Jerusalem trip

Yesterday we wrapped up our visit to Jerusalem, and now we're back in Ramat Yishay at Ofer and Tal's. On Wednesday we visited the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. It was comparatively large, and the exhibits were not jammed together. JoJo used the map of the zoo to guide us. I think we ended up seeing less than half of the zoo, but it was a nice place to be. In addition to the exhibits, there was a very nice playground, with very interesting mosaicked animal sculptures, in addition to the more typical swings and climbing structures. We saw elephants putting dirt on their backs to try to beat the heat. We also went in an aviary that had a variety of large birds—eagles, vultures, hawks—that weren't really separated from us. I think we were safe enough (except possibly from bird excrement), but Naomi and I shared the unsettling vision of a bird swooping down and carrying off one of our kids. Did I mention these birds were large?

Thursday we went to the Western Wall. We proceeded to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, and had lunch in the Christian Quarter (I think). We saw many beautiful items of art and judaica, but our main purchases were sandals for JoJo and a crappy camel plushie for Amelia. The Wall was my favorite part of this excursion. It was a hot day, but the wall was in the shade and felt cool to the touch. The stones are smooth from millenia of weather, but they are also bumpy, and I can imagine the deep history the Wall has seen is stored in these smooth bumps.

I wasn't feeling great wandering the Old City, and the next day (yesterday) we found out why: food poisoning! Yesterday morning was sufficiently grim that I saw a doctor, an Australian expat who was a little odd, but quite confident in his diagnosis and quite specific in his treatment. He said that after a day under his treatment regimen (which puts us at about this moment that I write this) I would be saying a prayer for him, but I'm not quite ready to do that yet.

It was very nice visiting with Jeff and Adele, and they looked after the girls for Naomi and me when we went to the doctor, and also sometimes after the girls were asleep. Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), which commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem after the Six-Day War in 1967, took place during our stay in Jerusalem, but we didn't really join the celebration. Adele went out Thursday night with 50,000 of her closest friends, but the rest of us were simply serenaded by a choir across the street from the apartment.

A focal point of the visit to Jerusalem was the playground near the apartment. It was uncommonly nice, devoid of dog poo (unfortunately this cannot be assumed in Europe or Israel), and very well utilized. The girls loved it, and went at least once a day. And for whatever reason (maybe all the time running around the park?), we were able to get the girls to bed at a reasonable hour in Jerusalem—something we haven't been able to achieve in Ramat Yishay.