Number 4 Bus

• If the number 4 bus pulls into the railway station’s lot (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/trains.html ) before the 24 (which takes a slightly more direct route, straight through the Katamonim, then through upscale old Katamon, along the bottom of Rechavia), I take that.
• It pulls out and stops opposite the mall (kahnyohn) before heading up to Paht (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/gazelles.html ) and the Katamonim (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/katamonim.html ) loop. Even in the poorer neighborhoods, cars line the streets, but there are nowhere near as many parking places as there are apartments. (Apartments in the luxurious monster towers http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/destination.html come with three parking spaces each.) The language is almost all Hebrew, Moroccan-accented from the mouths of older passenger. A few newer immigrants mix in, Russian blonds and Dark Ethiopians. Thow or three women have heatures that indicate they come from east Asia or the Pacific, but they are quiet. At the High School near the high point of ben Zakkai, students get off. Others get on.
• At the bottom of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yohanan_ben_Zakkai ), the 4 turns on Elazar HaModai (http://www.pardes.org.il/online_learning/weekly-talmud/2006-07-30), skirting the Greek Colony. The Greek and German Colonies are named for the Christian religious groups that first settled there at the end of the 19th century. People who own apartments there now are prosperous, but some leave the family car in its parking place and take the bus to work.
• The area is also popular with students, and young singles. Here women in their 20s board the bus with bare midriffs. Those in shorts speak American English to young men in shorts and Hebrew t-shirts. (Israelis like the wording on their t-shirts in English.) On the left, I see one of the first park-boulder sculptures (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/fantastic-animals.html ). At the traffic circle, the bus turns right onto Hizkiyaho HaMelekh and quickly onto Rachel Imenu, named for the Matriarch, a straight and shady street that ends opposite the Christian cemetery on Emek Refaim (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/emek-refaim.html ).
• Continue at http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/bus-4-names.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/pump.html then http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/4-to-terra-sancta.html http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/4-on-king-george.html http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/beautiful-clothes.html http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/street-of-prophets.html http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/back-in-time.html http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/4-to-top.html

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox