13th
March

Today has
been the first day Dyana & I have chilled out . Chilled is definitely the
wrong word as the temperature was about 80, or 28 Celsius. Walked along the
front with other thousands of other happy people.

Watched a large
gathering of people of all ages dancing on the front. It reminded me of a mass
line dancing session except this was Israeli Folk Dancing. Fabulous.

Further
along the front, saw something I’ve never ever seen before. A beach dedicated
to dogs and their owners. There must have been at least 25 dogs all swimming
and playing on the beach. The owners throwing tennis balls into the water and
the dogs retrieving them. Dogs joining into packs of two or three and just
simply playing exuberantly; running and jumping. Fantastic.

 

 

 

15th
March.

Finally
Arrived in the holy city of Jerusalem and our room is on the 11th
Floor of the Tower Hotel with a view of the walled City . Walked to the Jaffa Gate. One of the
entrances into it and had to pass through a military checkpoint to get into the
old part of the city.

While walking
through the streets got caught up in a frenzy of bar mitzvah parties, see
videos and photos; all going to the Western Wall of the Old Temple; the Wailing
Wall. Except today it was not wailing, but celebrating. The front was packed
with the sounds of joyous laughter as the boys read and sang their portions
from the Torah on the men’s side, while the women, standing on white plastic
chairs looking over the wooden fence at what was going on on the men's section
were constantly throwing chewy sweets and the bar mitzvah boys. See the photos
and videos. A throng of joyous occasions is how I would describe it.

Also went to
see most of the famous sites including the room where the Last Supper took
place and then into the suq, the bazaar which covers a huge area. King David’s Tomb, The church of the Holy
Sepulchre, the place from where Jesus was 
and the Via Dolorosa .

This morning
saw black smoke from the direction of the old city. There is security
everywhere. Police, the army and today, a battalion of men all dressed in black
with riot shields and stun grenades rushing towards the sealed off Arab sector.
We’ve seen enough of this sort of thing on our travels so gave it a wide berth.
Trouble does seem to be following us around this part of Europe.

 

16th
March.

The
temperature has dropped dramatically from yesterday to today. Yesterday it was
30, today only 15 and blowing a cold wind as well. Walked to an area call Mea
She’arim where the really Religious Jewish people live. It’s like going back
100 years in time to what it must have been people were born, lived, worked and
died in their village. All the men proudly wore the traditional black garb
while the women always dressed with their hair in either a hat or headscarf;
long skirts and long sleeved tops showing little skin . All wearing trainers. In
a book store we found them to be extremely friendly and helpful.

 

Lots more
trouble as the eastern sector of Jerusalem was completely sealed off. Walking
through the Arab section of the suq was what I might call interesting with all
the storekeepers trying hard to get us into their particular area. Loads of
seriously armed police and military rushing to get to wherever there was
trouble brewing.

Walked
firstly past the Prime Minister’s, then the President’s residence on the way to a museum to see an
exhibition of early Islamic art and then onto probably the best clock
collection I have ever seen. I could have stayed there for several hours, but
unfortunately had to leave for the airport and off to the island of Jersey. The
driver of the Cheroot (a sort of taxi bus) thought he was Michael Schumaker on
his returning to formula 1. Taking the racing line on the roads, and in no time
at all were at the airport .

This first
leg of our journey (the cultural bit) had come to an end.