Sabbath in Jerusalem, Oct 28

We were at least smart enough to find something open on the sabbath, the Israel Museum.

It was a short, well sort of, walk from the apartment.  We headed out and took a wrong turn almost immediately, that got fixed, and we were off in the correct direction.  What struck me was the nature of the neighborhoods we traversed.  I knew we were in relatively wealthy communities, but was amazed at the unkempt look of each home.  There was trash, debris, dirt, and assorted things lying in each little patch of grass.  Not just stones and branches, but empty wrappers, soda cans, and other detritus of human activity.  No one picked up their spaces.  Granted, these were multiple dwellings, and the “yard”was equivalent to the patch of grass in front of Brooklyn or Queens private homes, but each and every yard was trash strewn.  It was fascinating to me.  Here was a wealthy county, in a well off neighborhood, but no one cared for their piece of property.  I mused on this and wondered if it was an issue of mine and not a problem for Israelis.  Am I that bourgeoisie that I couldn’t imagine that it was unimportant to them?  I’m not sure.  And I’m still musing.

The Israel Museum was wonderful.  The sculpture garden was extensive and fascinating.  There were many types of mediums represented.  

This ways an Ai Wei Wei piece, entitled tree.  It is made of casts of real trees cut down for fire wood

 The ubiquitous Henry Moore sculpture

This one was interesting, by Israeli brothers in the death of their mother.  Entitled 1000 arms to hold you.  And of course, Robert Indiana’s Ahava.

The others in the garden were not as striking to me.  Inside there was an exhibit of Ai Wei Wei works that were very thought provoking.  In the exhibit were several wallpaper designs, which at first glance looked English Country House-ish, but on closer examination were revealed to be cctv cameras. Another wallpaper was illustrating the treatment of immigrants in a not too subtle or nice way.  There were also additional trees and a carpet made to look like the floor in a Paris building.  Not so compelling from an artistic point of view, but far more interesting from a construction point of view. He had to find a company that could weave something that large and exacting.

Our visit began at the nano bible exhibit.  Literally these scientists had engraved on a silicon wafer the entire bible, in Hebrew, (I assume Old Testament only).  The wafer is the size of a grain of sand. We realized that we started at the end of the Dead Sea scrolls exhibit, so we viewed everything backwards.  Just to do things correctly, we viewed it again in the correct order after having a snack at the only open place for food in the museum.

The room housing the Dead Sea scrolls is architecturally very interesting,  all you can see is the white roof of the building, which is shaped like the top of the clay pots that the scrolls were found in.

I was very impressed with the Israel Museum.  The exhibits were interesting, the sculpture garden, divine, and the Dead Sea Scrolls fascinating.  I urge visitors to Jerusalem to take a day to see it.

I just couldn't face the walk back after the museum and we took a cab.  It was surprising to see how really close we were....the walk took about 1 hour, but the cab ride only 10 minutes...

After a nap, we went out to Barood for dinner.  It was a little hard to find it, but thank God I had maps.me.  (A shameless plug... this app is amazing, it doesn't need wifi in order to use for directions. The only issue is that if used for restaurants, it only gives you location, no reviews and/or type of cuisine).  You will need to download the map of the region you are visiting.  We used it in Cuba, and now in Israel.  I think I will be using this whenever I travel and can't use my phone for internet access without wifi.  Back to Barood, it was a little place that has a Bleeker Street jazz club feel.  The walls are covered in posters and photos from around the world, and the music is jazz.  The place is run by Lebanese or Syrian Christians which is why it was open on Saturday.  The good was really good.  I  got an assortment of starters lebne cheese, fried cauliflower, fatooshe salad, and Bill got the meatballs.  We were both very happy.