On Monday we had our last breakfast at the Little House in Rechavia, checked out and left our suit cases for the day. We easily found our way back to the Jaffa Gate and found the entrance for the Ramparts Walk. This is a self-guided tour along the walls of the Old City where we can take lots more picturesque photos of Jerusalem. It was really interesting the things you can see from above.
We then headed to the Western Wall where we encountered a Bar Mitzvah parade. You have to enter the Western Wall plaza via metal detectors segregated by sex. Being a Monday (and Purim) the Wall was crowded with Bar Mitzvah celebrations. On the Women’s side there was a group reading Megillah which was REALLY cool. It was a little bit of a struggle to actually get near the Wall. I delivered the notes written by my students and thought about how much history has gone on in the spot I was standing, as well as all the people who have worked so hard so I could stand at that spot.
After we left the Western Wall Plaza we wondered a bit around the Old City looking doing a little shopping in the Arab Quarter before finding a place to eat in the Jewish Quarter. We spent a lot of time sitting in the main square of the Jewish Quarter watching the Purim merriment. I highly recommend visiting Jerusalem on Purim. We then attempted to leave the Old City which was quite easy on Friday with our guide, but not as easy on our own, we were eventually successful getting out of the walls, but not anywhere near where we wanted be. We then find our way back to Ben Yehuda St where a fantastic street party was taking place complete with music, street performers, and Megillah readings. Finally it was time to head back to the hotel, get our suitcases take one last taxi ride to the Jerusalem Bus Station and off to Tel Aviv we went.
We were fortunate enough to stay with close family friends/relatives (the line is kind of blurry) in Tel Aviv, Lois and Yeshai Argov. Without knowing it we picked the better bus to take to Tel Aviv that stopped close to the Argov’s house so they were able to get us from the train station. After dropping our stuff off we went to dinner at a nice pasta place that makes their own pasta and sauce. It was very good. We then walked along Rothschild Blvd which has a very nice pedestrian/bike path in the center of the street. We walked down to an ice cream place which was a great way to end the day.
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