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

birds

• Tucked away near the Knesset, Israel Museum, and Bible Lands Museum (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/free-lectures.html ) is a bird observation and banding station overlooking a small pond. "The site is one of the few traditional birdwatching areas in Jerusalem that has not been harmed by development, and is centrally located."
• In addition to local birds, migratory birds land here.
• At http://www.jbo.org.il/Eng%20index.htm note that the scroll bar is on the left. Of all people, Jimmy Carter is pictured watching birds.
• The same group also organizes bird watching at Mamilla, which is quite close to hotels. Check http://groups.yahoo.com/group/janglo/messages for announcements.
• http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/fantastic-animals.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/frogs.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/cats.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/gazelles.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/two-horses.html for more about Jerusalem animals, real and fantastic.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Fantastic Animals

• Fantastic animals have emerged from rock in Jerusalem parks, the art of one sculptor or more, paid or not – a mystery. One is in Independence Park, very close to Agron St. Another is in the park on Elazar HaModai, next to Beit Elisheva. (http://www.e-map.co.il/eng_index.asp will help you find these.)
• http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/frogs.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/two-horses.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/gazelles.html have more about Jerusalem animals live and fantastic.
• (As I write, an expert on the radio is talking about the danger of a large earthquake. Generally, he says, there is a major earthwuake in the area abiout every 90 years. See http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/water.html about the advice I am following.)

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Frogs

• On the sidewalk outside each building, against the faceted-stone wall but, in many cases, too large for the niche built to accommodate earlier models, stands a green bin like a small "Dumpster." Israelis call them "frogs." They are for garbage, but not glass bottles, plastic bottles, or newspaper. The notice on the bin says which days of the week its trash is collected.
• Glass bottles (with a few exceptions) go back to the grocery for return of the deposit. On almost every block is a wire receptacle for plastic bottles.
• The green cylindrical bins are for newspapers. Most say "for newspapers only," but a few say, "paper." Perhaps these are for office paper.
• "So where are the mailboxes?" a visitor asks. Look for waist-high, rectangular, metal boxes painted bright red. Some date from the time of the British Mandate, before the State of Israel.
• http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/two-horses.html , http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/gazelles.html , and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/cats.html have more about animals in Jerusalem.

Cats

• At night a cat yowls so loud I am afraid it has gotten into the apartment, two stories up. Kittens play under the wheels of the green garbage bins. An elder stands sentinel on a garden wall. Better cats than rats.
• http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/two-horses.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/gazelles.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/fantastic-animals.html are also about animals in Jerusalem.
• See also http://www.famouscatsofjerusalem.com/

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Two Horses

• Two large horses trot up Derekh Aza. Their straight-backed riders wear plain, dark t-shirts. When they get closer, "Police" is visible in small letters running around their baseball caps. Perhaps they are training the horses to be calm in traffic. Five hours earlier, I saw a horse trailer with police markings going in the other direction.
• In the evening of (university) Students’ Day, bungee jumping, loud music, and other entertainments enlivened the grassy area of Independence Park. Over by Agron Street, where a grove of trees blocked the lamplight, police horses waited, tethered, calm, silent. Near them lounged their riders, hoping not to be needed.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Gazelles

• The number 17 bus crosses the Valley of the Cross winds up almost to the Knesset Building, crosses between the Israel Museum and the Bible Lands Museum and goes down into the next valley, past the Itzhaak Rabin Hostel. Then it turns into Givat Mordekhai, a middle-class neighborhood of uniform apartment blocks and little greenery.
• Up it goes and down again, out to Hertzog. The woman in the front seat on the right is talking with the driver about mutual acquaintances, or maybe relatives – a wedding, who’s going to a mechanics course – when the driver says, "About here. Start watching."
• The passenger looks out the window, and I do, too. "There!" the driver says. "And there! A nursing mother." In the wild field opposite Paht, a herd of gazelles.
• See also http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-jerusalem-neighborhood.html

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox