Back in Haifa, After a Weekend in Jerusalem

Sunday
2/1/15

     This was my 3rd visit to Jerusalem over a span of over 40 years.   The city is still a startling combination of old and new. Modernization of  the infrastructure, roadways, transportation and skyline is impressive.  But within the gates of the old city, the modern world is mostly present
in the remarkable archaeological excavations and restorations.  In fact, earlier today when doing the tunnel tour under the Wailing Wall, which  is a maze of tunnels revealing multiple layers of civilization, we discovered to get from point to point, along the pathway,  one often has to climb or descend multiple stairways.  We were impressed to see that each staircase has a motorized lift to make the paths wheel chair accessible....the lighting and the ventilation system are very modern and they move large groups of people through a very intricate pathway.  At the end when you exit the tunnel, the advise you to walk with a guard in front and back of the the group, as it goes through an area where there have been some problems in the past. We felt safe the entire day, walking with our guides.  
    I think we overdid it today.  To recap: at 9:30am we walked to the old city for a 10:30am  walking tour of the tunnels, as described above. . Later after lunch at an underground restaurant, in between the arches of the tunnels, a few of us signed up for another 2 hour walking tour of the holy city which took us thru the Christian, Armenian, Muslim and Jewish Quarters. The 2 hour tour went into over time and we had to leave at  the 2 1/2 hours , as we needed to walk back to the hotel, collect our luggage and board the bus back to Haifa. One highlight of the afternoon tour was the walk along the rooftops of the city!  (no worries it was safe we did not go close to the edges).
    Earlier in the weekend we attended conservative services on the Saturday  Sabbath, at  a modern orthodox temple. The women still sit separately, but they do have prayer books with English translation. Very large sanctuary, some singing and a very long service.  Arrived late and politely left early.
     Later in the day the  Israel Museum was open.  It is a fabulous museum with extraordinary outdoor sculpture, gardens and several buildings. The exhibits are wonderful. We were there 3 hours and went our separate ways so each person could see what we were most interested in.  I  saw a large exhibit The Jewish Wardrobe, which traced Jewish dress code, over the centuries and among numerous counties with Jewish populations.  Another exhibit : The Circle of Dance traced the development of dance in Israeli. From folk dance on the kibbutz to modern, interpretive dance in present day.  The display had multiple video screens, music and excellent written narrative.  The museum visit was a source of great joy.  I left feeling great awe at what they have accomplished as a museum and how it reflects the strengths of the country.
     The good news is that although shops are closed on Saturday for Shabbat, they do open Saturday evening. So after last night's dinner, we did walk to Ben Yahuda which is the shopping pedestrian street and got some browsing and shopping accomplished.  Slept a bit on the bus ride back to Haifa.
Good night all!