Our driver Ofer, whom we found through Orna, our AirBnB host in Jerusalem, arrived promptly at 8:00 and we undertook the 50-minute drive from Ben Gurion to Jerusalem . . . in a cold rain.  Sometimes off-season travel produces situations differing from one's expectations.  In this case the expectation was for a bit of warmth, even though we knew from looking at monthly climate averages that it was not going to be hot.  The drive went quickly in light traffic until we hit our our neighborhood in Jerusalem where it slowed to a crawl.  This is primarily because the route goes by the biggest market in Jerusalem and pedestrians were thick and seemingly not bound by typical street crossing norms.  After winding a bit in the car on narrow streets, we met Orna a short distance from the apartment at about 9:00.  We greatly appreciated her willingness to let us check in so early rather than the usual 3:00 in the afternoon.  It appears that she did so for two reasons.  First, she is very nice.  Second, an early check in helped with her schedule, getting ready for and observing Shabbat.  This brings us to the most significant issue (insofar as we are currently aware) with our trip planning, a failure to fully understand the implications of Shabbat.  Like Orna, and known to us in only a limited sense, we also needed to get ready for Shabbat.

Shabbat is the weekly Jewish holy day.  It goes from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday and, in Israel, is strictly observed.  By strictly observed we mean the entire country shuts down to a significant degree.  We are given to understand there will be few taxis running, restaurants serving or businesses open.  Tonight begins Shabbat and so we will see.  After checking us out on the eccentricities of the apartment (the bedroom walls are reinforced against rocket attacks), Orna gave us a quick orientation tour of the neighborhood, including pointing us to the nearby Mahane Yehuda Market (or shuk).

The Yehuda Market comprises a large block of small open air but covered stalls selling everything food and drink, from vegetables and fresh fish vendors to bakeries, bars and restaurants.  Its lanes are narrow, crowded and full of incredibly wonderful smells from the various vendor stalls.  Orna cautioned us that due to the upcoming Shabbat the shuk would get very crowded by about 11:00 and close around 3:00.  Thus, if we needed food for the next day when most businesses are closed, we should shop very soon.  We took this advice to heart and, after Orna left us back at the apartment, returned to the shuk to shop.  It was hard to actually buy anything at first because it was all so incredible that we just wanted to walk and look.  It was also very noisy, crowded and a bit intimidating but, mindful of the approaching deadline, we buckled down and purchased some fruits, pastries and prepared foods.  Some of these foods were familiar but several were purchased simply on the see, point and hope approach.  (As it turned out, we batted about a 1000 on these due to either us being very discerning or the food being so consistently wonderful that any fool could pick out a good selection.)

We returned to the apartment to unload our haul but, since the day was still young (though ours had started at 4:00 a.m.), decided to take an exploratory walk to the Old City via the Jaffa Gate.  There we hoped to get a local map from the Tourist Information Office located just inside the Gate.  The distance was only a bit over a mile by foot and seemed a good antidote to the enforced time we spent sitting on airplanes over the past day.  The walk was a gentle down and then uphill and helped to orient us.  As we got closer to the Old City we noticed an increasing presence of young men dressed in some form of uniform and carrying machine guns.  The walk was a success but our quest remained unfilled as the Tourist Office was closed despite a prominent sign saying that it was open at this hour.  Thwarted, we returned to our neighborhood and decided to test Orna's advice to avoid the shuk after 11:00.  She was correct.  It was now tightly packed shoulder to shoulder, and even noisier.

After going a little way down the crowded main lane inside the shuk we bailed out down a side lane that happily led us right by the Hatch Brewpub which, according to the young woman with whom we spoke, was the first commercial brewery in Jerusalem.  Unfortunately they only had two bottles of beer, both ambers, left to sell for takeaway.  Fortunately the young woman, seeing our disappointment said "here take this bottle on us and if you like it, come back Tuesday when we will have more."  We will be back.  Exhausted from lack of sleep we went back to the apartment, ate a cheese and spinach pastry (excellent) for lunch and fell asleep for three hours.  Later we ate dinner, including a strange looking green vegetation concoction that turned out to be very good.  Finishing with a section of a foot-long chocolate pastry we had acquired in the shuk, we were in bed by 9:30 to begin 10 more hours of sleep.