Israel Day 3

Had an excellent session in the YMCA gym this morning. It’s a bit surreal – with all the aerobic machines there it looks just like any gym in the UK, but all the conversation round about is either in Arabic or Hebrew. Can’t tell the difference at that speed.

Once again enjoyed breakfast on the Terrace. There’s a good-sized lawn with trees and bushes between us and the street, so it feels very private. Outside breakfast in November? Can’t beat it! The little croissants they serve here melt in the mouth. It’s a good thing I’m doing a lot of walking this week. My muscles are a bit sore – using a different set from cycling for going up and down steps, but it’s all good for me.

Walked to the Israel Museum, only to find it closed. They’re rebuilding the main exhibition halls (literally: the bulldozers are on site). So I wandered the Billy Rose garden admiring the modern art. Some of it is monumental: this piece is about three times my height. I got bored listening to the guide (electronic thing that you key in the number of the item you’re looking at) telling me what the space was meant to represent. Interpretation of modern art just sounds pretentious to me.

At the same location was the model of Jerusalem “From the time of the second temple” (you don’t expect them to say ‘From Jesus’ time’, of course!). The temple itself is centre right of picture – you can see how it absolutely dominated the city and surroundings. Running towards the viewer from the temple is the City of David (we’re looking from the South) in an elongated fish shape. In the background you can see the tower blocks of modern West Jerusalem across the road. Click on the picture for a better view.

Went to see the Shrine of the Scroll, which didn’t actually show much of the Dead Sea Scrolls – the exhibition at the Kelvingrove a few years ago was better. But it did show the Aleppo Codex and its story, which was fascinating.

After lunch at the Museum Café I caught the bus round to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial. It took several hours to walk through the main exhibition which is as harrowing as it should be. The remains of one of the cattle trucks used to transport Jews to the camps was on display, and that was the moment I almost lost it. While I was there a group in dress military uniform were being shown through – it turned out they were high-ranking German officials. Must have been a bit uncomfortable for them…

Took another bus back to Jaffa Street and had a sandwich from a Hillel café – very nice, well-filled with side salad and beer for 50 Shekels – about £6. Much better than last night’s plastic pizza, which was a mistake. Also included 1 Shekel for security – this was one of many cafés which had a doorman who checked my backpack with a wand. Unarmed and not menacing.

Back for an early night: it gets dark at about 5 pm, so by 9 or 10 it feels really late. The advantage is I have no problem getting up at 6 am to go to the gym the next day – but the rest will have to wait for another blog.