted of a highly international mishmash of Jews and non-Jews. There were an old Jewish American couple, one Turkish couple (one Jewish, one Muslim), a French couple (no one knows which way they swing as they kept to themselves), one cool Dutch guy (whose job was related to lots and lots of bottles of beer), and then Eyal and me (a not-so-Jew and a who-knows-what.)


Jerusalem’s Old City market. Ambushed by tourist-starved merchants everywhere.

Along the right side are: an Orthodox priest, our guide, and a very chatty Arab. Photographed at the Sepulcher where Jesus was crucified and respawned.

The holiest of the holy (for the Jewish people): The Wailing Wall! These are the remnants of the West Wall that surrounded the Second Temple destroyed in 70 AD.

King David’s Tomb church

An Orthodox Jew mumbling to kitties at King David’s Tomb. They seemed to get along.

I also experienced the National Museum which as far as National Museums go was really really fun! They had a whole kids’ section (water-themed) which seems to attract not only children, but also adults. There was also the Shrine of the Book which contained the Dead Sea Scrolls (the Old Testament scrolls from -1 to +1 AD.) Very cool. Although the largest part of the museum was closed down due to construction, there were several hours’ worth of sights to experience.

Sculpture from the water-themed children’s exhibition at the National Museum of Israel.

Yes. I ate it all by myself. From the National Museum of Israel, sculpture garden.

People in Jerusalem were incredibly much nicer than in Tel Aviv. Hell, even the weather was nicer. I am so happy we spent 2 nights here instead of at Tel Aviv. I fully recommend that everyone experience the place. I’ve never visited anywhere like it.

Today, I got to experience something I haven’t experienced since I was 3 and a half years old- namely the birthday party of a 2-year old. It was complete chaos. He ran around with his plastic Fischerprice and Playskool toys, beeping, blinking, kabooming, crashing, destroying, and giggling like a hyperactive little oompaloompa on crack. He was really cute. I didn’t quite know what to do with the kid - he was a friend’s son. I would blame the language barrier, but he had a vocabulary of about 30 words, so I don’t think that’s the issue. Mostly it’s just me not knowing what the hell to do about kids. At least after a decade of picking up cats from under their armpits, I was proficient at lifting up the 2-year old.

Children and Ann-Mi are like oil on water. This one was really cute though.

Eyal comissioned a birthday card from me for the little kid (called Amir). He dictated all the colors (much to my relief - brain not worky so well today after big meal) and I did my best to fulfill his requests. The parents seemed really impressed, though I don’t think the kid gave it a second glance. It took over an hour to make, which is depressing considering it looks like something someone would whip up in 15 minutes on the computer. I liked the picture enough to really want to scan it though, so here, I give you my nth birthday card to someone!

[picture lost during move from efx2 to efx2blogs]

And on a sidenote, if anyone knows how to make the image descriptions in the lightbox work, please tell me. :(
edit: got the titles to work but still don’t know how to make little descriptions that aren’t in bold.