Israel Day 2 (1/6/15)

Our first full day in Israel began with breakfast (see photo for my non-traditional breakfast, although scrambled and hard boiled eggs were available). With my SIL we then took a taxi to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. You start by going through a history of the Holocaust with photos, displays, videos from survivors, and exhibits. Incredibly moving. One thing in particular -- in other writings, exhibits, etc., I have seen or read about the Holocaust, they usually refer to people being killed. Here it always spoke of them being "murdered". One of the most moving areas is the Children's Memorial -- it's pitch black with a railing to hold onto as you move through. There are photos of children and what appear to be endless stars (lights) representing each child lost while in the background a voice lists names and ages. (Photos weren't allowed within the exhibits -- I did buy some postcards which I will either photo or scan when I get home and add to this blog).

From there we took the light rail to the Machne Yehuda Market. It is like a permanent Farmer's Market and flea market, some open air, some covered, with twisty, intersecting streets. My SIL bought us tickets for a self-guided tour that included samples from selected vendors. We actually had several meals -- falafel (I've never had such light, tasty falafel); baked cheese with flecks of spinach "pastry" (it's Georgian), and a combo plate of a bouka ("cigar"), stuffed grape leaf, and kusha plus a bowl of soup. We also stopped at a vendor with a variety of spices and teas, coffees, and things. He gave us many sample to try and we bought bags of things to bring home. Near the beginning I had an etrog (similar to a lemon) mint lemonade. We finished with a relaxing mint tea. (Still have a couple bites to get -- will return later in the week.) We started walking back and then took a taxi back.

Jerusalem is in a state of semi-panic. There is a storm coming tomorrow that may include snow. The mayor has already said he will close major roads ahead of the storm to avoid the stranded vehicles they had last year. They've been trimming trees as it will be very windy and last year there were power outages during the snowstorm due to branches coming down. Our trip to Masada and the Dead Sea planned for tomorrow has been canceled. We were able to move our tour of the Old City from Thursday to tomorrow (the bad weather isn't due until later in the day).

Tonight is the wedding. We'll be getting ready to go in a little while. I'll take photos and post tomorrow.

Day 2 photos