Yerushalaim

We spent a beautiful, hot day in Jerusalem this week, strolling through the ancient streets, exploring the shouk (a kind of market like you have never seen in the West) and a huge pedestrian area where hundreds of artists set up stalls and sell their wares.

Although we didn't visit the Old City this time, if you are interested in seeing our visit there from last September, you can click here (we visited the Western Wall complex, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and part of the shouk inside the walls, among other wonderful sights).


Israelis have a great sense of humour..
These made me think of Simon. Maybe sometime I will bring him one. They are lutes, and some are handmade (and of course, have a price-tag to match).
The fragrance of morning?
Not sure what we are talking about but he looks a little cranky in this photo. Isn't the flower pretty though?

Kippas...
... and more kippas.
Soldiers are everywhere in Israel, a country where everyone must do a stint in the military when they turn 18. Women have to do two years, and men do three. Although it sounds foreign and terrifying to me, to people here, it is just life.
On our way to Jerusalem's Midrohov.
Near the entrance to the shouk, a stall of mouth-watering pastries of every description imaginable, many of them still warm. Jack bought four burekas, a pastry with white cheese inside amd toasted sesame seeds outside. They were hot and delicous and cost him about 6 shekels, or $1.50 Canadian.

Ok, here is the thing about produce in Israel: it is unbelievably, mind-blowingly, outrageously cheap. This watermelon costs 3.5 Shekels per kilogram which is $1.00 Canadian. The huge basket of cherry tomatoes, which in Canada would cost close to $10, if not more, costs about $1.50 Cdn here in Israel.
Plums and peaches: $2 and about $1.75 per basket.
In Canada it is normal to pay $1 for one avocado. Here, it is normal to pay $1.40 for one kilogram of avocadoes. If you don't have a tree at home in your yard. I feel like I have died and gone to Heaven.

I think if I lived in this country, I would eat a ton of fruit and vegetables, especially since produce like this is available fresh and locally, pretty much year-round.

This is some beautiful Israeli cheese. The cheese here is fantastic.







This was our last stop in Jerusalem. It was a room I wanted to see, called the Coenaculum. It is the room where the Last Supper is supposed to have taken place. It is just an empty room, but it has a definite air of solemnity and history to it. It was quite beautiful.