Museum for Islamic Art

• The Museum for Islamic Art (http://www.islamicart.co.il/english/visitor.asp ) is one of those gems that guided tours mostly miss. The Hebrew Website is worth surfing for pictures. At the museum, everything has complete English explanations.
• Its permanent collection includes exhibits of interest to kids as well as adults.
• The temporary exhibits have included music, magic, and now leisure activities throughout history. Each one I've been to has been beautifully unlike what I've seen elsewhere.

Copyright 2006 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

Urban Planning

• The Jerusalem Municipality has a plan to widen Rehov HaNeviim ((http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/street-of-prophets.html ). This would mean tearing down beautiful walls and buildings, some a century and a half old. Perhaps facades would be preserved as the are on Rehov Yafo near the shouk.
• The Jerusalem Municipality has a plan to build a parking ramp on the hill overlooking the Valley of the Cross ((http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/view.html ) from the east. This would require destroying the park.
• The Jerusalem Municipality has a plan to allow two high-rise hotels in the Moshava ((http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/german-colony.html ). One would be built over the German Templar meeting house, an architectural gem at the apex of the triangle.
• I think that the streets division of the transportation department considers only transportation and the parking division only cares about meeting parking goals. What the building-permit people have in mind is murky.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Jerusalem Cable Car

• The arrow on Hevron St. says, "Mt Zion Cable Car." Don’t get your fare ready! It points to the Cable Car Museum. Walk back a little towards the windmill and go up the ramp to the middle of the overpass. From there you’ll have a good view of the cable, running from the old eye clinic building to Mt. Zion (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/on-walls.html ). Right up against the building at this end of the cable is the car. The cable is new, but the car is the one used to evacuate the wounded and to supply Mt. Zion in the War of Independence. Generally the museum is open by appointment (02-627 75 50).
• The wheel and gears for winching the car back and forth are in place. Until 1967, the mechanism was maintained in working order "in case it was needed again."
• The museum includes photocopies of the military forms setting up the project and assigning the engineer. An army runs on its paperwork.
• The photograph of the engineer, Uriel Jefetz, made me think how happy he looked to have a technical problem worth solving.
• See http://www.gemsinisrael.com/e_article000003947.htm

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox