Yerushelaiyim

This weekend, I went to Jerusalem on a private bus much like we did for Tel Aviv, only there were more of us this time so it was a larger vehicle. We left the kibbutz at 4:00 and arrived at the Jaffa gate a couple of hours later. I stayed with a small group at the Austrian Hospice, which is a pretty nice hostel but a little out of the way - in the future I'd go for something more central (though the Old City is small enough that it didn't matter too much.) The first night, we were too tired to do much more than dinner, so we went to Jaffa Road, a sort of main street, and found an Italian place there to dine. Thence to the hostel for much-needed sleep. On Friday, I went to the City of David (and saw the Western Wall again on the way). The main purpose of the trip there was to visit Hezekiah's Water Tunnel, which came highly recommended to me by friends. Hezekiah's Tunnel is a waterway that was constructed in the 8th century BCE as a protected water source for Jerusalem - in case of siege (which was impending), the city wouldn't go without water.
I went down and immediately got stuck behind a Birthright group, but it was moving so slowly in the shaft descent that precedes the tunnel itself. I actually left via the very narrow Canaanite tunnel and went around to wait a bit. I ended up running into my kibbutz roommate, Alex, and we went through together. This time it was moving much more quickly. There is a sign, right before entering the tunnel, of a man standing with a child and it shows the water level, which was currently 70 centimetres. The tunnel is dark and you are told to carry a flashlight; if only a few people have them though, it provides enough light for the surrounding people (and I did have one myself.) The pathway is wide enough only for a line of people walking single file, and not too narrow though that's easy for me to say, haha.
Part of the tunnel did get a little deeper, and the water did reach up to 70 cms which reached to my thighs but most of the time, the water only went past the ankles. It took about 45 minutes to get through but it was a fascinating walk. Alex and I were both really glad we took the time to go through it.
At the end of the walk, we saw the little Siloam Pool, which was much larger in the old days. There were a couple options for getting back to the start: one could take the a winding path back or a tunnel that led most of the way back but was a little longer. We took the tunnel and it turned out to be a really eerie choice. The tunnel wasn't very wide, and the ceilings became low in some points. We were walking over mud and old sandbags. And we were the only ones in there! It was only 500 metres long, so it wasn't a big deal, but it was a strange way to end the visit.

Alex and I then walked back to the Old City and out of it again to Jaffa Road because things were starting to close up for Shabbat and we wanted to find someplace that was still open. I went to a place called Holy Bagel and had a pretty decent cucumber & lox bagel sandwich. I picked up some pastries next door and we went our separate ways to our different hostels. I took the longer path back to my hostel through the Jewish quarter and past the Hurva Synagogue.
Back the hotel I took a rather long nap and by the time I woke up, I wasn't sure what there was to do at night in the city. I decided to relax and eat my pastries and hang out there for the night.

Today (Saturday, July 14), I met with a large group at the Jaffa gate and we shared taxis to the Israel Museum. I spent over a third of my time in the archaeology wing, which was rather extensive and very interesting to wander through. After I'd decided it was enough, I made my way to the Shrine of the Book, which holds the Dead Sea Scrolls. I'd actually already seen the scrolls when they made a rare visit to the ROM in Toronto, but it was nice to see them in their home space. The visit begins with small exhibits on items found in Khirbet Qumran, where the Scrolls were discovered, and the exhibits explained a bit on the life of the people who lived their lives according to the Scrolls. After the exhibits, the hallway opens up into a dome that holds pieces of the scroll and a picture of the Isaiah Scroll, which was the longest, most intact piece (the scroll itself is apparently too fragile to keep out for display but they rotate pieces of other copies found in an case in the room). Below the scrolls is another room that the Aleppo Codex and information about it. The Codex is a medieval copy of the Bible and is considered a definitive example of the Hebrew text of the Bible.
I also visited the complete model of Jerusalem in the time of the Second Temple, which lays out how the Old City would have looked in that time. Another short walk was made to the Art Garden and the Museum Shop before I met up with the rest of the group for the return to the Old City.

I had lunch with a few others and returned to my hostel to collect my luggage. I walked with the others who had stayed there to spot just outside the Jaffa Gate where the bus would collect everybody at 4:00. However, the bus was 20 minutes late and people were wondering why. As it turns out, the bus had been sitting in the parking lot just across the street for who knows how long. After calling them, the bus came out to meet us. It should have been called early, but the benefit of the doubt was given and probably won't be again!
We returned to the kibbutz in time for dinner and that ends the weekend.