03-14-2014, 08:32 PM
Day One Yad Veshem Ein Kerem Old City
The wait at Istanbul was interminable in the terminal, but it eventually it did come to a close and we boarded our flight to Ben Gurion airport. The airport was beautiful inside with walls made out of the same colored stone as in Jerusalem. I only took a couple cel phone pictures.
The dreaded Israeli airport security was less than advertised. The expected grilling turned out to be just a couple of questions from a very nice young woman who wished us luck on our Honeymoon.
Cindi and I must give out some sort of scent because once again someone tried to trick us in the airport. An unlicensed Taxi driver intercepted us at the door and started to take us to his car parked in the bowels of the parking structure. We ditched him and went to the licensed cab rank. Originally the plan was to ge a shared Taxi or Sherut to Jerusalem but since it was four in the morning and I didn’t feel like waiting around in the rain to depart, I opted to pay the extra for the Taxi. There was a very nice machine at the rank that computed your fair for you so you knew before you drove how much you were going to pay.
It rained the entire thirty five minute drive from airport to our hotel. this did not bode well for the rest of the day’s excursions. Our russian emigre driver told us his tales of Israel and how he was supporting his entire family in New York. He had only emigrated from Siberia seven years ago.
The gate was down and our taxi couldn’t get any closer to the street than curbside when we arrived at the YMCA Three Arches Hotel. I pulled my raincoat, that I’m not really going to need from my bag. Cindi and I schlepped our bags up the slick white steps to the door, the door which we found to be locked. Who locks the front door to a hotel? This one.
We are staying at the YMCA Three Arches hotel across from the famous King David Hotel. All the guides said this hotel was at the perfect congruence of price and location. They said nothing about the front door being locked.
I searched for a way in. Somebody on the inside must have spotted us because the guard finally let us in. The night clerk said we could check in early but it would cost us half a day’s room rental. We were tired and ready to pay.
We have a nice room on the third floor that gives a view of the King David across the street and south towards Bethlehem, which you can’t see because of the current rain. The amenities are a bit spartan but the room does have a couch and two chairs off the bedroom which technically makes it a suite.
One of us was too hopped up to wander around even if it was raining and pitch black outside, with no one walking the streets. The other one opted for a quick lie-down before our complimentary breakfast at 7.
As is my MO, I immediately became lost during my journey. I found the city immediately, because how can you miss giant stone walls visible from your hotel room? It was getting in that was tricky. I was shooting for Jaffa Gate which is the closest to us. When I couldn’t find it, I opted to wander along the walls until I hit the next gate over which should have been the New gate. Well I wandered and I wandered, through puddles and rivers as the rain continued to fall on streets without any real drainage. I kept figuring I had to hit the New Gate sooner or later.
I finally made it through the Zion Gate. Maybe that was another name for the New Gate. I had heard the gates in Jerusalem had multiple names and another name for the New Gate must be the Zion Gate.I wandered through an area that was supposed to be King David’s tomb which was pretty cool.
I found some stairs leading up, so I climbed them. In my confusion, I figured I must be close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but the surroundings didn’t look right. As I gazed across the view from the church top, all I could see where crumbling apartments and traffic lights. I thought there weren’t any cars allowed in Jerusalem’s narrow warren of streets. I finally found a sign on the church. It was the Dormiton abbey. According to my map, the Dormiton abbey was south of the city outside the city walls. When I had walked through the Zion Gate, I had left the city proper. I had been in the city the entire time.
With a few points of reference, I went back into the city walking through darkened alleys full of boarded-up shops. Rain dripped from the overhangs while feral cats rummaged through broken garbage bags for food.
I was in the Jewish quarter of the city so I decided to look for the Western Wall. The Jewish quarter had plenty of posted signs indicating where everything was located. I followed along the twisty streets, seeing places I recognized like the Cardo, the Cardo being a street dating from Roman Jerusalem.
The signs seem to vanish when I thought I was getting closer to the Wall. I was back to being lost in the warren. Eventually I made the right turn and found the path to the wall. There was a security check point with two board guards. The put me through without even scanning my bag.
Even though it was only 6am, there were still a bunch of people at the wall. I didn’t venture up too close opting to stay back at an observation point. The wooden walk way up to the Temple Mount was still closed at this early hour.
I figured there was still time to wander towards the Church of the Holy Sepulchre before having to meet Cindi for breakfast so off I went into the souks looking for the right road. Again got lost and turned around. Again, I stumbled onto a sign that pointed the right way.
There were a few people in the church at this early hour. I wished I had a guide book to tell me what I was looking at rather than dredging half remembered memories from a book I sort of glanced at. But I did recognize Golgotha which is hard to miss. I made my way to the lowest part of the church where you could still see crosses carved into the walls by crusaders. It was pretty moving to be in this church that so much of the world venerates.
I stumbled around until I was back at Jaffa Gate. My mistake earlier was thinking that it would look more like a medieval gate rather than just a road into the city with cars driving on it.
Cindi and I had a marginal breakfast in the hotel. The eggs were too dry but the pastry was quite good. I did manage to tear my tea bag so I got hot tea leaves with my meal.
The plan for the day was to go the Yad Veshem holocaust memorial. I figured to experience the light rail which had it’s last stop at the holocaust museum ( Just dawned on me how creepy the phrase was last stop and holocaust museum)
Getting the ticket for the train was quite amusing. Since the way to get tickets is to force yourself to the front of the line and keep people from putting money into the machine while you dither on how to use the machine to get tickets. One nice man tried to help us but the other men waiting for tickets sensed my inexperience and immediately pushed past me to get their tickets.
Two trains came and went from the station while I figured out the rules of this ticket game. I did push away the last guy trying to get his ticket in front of me and just started hitting the buttons to get Cindi’s and I’s passes.
Cindi was mortified to see me pull out the GoPro and attach it to the vertical bar next to my seat on the train. Hey she knew my foibles when she married me. I hope I got some nice video of our train to the end of the line. Again not a phrase to be using.
As we disembarked and put on our lost tourist aura, another nice Jewish man approached us to ask where we were going. When I said Yad Veshem, he quickly pointed us in the right direction and told us it was only a fifteen minute walk through the forest.
The rain decided now would be a good time to pick up the pace. I think Cindi and I were still amused by the rain as we followed the trail to the museum. It was still only a mild annoyance.
At the entrance we bought maps and were told we couldn’t bring our back packs into the memorial. When I told them I had my cameras in my bag, I was told just to carry the camera, it will be easier for you. Basically I transferred most of my gear to my coat pockets and hung the camera around my neck. That wasn’t awkward.
The walk from the entrance building to the saw blade main exhibition the skies let loose and the rain poured down. Once inside the long narrow building, we realized we would should have an audio guide to know what was going on. Back in the rain to the main building where Cindi gave them soggy shekels for our audio devices.
This audio guide was tremendously in-depth. The first chunk I heard was ten minutes long and was supposed to be heard on the walk from the main building to the Sawblade building, I heard it just inside the door where I was supposed to be hearing the next chunk. The whole audio tour was like getting a Master Class in the Shoah. There was too much information for my jet-lagged brain to fully process.
Best of all, as we walked into the hall, I was told no pictures. I am carrying ten pounds of gear on me which I can’t use.
If you want to know everything about everything on the Holocaust, that is the place. They had everything in that long triangular building. There were left over shoes and lost personal artifacts. They showed Hitler’s rise to power with clips of his speeches. There were two boards games. One was how to be a better Nazi and the other was how to round up the Jews. They had train tracks from Auschwitz and the ‘Arbeit Mach Frie’ sign. They showed books and laws that institutionalized Anti-semtism. They had rooms devoted to the Lodz and Warsaw Ghettos. The amount of information was overwhelming. Towards the end, I turned off the audio tour and just read the exhibits. If I had listened to the entirety of the audio tour, I would probably still be there looking at an actual copy of Schindler’s List.
Yad Veshem covers acres of ground, the main exhibit being only a small portion of the whole. Unfortunately, they are all exposed to the elements. We slogged through the rain to the Hall of Remembrance which is a stark room with the names of the concentration camps written on the floor. A flame of remembrance burns in the back. The Children’s memorial is inside but was a ten minute exposed walk to get there. It is a moving exhibit, too. Candles are reflected back on themselves so it feels like you are walking through a million points of light.
In the end, there was too much rain and we left. We grabbed a taxi to Ein Kerem.
The reason I chose Ein Kerem was because of it’s proximity to Yad Veshem. Ein Kerem was the birthplace of John the Baptist and was where Mary told John’s mother, Elizabeth about her own pregnancy. According to the guide books, it was picturesque village great for wandering around.
Originally the plan was to do the thirty minute walk to Ein Kerem. The rain forced us to take Yakov the taxi driver from the Yad Veshem parking lot.
Yakov didn’t want to take us until he realized we only needed him for a five minute drive down the road. He was at great pains to tell us he was an honest driver. He gave us sweets and wanted to know if we would like to book a tour with him for a night trip around Jerusalem or to Galilee. He was ready. He dropped us at Mary’s Spring telling us that was as close as we could get.
Once again, more information would have been helpful. The spring was important but I can’t tell you why. And why did you need a spring with so much rain?
The slog to the Church of the Visitation was like climbing up a river as forded water cascading the white stone ramp. There was no dry spot to place a foot. I’m amazed neither one of us has slipped on the wet stone streets.
At the gate to the church, we found out we had 15 minutes to do the visit before the church closed for lunch. We looked at a well underneath the church and looked at some lovely paintings in the church proper. Everything looked fairly new, with the exception of the grotto. Because of the constant downpour, I made do with GoPro photos. Those will be awesome.
We made it to the other big church in town, the Church of John the Baptist just in time to see a locked gate. The rain was crushing our dreams of photography. It was time to take the train to the Mehane Yehuda for lunch.
It was one thing to drive down the hill into Ein Kerem in the Taxi, it was another to walk up the hill in the rain back to the train. It took thirty miserable minutes to make it back to the light rail. For the most part there was no side-walk along the road and we walked through little gullies full of water to avoid getting struck by passing cars. Big rigs would roar by throwing water from their tires. We did stop for one picture back of the golden domes of the Russian Monastery that was in the hills above Ein Kerem.
Two miserable Californians waited on the wet pavement for the train to take them back to Jerusalem. I didn’t have to fight with anyone to get our tickets at the kiosk. But my ticket was so wet, the machine wouldn’t accept the ticket. But that wouldn’t be a problem, since no one checks the tickets on the light rail. As water dripped from my jacket to the floor, I checked out the two soldiers who boarded a couple stops after we did. I was curious to see that they were carrying live ammunition in the clips for their M-16s.
Sure enough, during the trip back to city center, a ticket taker came on to check tickets, For some reason, my ticket past muster and he let us go. When he boarded I figured i was going to be in trouble for not having a cleared ticket.
We skipped the Mahane Yehuda market and went straight back to the hotel, this time actually getting off on the stop closest to the hotel. And by close, I mean it was a fifteen minute walk to the hotel. Up hill. In the rain.
The YMCA Three Arches is an actual YMCA. Down in the basement is a pool and a work out gym. They have one of the oddest basketball courts because it seems to be under a crusader arch. They even have daycare on the 2nd floor.
By the time we settled, the room was full of furniture covered in soggy clothes. We took a little rest before venturing out for food.
The problem with being new to the area is not knowing where anything thing is located. So, it seems like there are no restaurants in our area. We went by the Mamilla mall thinking it was too expensive for something quick. We found ourselves deciding between going further up the Jaffa Road looking for food or going into the Old City looking for food.
It had been seven hours since we had arrived and I thought it criminal that Cindi hadn’t been in the Old City, so I opted to go in. A nice man asked us what we were looking for as he stood outside his shop near the Jaffa gate. Thinking to get rid of him, I told him we were looking for food. Yeah no. He followed after us to show us the way to the best Lebanese food in Jerusalem. Our Tourist attractor was on full.
I realized we were close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so I took Cindi there. We stumbled ignorantly through the halls with me sort of answering all of Cindi’s question with poorly remembered information. I’m hoping our guide Gila straightens me out on Saturday.
We eventually had some Schwarma near the church before retreating back to our hotel. I finally made it to the top of the tower which is a feature of the Three arches hotel. It does have a panoramic view of Jerusalem, somewhere beyond those clouds.
The wait at Istanbul was interminable in the terminal, but it eventually it did come to a close and we boarded our flight to Ben Gurion airport. The airport was beautiful inside with walls made out of the same colored stone as in Jerusalem. I only took a couple cel phone pictures.
The dreaded Israeli airport security was less than advertised. The expected grilling turned out to be just a couple of questions from a very nice young woman who wished us luck on our Honeymoon.
Cindi and I must give out some sort of scent because once again someone tried to trick us in the airport. An unlicensed Taxi driver intercepted us at the door and started to take us to his car parked in the bowels of the parking structure. We ditched him and went to the licensed cab rank. Originally the plan was to ge a shared Taxi or Sherut to Jerusalem but since it was four in the morning and I didn’t feel like waiting around in the rain to depart, I opted to pay the extra for the Taxi. There was a very nice machine at the rank that computed your fair for you so you knew before you drove how much you were going to pay.
It rained the entire thirty five minute drive from airport to our hotel. this did not bode well for the rest of the day’s excursions. Our russian emigre driver told us his tales of Israel and how he was supporting his entire family in New York. He had only emigrated from Siberia seven years ago.
The gate was down and our taxi couldn’t get any closer to the street than curbside when we arrived at the YMCA Three Arches Hotel. I pulled my raincoat, that I’m not really going to need from my bag. Cindi and I schlepped our bags up the slick white steps to the door, the door which we found to be locked. Who locks the front door to a hotel? This one.
We are staying at the YMCA Three Arches hotel across from the famous King David Hotel. All the guides said this hotel was at the perfect congruence of price and location. They said nothing about the front door being locked.
I searched for a way in. Somebody on the inside must have spotted us because the guard finally let us in. The night clerk said we could check in early but it would cost us half a day’s room rental. We were tired and ready to pay.
We have a nice room on the third floor that gives a view of the King David across the street and south towards Bethlehem, which you can’t see because of the current rain. The amenities are a bit spartan but the room does have a couch and two chairs off the bedroom which technically makes it a suite.
One of us was too hopped up to wander around even if it was raining and pitch black outside, with no one walking the streets. The other one opted for a quick lie-down before our complimentary breakfast at 7.
As is my MO, I immediately became lost during my journey. I found the city immediately, because how can you miss giant stone walls visible from your hotel room? It was getting in that was tricky. I was shooting for Jaffa Gate which is the closest to us. When I couldn’t find it, I opted to wander along the walls until I hit the next gate over which should have been the New gate. Well I wandered and I wandered, through puddles and rivers as the rain continued to fall on streets without any real drainage. I kept figuring I had to hit the New Gate sooner or later.
I finally made it through the Zion Gate. Maybe that was another name for the New Gate. I had heard the gates in Jerusalem had multiple names and another name for the New Gate must be the Zion Gate.I wandered through an area that was supposed to be King David’s tomb which was pretty cool.
I found some stairs leading up, so I climbed them. In my confusion, I figured I must be close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but the surroundings didn’t look right. As I gazed across the view from the church top, all I could see where crumbling apartments and traffic lights. I thought there weren’t any cars allowed in Jerusalem’s narrow warren of streets. I finally found a sign on the church. It was the Dormiton abbey. According to my map, the Dormiton abbey was south of the city outside the city walls. When I had walked through the Zion Gate, I had left the city proper. I had been in the city the entire time.
With a few points of reference, I went back into the city walking through darkened alleys full of boarded-up shops. Rain dripped from the overhangs while feral cats rummaged through broken garbage bags for food.
I was in the Jewish quarter of the city so I decided to look for the Western Wall. The Jewish quarter had plenty of posted signs indicating where everything was located. I followed along the twisty streets, seeing places I recognized like the Cardo, the Cardo being a street dating from Roman Jerusalem.
The signs seem to vanish when I thought I was getting closer to the Wall. I was back to being lost in the warren. Eventually I made the right turn and found the path to the wall. There was a security check point with two board guards. The put me through without even scanning my bag.
Even though it was only 6am, there were still a bunch of people at the wall. I didn’t venture up too close opting to stay back at an observation point. The wooden walk way up to the Temple Mount was still closed at this early hour.
I figured there was still time to wander towards the Church of the Holy Sepulchre before having to meet Cindi for breakfast so off I went into the souks looking for the right road. Again got lost and turned around. Again, I stumbled onto a sign that pointed the right way.
There were a few people in the church at this early hour. I wished I had a guide book to tell me what I was looking at rather than dredging half remembered memories from a book I sort of glanced at. But I did recognize Golgotha which is hard to miss. I made my way to the lowest part of the church where you could still see crosses carved into the walls by crusaders. It was pretty moving to be in this church that so much of the world venerates.
I stumbled around until I was back at Jaffa Gate. My mistake earlier was thinking that it would look more like a medieval gate rather than just a road into the city with cars driving on it.
Cindi and I had a marginal breakfast in the hotel. The eggs were too dry but the pastry was quite good. I did manage to tear my tea bag so I got hot tea leaves with my meal.
The plan for the day was to go the Yad Veshem holocaust memorial. I figured to experience the light rail which had it’s last stop at the holocaust museum ( Just dawned on me how creepy the phrase was last stop and holocaust museum)
Getting the ticket for the train was quite amusing. Since the way to get tickets is to force yourself to the front of the line and keep people from putting money into the machine while you dither on how to use the machine to get tickets. One nice man tried to help us but the other men waiting for tickets sensed my inexperience and immediately pushed past me to get their tickets.
Two trains came and went from the station while I figured out the rules of this ticket game. I did push away the last guy trying to get his ticket in front of me and just started hitting the buttons to get Cindi’s and I’s passes.
Cindi was mortified to see me pull out the GoPro and attach it to the vertical bar next to my seat on the train. Hey she knew my foibles when she married me. I hope I got some nice video of our train to the end of the line. Again not a phrase to be using.
As we disembarked and put on our lost tourist aura, another nice Jewish man approached us to ask where we were going. When I said Yad Veshem, he quickly pointed us in the right direction and told us it was only a fifteen minute walk through the forest.
The rain decided now would be a good time to pick up the pace. I think Cindi and I were still amused by the rain as we followed the trail to the museum. It was still only a mild annoyance.
At the entrance we bought maps and were told we couldn’t bring our back packs into the memorial. When I told them I had my cameras in my bag, I was told just to carry the camera, it will be easier for you. Basically I transferred most of my gear to my coat pockets and hung the camera around my neck. That wasn’t awkward.
The walk from the entrance building to the saw blade main exhibition the skies let loose and the rain poured down. Once inside the long narrow building, we realized we would should have an audio guide to know what was going on. Back in the rain to the main building where Cindi gave them soggy shekels for our audio devices.
This audio guide was tremendously in-depth. The first chunk I heard was ten minutes long and was supposed to be heard on the walk from the main building to the Sawblade building, I heard it just inside the door where I was supposed to be hearing the next chunk. The whole audio tour was like getting a Master Class in the Shoah. There was too much information for my jet-lagged brain to fully process.
Best of all, as we walked into the hall, I was told no pictures. I am carrying ten pounds of gear on me which I can’t use.
If you want to know everything about everything on the Holocaust, that is the place. They had everything in that long triangular building. There were left over shoes and lost personal artifacts. They showed Hitler’s rise to power with clips of his speeches. There were two boards games. One was how to be a better Nazi and the other was how to round up the Jews. They had train tracks from Auschwitz and the ‘Arbeit Mach Frie’ sign. They showed books and laws that institutionalized Anti-semtism. They had rooms devoted to the Lodz and Warsaw Ghettos. The amount of information was overwhelming. Towards the end, I turned off the audio tour and just read the exhibits. If I had listened to the entirety of the audio tour, I would probably still be there looking at an actual copy of Schindler’s List.
Yad Veshem covers acres of ground, the main exhibit being only a small portion of the whole. Unfortunately, they are all exposed to the elements. We slogged through the rain to the Hall of Remembrance which is a stark room with the names of the concentration camps written on the floor. A flame of remembrance burns in the back. The Children’s memorial is inside but was a ten minute exposed walk to get there. It is a moving exhibit, too. Candles are reflected back on themselves so it feels like you are walking through a million points of light.
In the end, there was too much rain and we left. We grabbed a taxi to Ein Kerem.
The reason I chose Ein Kerem was because of it’s proximity to Yad Veshem. Ein Kerem was the birthplace of John the Baptist and was where Mary told John’s mother, Elizabeth about her own pregnancy. According to the guide books, it was picturesque village great for wandering around.
Originally the plan was to do the thirty minute walk to Ein Kerem. The rain forced us to take Yakov the taxi driver from the Yad Veshem parking lot.
Yakov didn’t want to take us until he realized we only needed him for a five minute drive down the road. He was at great pains to tell us he was an honest driver. He gave us sweets and wanted to know if we would like to book a tour with him for a night trip around Jerusalem or to Galilee. He was ready. He dropped us at Mary’s Spring telling us that was as close as we could get.
Once again, more information would have been helpful. The spring was important but I can’t tell you why. And why did you need a spring with so much rain?
The slog to the Church of the Visitation was like climbing up a river as forded water cascading the white stone ramp. There was no dry spot to place a foot. I’m amazed neither one of us has slipped on the wet stone streets.
At the gate to the church, we found out we had 15 minutes to do the visit before the church closed for lunch. We looked at a well underneath the church and looked at some lovely paintings in the church proper. Everything looked fairly new, with the exception of the grotto. Because of the constant downpour, I made do with GoPro photos. Those will be awesome.
We made it to the other big church in town, the Church of John the Baptist just in time to see a locked gate. The rain was crushing our dreams of photography. It was time to take the train to the Mehane Yehuda for lunch.
It was one thing to drive down the hill into Ein Kerem in the Taxi, it was another to walk up the hill in the rain back to the train. It took thirty miserable minutes to make it back to the light rail. For the most part there was no side-walk along the road and we walked through little gullies full of water to avoid getting struck by passing cars. Big rigs would roar by throwing water from their tires. We did stop for one picture back of the golden domes of the Russian Monastery that was in the hills above Ein Kerem.
Two miserable Californians waited on the wet pavement for the train to take them back to Jerusalem. I didn’t have to fight with anyone to get our tickets at the kiosk. But my ticket was so wet, the machine wouldn’t accept the ticket. But that wouldn’t be a problem, since no one checks the tickets on the light rail. As water dripped from my jacket to the floor, I checked out the two soldiers who boarded a couple stops after we did. I was curious to see that they were carrying live ammunition in the clips for their M-16s.
Sure enough, during the trip back to city center, a ticket taker came on to check tickets, For some reason, my ticket past muster and he let us go. When he boarded I figured i was going to be in trouble for not having a cleared ticket.
We skipped the Mahane Yehuda market and went straight back to the hotel, this time actually getting off on the stop closest to the hotel. And by close, I mean it was a fifteen minute walk to the hotel. Up hill. In the rain.
The YMCA Three Arches is an actual YMCA. Down in the basement is a pool and a work out gym. They have one of the oddest basketball courts because it seems to be under a crusader arch. They even have daycare on the 2nd floor.
By the time we settled, the room was full of furniture covered in soggy clothes. We took a little rest before venturing out for food.
The problem with being new to the area is not knowing where anything thing is located. So, it seems like there are no restaurants in our area. We went by the Mamilla mall thinking it was too expensive for something quick. We found ourselves deciding between going further up the Jaffa Road looking for food or going into the Old City looking for food.
It had been seven hours since we had arrived and I thought it criminal that Cindi hadn’t been in the Old City, so I opted to go in. A nice man asked us what we were looking for as he stood outside his shop near the Jaffa gate. Thinking to get rid of him, I told him we were looking for food. Yeah no. He followed after us to show us the way to the best Lebanese food in Jerusalem. Our Tourist attractor was on full.
I realized we were close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so I took Cindi there. We stumbled ignorantly through the halls with me sort of answering all of Cindi’s question with poorly remembered information. I’m hoping our guide Gila straightens me out on Saturday.
We eventually had some Schwarma near the church before retreating back to our hotel. I finally made it to the top of the tower which is a feature of the Three arches hotel. It does have a panoramic view of Jerusalem, somewhere beyond those clouds.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit