Jerusalem June 8

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Well, today was the last day of our amazing Holy Land Vacation; tomorrow we start the tour. Now those of you who have been on a tour before know what I mean. On vacation you get up when you want, eat where you want, and are free to explore and go where you want, when you want. On tour you have no control for the most part. You are told when to get up, where to eat, where you are going, and what you will be doing. The difference is on tour you will learn a great deal from professional guides, will see and understand some of the world's most amazing sites, and not have to worry about anything. You may give up a little freedom but it is so worth it.

Today we had another buffet breakfast in our hotel. Today we planned on going to the city market called The Shuk Machaneh Yehudah. Shuk simply means an outdoor market. The one in Jerusalem is in the the heart of the city and is the local shopping place for most of the people living nearby. Here there are hundreds of stalls selling everything from farm fresh produce, to fresh caught fish, meat, and poultry. They have an amazing variety of cheeses, breads, candies, dried and fresh fruits, and just about anything you may want in clothes and crapola!

We, of course, took the Red Bus from the terminal 1/2 mile from our hotel. This is the same service we used yesterday and they remembered us and, as such, we were greeted as if we were old friends. A word about the Red Bus. It is a very clean, open top, double decker similar to the busses we have seen in London. Our drivers, Sam and Nibl are excellent drivers, very courteous, skilled, and completely focused on making our day perfect. The manager of the service is very friendly and helpful. the buses are clean, very safe, and a great value. They have two lines, an old city tour and a hop on - hop off tour. We took the latter both days.

They drove us this morning to the Shuk where we wandered for a few hours among a myriad of stalls, selling everything you could want or not need! We bought some wine, tasted tea made from fried fruit (yes we bought the tea), and a hamsa for the house. A Hamsa is an ancient symbol worn or placed in the home to ward off the evil eye. It is hand shaped symbol with five fingers pointing down. It may be very simple or highly ornate.The hand represents protection in Jewish and Islamic cultures.

I wear a bulls horn, symbolic in Italy as a tailsman to ward off the evil eye. My two sond and I bought them 20 years ago on a trip to Italy and have warn them ever since. I added a gold Hamsa to go with my gold horn so now I doubly protected.

After a few hours wandering around, we called the Red Bus Line and they sent over a private double decker bus to pick us up and drive us over to the First Station. The First Station is just a bus station, an office building, and some shopping and restaurants in the lower floor. I was kinda disappointed as the billing for the place was a little overblown. So we decided to head home by way of the old city.

Now we were on the complete opposite side of town from the old city and also off the Red Bus route so we were is a pickle. We looked around and remembered we were at First Station, the central hub for all things transportation in Jerusalem!

Outside was a light rail line. We had no idea which line, or how to get on and off so we asked a very kind IDF soldier who gave us directions on which train to take. So, off we go, cross the tracks to the right side of the line, and stumbl over to look at the rail map. It was in Hebrew! Not much help .

Since we were looking obviously confused, a nice young lady asked me if I needed help. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I asked how we could get back to our hotel. She gave us great directions to get on the train here and off at the fourth stop. Then we could walk a few blocks to the bus line and then take the 71 or 74 bus to the hotel. Great directions but too complicated!

Another problem was we had no idea how to pay for the train. The young lady said you buy a pass and tap the pass on the reader when you enter. Too complicated and we had no pass....so we just walked onto the train!

We did get on the next train; we just love taking the train in strange countries. Having no idea what we are doing is great fun! The train arrives and it is PACKED. No matter; everyone just squeezed in and held on as we left the station. Cathy looked up at the map and noticed that one of the stops was the Jaffa Gate. Well, we knew where that was, so a change of plans and we headed to the Jaffa Station. Well, that was the plan anyway.

You see they announce the stations in Hebrew and English. The station was announced as CITY HALL not Jaffe Station! It wasn't until we left the station that the nice man told us that was our station! Time for a new, new plan.

We saw the next station was the Damascus Gate; back into the old city. We jumped off at the right station and contemplated jumping back on the train in the opposite direction to get back to Jaffe Station, but we decided to stay and go throiugh the famous Damascus Gate.

Back in the old city we decided to traverse the markets once again and head back to the Jaffa Gate. So after another 2 hours of shopping, dining at a great local cafe, spending a few more shekels on crapola, we reached the Jaffa Gate and walked back to the hotel.

We decided to keep the vacation idea going so I am writing this missive at the pool! So. good bye for now; I am heading for a swim. Travel safe.

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