Streets of Jerusalem

• Ronald Eisenberg's "The Streets of Jerusalem" (http://www.amazon.com/Streets-Jerusalem-Who-What-Why/dp/1932687548 ) explains almost every Jerusalem street name. Who knew Afodi was an acronym? (See http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/lanes.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/windmills.html) )
• Now if I could just find a book that tells what the names used to be. Shlomtsion HaMalka used to be Princess Mary and Heleneh Malka was Queen Melisandeh (I wish they'd left that Armenian princess with a street honoring her), but what was Palmakh?

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Events

• If you go to Israel on a tour, you'll find events arranged for you -- a celebration at the hotel, a presentation at a kibbutz, excellent speakers. If you go on your own, or stay on after the tour is over, you can be part of local events. Here is a partial list of what to watch for, month by month.
• January: Remember that rain is a blessing. (See http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/watershed.html ) You're likely to have sunny, shirtsleeve days after two or three rainy ones. On partly cloudy days, the sunset will take your breath away.
• February: Tu b'Shvat, the Trees' New Year. Look for street festivals (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/unexpected-february-entertainment.html ) and bountiful tables of dried fruit and nuts in the shouk, supermarkets, and malls. February is the end of Crembo season.
• March: On Purim ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/shushan-purim.html )watch for kids on the streets in traditional and faniful costumes. For evening parties, lots of adults dress up, too. Oznei Khaman (hamentashen) are the seasonal baked treat. Shesek (loquats) begin to appear in ths shouk. After Purim supermarket baked goods shelves start to empty.
• April: Pesakh (Passover) can be at the very end of March, but is usually in April. By the time it arrives, familiar packaged baked goods are scarce, but an ever widening variety of cakes and cookes based on coconut and potato flour fill tables in the shout=k and shelves in macolet and super. Fresh garlic appears in the shouk. What do the people who buy it by the kilo do with it? Schools are on vacation for the seven days of Pesakh. Ask your hotel and the AACI about English walking tours (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/holy-sepulcher-church.html).
• May: After Peakh comes Holocaust Memorial Day, followed a week later by Soldiers' Memorial Day and, the day after that, by Independence Day. ireworks mark the beginning of Independence day. At several venues around town you'll find live music outdoors. In Kikar Safra (City Hall Plaza) there's folk dancing from about 9PM until long after midnight. The next day museums hold open house. Last year, the police had a festifal with historical playlets, robot bomb squad demos, live music, and a lot more. The Israel festival of the performing arts is likely to be in May.
• June: Jerusalem Day, marking unification of the city after 20 years of separation, can be in late May or early June. Watch for informal parades (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/water-on-jerusalem-day.html ), more walking tours, and concerts. In the long evening, eat outside. After a hot day, drink limonana gahroos at a sidewalk cafe(http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/mint.html ) .
• July: Ask about outdoors folkdancing. Last year there were weekly sessions in HUC's courtyard.
• August: Best month for a walk through Hezekiah's water tunnel (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/city-of-david.html ).
• September: Succot (which is in October some years: http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/all-together-now.html ) is a school vacation. Join the family crowds exploring the Old City. Succa tours can be interesting, and it is also fun to watch the huts go up during the days before the holiday.
• October: Pomegranates go for less than 50 cents a pound. Buy some and pick out the juicy seeds yourself. Get pomegranate juice at a juice bar ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/juice.html ). Soufganiot (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/soufganiot.html ) appear in bakeries and on shouk tables.
• November: Get tickets for the Oud Festival (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/oud.html )! Crembo (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/crembo.html) appear.
• December: During Khanuka, walk through neighborhoods where people put their hanuka lights outside (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/lights.html ).

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Noticing Jerusalem

• The 174 articles in this blog are a guide to noticing Jerusalem.
• Look up at the stonework around the windows, at the balcony rails, at the roof gardens, and the floors added to older buildings.
• Look down at the tiles in courtyards.
• Look out at the views of the mounded southern hills and the eastern hills that tease your eyes with the chance that you have seen the Dead Sea to the east.
• Notice the little shops still holding on among the chain stores, the odd pieces of sculpture, the trompe l'oeil murals, the seasonal changes of wild flowers in open fields and fruit in the market.
• Visit the little museums. Go to concerts. Don't let the language intimidate you. Ask for help in English, and you'll get it, with a little garbling.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

More for Kids

• Children like many of the same Jerusalem sites that adults do, thogh often for different reasons.
• Kids into role-playing games will like both tunnels from Rehavia to the Valley of the Cross, especially (until about age 12) if you call them mysterious. These tunnels are wide and short enough that claustrophobes do not mind them. The monastery(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery_of_the_Cross and http://members.bib-http://www.md.huji.ac.il/vjt/98.htmlhttp://www.md.huji.ac.il/vjt/98.html ) is not only a monastery, but it looks like one -- tall walls, banners flying. You can climb the hill and walk behind it with the kids making up their own adventure stories, or with you telling them about Queen Helena (http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/helena/Helena_Mother_of_Constantine.htm ) and about the building's history, which is full of intrigue.
• Up toward the Israel Museum you will come upon one of the fantastic animals (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/fantastic-animals.html ).
• Of course they will like the cable-car museum http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/jerusalem-cable-car.html ) and the windmills (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/windmills.html ).
• If you can play recordings of songs that relate to what you are seeing, and tell them what the words mean, even better. One of the shops selling CDs can, for example, sell you a copy of the wonderful song about Montefiore (sung by Yehoram Gaon, lyrics by Chaim Chefer, music by Dov Seltzer), and there are several songs about Jerusalem's walls (though they refer to walls built 1500 to 2500 years before the current walls) suitable for playing if you gather courage to take well-behaved children onto the walls (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/on-walls.html ).
• See http://www.hebrewsongs.com for links to songs about Jerusalem with words and where to buy them on the Internet. But I think it is more fun to go into the little CD shop near Agripas on Mahaneh Yehuda in the Shouk and, by sign language and key words, sample music.
• The Davidson Archaeological Garden has much to delight cildren and adults, including the movie (which alternates a Hebrew version with and English version). In the garden you can go up onto a short section of the wall. Plan on spending at least two hours. The audio tour has some excellent sections, and can really get you into being on a Herodian street or in an Ummaid palace.
• At Ir Daveed (http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/index.html is a beautiful but frustrating website), the City of David (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/city-of-david.html ), you can arrange a tour specially for children. This manages to be interesting for adults, too. In summer, you can go through the water tunnel with kids who are tall enough. All year you can go through the dry tunnel. Do not go through the tunnel if the child dislikes enclosed spaces, or if you do!

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Private Guides

• If you've done a guided tour of Israel and discovered that your choices for the next guided tour cover much the same ground, you can go around on your own, or hire a guide.
• Many sites offer English tours: for example, Ir Daveed (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/city-of-david.html ), the Israel Museum (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/model.html ), the Municipality (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/valley-street.html ). Egged's Line 99 around Jerusalem (http://www.egged.co.il/Eng/main.asp?lngCategoryID=2773 ) provides commentary in English as do the other tours run by Egged and United Tours (http://www.unitedtours.co.il/map.html ).These tours let you come to Israel on your own and pick where you want to go.
• Although you can find licensed guides on the Internet, I recommend contacting Beit Shmuel and asking to be put in contact with one of their English-speaking guides.
  972 2-620 3461 or Doron_yosha@wupj.org.il
• Yad Ben Tzvi has excellent guides, but I don't know whether the organizaiton will set up private tours. You can try them at 972 2 539 8855 or had@ybz.org.il
• Tell them what interests you: architecture, art, bakeries, crusaders, literary references, neighborhoods, nineteenth-century history, prophets, travelers to Jerusalem ...; or list things you want to see and learn about. Tell them how much you want to walk or climb and how sure-footed you are or are not.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Entertaining Children

• Children like the energy-saving lights in Jerusalem stairwells. They push the button to trun on the light, wait on the landing until the light goes out, push the button again. One races ahead to push the button o,n a higher landing. That extends the time the light is on.
• For a child used to the family car riding a bus is an adventure -- a city bus where you give the driver money and get change and the printer prints out your ticket. You can keep the ticket as a souvenir. The bus starts moving before you get to a seat. It winds back and forth through narrow streets, up hill and down. Who needs Disneyland?
• Taxis. Another treat! "Good thing I'm a city kid and I can hail a cab" goes the song. (Googl ehas failed to identify the source.) It's magic for a midwestern kid. I wave my hand and a car stops, ready to take us anywhere.
• The shouk (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/abundance.html )can be almost too exciting. "What are those men shouting?" asks an eight-year old. He stands very close to me. "Bananas two and a half shekels a kilo," I tell him "Clementines three shekels a kilo." He moves a little away from me and listens. "Yes," he says. "I hear 'bananas' and 'kilo.'"
• For kids who don't like strange food, there's pizza. Many pizza parlors squeeze fresh juice (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/juice.html ).

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox