Taxi Tax

• Taxis in Jerusalem are a bargain. (See http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/taxis.html )
• They are wonderful for tourists. Along with buses, hey help make residents comfortable with carlessness.
• Now the mayor proposes a tax on taxi stands.
• Go figure.

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

All Together Now

• If you can only come to Israel once, come to Jerusalem during Succot.
• In the morning, dispatcher to taxi drivers, "More taxis to the train station, more, come as many of you as can."
• Where Shlomtsion HaMalka meets King David, families, couples, individuals – waiting for the walk sign, surging across the street, along Agron’s shaded sidewalk to merge with the stream along the Jaffa Road, they walk faster than the cars, the taxis, the buses, stuck in gridlock, all headed in one direction.
• Happy people, dads pushing kids in strollers, big sisters herding younger siblings, black coated men in belted silk coats and wearing shiny brown fur hats, women in their best long skirts and fine-tailored jackets, men in jeans holding their children’s hands, women in hip huggers, long-haired little girls in pinafores, others in sun dresses or shorts, boys running ahead, reined in with a shout, fai-skinned red heads, dark-skinned Ethiopeans, pesionairs, teenagers, cellphones, "We’re near Sha’ar Yafo," "We took the train," "We left the car in Rehavia, "I see you; we’re over here."
• Crowds and crowds, splitting to go down through the souk or round through the Armenian quarter, the religious holding long celluloid carriers with palm fronds and myrtle and willow, boxes protecting chosen citrons; the secular Jews surprised in their company, all towards the Kotel.
• Then masses go out the nearest Gate to the City of David, below the Old City walls, lining up for tours, numbers beyond expectations, beyond the guides’ capacity. "Come back tomorrow. Early." Good nature prevails. There’s plenty to see, walking round the excavations.
• At six, beside the Ottoman Railway station, ten shekels to enter where 30 restaurants, or 40, cook out. Eat in the Shouk sells "Persian Goulash," Yehezkeli" offers fried haloumi cheese, Pisces does things with salmon, there’s tamarind juice and limonana, a wine bar, shwaarma, felafel, kebabs and kubeh, dim sum, empanadas, gefilte fish, crepes, Belgian waffles, brownies, cotton candy. Booths sell crafts. Bands play.
• From 4 PM, families stream through the security checkpoints into Liberty Bell Park, met by jugglers and stilt walkers, a comic ballet duo on a small stage, Irish dancers from Ra’nana on a larger one.
• Hand-crafted glass for sale, and jewelry, and toys, and pottery, and drawings, and books. Hotdogs and hamburgers, juice and soda, and beer with few takers.
• A drummer has brought a dozen giant tablas for kids to sit on and help make joyous rhythms. In a circle o a large mat kids come and learn, and switch, and parents sometimes drum, and for four hours the white-robed man keeps drumming, sometimes singing, and the energy builds and ebbs and builds higher.
• In a tent a circus. In the "amphi," puppets.
• We stopped by the best Irish band I’ve ever heard. The leader played the Irish pipes sweetly but with vigor. A compelling percussionist. A woman fiddling with quick skill. Two guitarists. The leader switches to a long recorder. Back to the pipes. Familiar tunes with newer beats. We crowd around the barrier. They take a break. We pull up chairs from scattered tables.
• The band returns and shares its energy. Behind them teenage girls appear and disappear. Oblivious to all but music, they jump and dance.
• The band moves from tune to tune. Two girls, three or four years old, slip through the barriers onto the platform in front of the band, left hand in left they turn and turn the way kids can, around and around without out falling down. A toddler runs up and runs around them, and three more little girls, dancing like iron filing when a magnet is moved beneath a table.
• Then a man comes around the bandstand in khakis and a t-shirt, shod in proper Irish dancing shies. Still on the tarmac, his feet begin to tap. Up he goes onto the platform and does the Irish steps quick and riveting, and the children whirl, and he taps and clogs and leaps across the stage, always in the space where the children are not.
• Walking home, we pass the banners whereby the Inbal Hotel welcomes three tourist groups. How lucky they are to be in this city in these days! "I hope," I say, "that they got away from the package tour and went down into the park."
• From the hotel, they must have heard the music. "The entire universe is a very narrow bridge, and the essence, the essential principle, is not to be afraid, at all."
• See also http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/red-rock.html http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/unexpected-february-entertainment.html http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/06/prtforming-arts-in-jerusalem.html http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/20/succa.html

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

On down

• At the trafiic light, Binyamin Mitudela comes in from the right and continues as HaAhri (http://www.blogger.com/(http://israelvr.net/kever_ha-ari/) to the left, up to the Museum of Islamic Art (a gem). I cross Aza and continue down the hill.
• The hatshop on the southeast corner has a huge inventory. The following is not stereotyping (bad) but cultural sensitivity: The women who look best in hats, and tout ensemble, are the French. Perhaps it's posture. Why are French mothers better than American at instilling graceful carriage?
• On the southwest the barstools of an alcohol-selling snackbar offer sidewalk perches. Beyond is a health food store, then hardware, a laundry, and Café Atara, moved from its historic place on ben Yehuda, but still good.
• A little way after the Coffee Shop is a small park, its bomb shelter now the headquarters of the Neighborhood Watch. The number 31 bus to the mall stops here, but I am not tired, the sun is not hot, and it is not raining. I drink from my water bottle. A taxi beeps the offer of a ride ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/taxis.html ), but I like the feel of the sun on my calves, browning my feet around the sandal straps. Past the steps to Hatibonim St (across the street is one of the few byways not on the map: steps up to Harlap), across ben Saruk http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Saruk.html i walk down, muscles tightening against gravity. Here the view opens of the hill (across the valley) where the apartments of Nayot march up to Neve Granot with the Israel Museum above them all.
• Across the street are an art-supply shop, three hairdressers, (one where Rav Berlin splits off), another small cafe and one of the small groceries that make city living a joy. (The last two are on the very first bit of Rav Berlin).
• To my right, hugging the hillside, two schools cooperate: the elementary- school branch of Evelina (de Rothschild), is a (national/public) religious school for girls; Paula (ben Gurion) is a (national/public) secular coed elementary school. Volunteers from both schools and the neighborhood get together each week to clean up trash.
• Beyond two shaded benches, I turn onto a path down through the small park and into the pedestrian tunnel under Hazaz. We volunteers have cleaned this up more than once.
• A man and a woman on bicycles ride right into the "Valley of the Cross," but I continue parallel to busy day and night Herzog (I think http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_HaLevi_Herzog is the one the street is named after) through the olive trees to Yevin St., quiet, shady, hidden, and almost mysterious. Three men and two women jog towards me, talking, but not on cellphones.
• On the right, the Scouts building and after that one for the religious youth group Bnai Akiva. In Israel, Bnai Akiva groups are usually segregated by gender. Scouts are coed – which practice international Boy Scout and Girl Scout organizations found questionable. I understand they eventually made their peace with the integration.
• An expanse of lawn opens up. Here is an excercise stop for joggers: a slant board, chinning bars. At the far end, imaginative play equipment and a drinking fountain. At the unnamed sculpture I cross to the east side of Hertzog, where there is a short line of retail shops, including a bakery with a cafe. I’m about a third of the way to the mall.
• For the rest of the walk see http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/destination.html and http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/walking.html

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Ice Cream

• The Italian Ice Cream man sets up his machine at fairs and festivals (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/art-and-pasta.html ). He opens the mechanism, takes a small cup from the freezer, affixes it inside and clicks the nozzle back in place. A press of the button produces true-tasting chocolate and vanilla soft serve. This sign offers melon, rum, and whiskey flavors, but I have not tasted these.
• On Tuesday he was in schoolyard on Emek Refaim along with seven sellers of costume jewelry; a potter; a maker of glass plates and pitchers; two used-book stalls; sellers of Indian silk skirts, blouses and tunics (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/daughter-of-salwar-kameez.html ); racks of cloth handbags and t-shirts; a table with limoncello, mulberry jam, and hand-cured olives; a fresh fruitshake stand and another selling South American derserts; more stalls; and a bandstand for a jazz combo.
• Outside the traffic was bumper to bumper along Emek Refaim (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/emek-refaim.html ), but moving. Cars stopped their crawl for pedestrians who stepped into any of the crosswalks ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/not-jaywalking.html ). And there were crowds of pedestrians. When the sun set, sidewalk tables filled at restaurant after restaurant, café after café. Bookstore,natural foods store, and ice cream and chocolate shop stay open till 11. The restaurants (which stay open later than I've been up) continue past Rahel Imenu, and the first block of that street continue the restaurants.
• The fair happens every summer Tuesday afternoon and evening. The strollers and restaurant crowds ebb and flow throughout the week and year.
• If you are staying at the King David, the Inbal (formerly the LaRomme), or anywhere in between, walk down the hill on King David St, past the Bell Park, and bear right on Emek Refaim. Three more short blocks gets you into the feel of things. David’s Citadel (walk up King David Street and continue down the hill); the Windmill (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/windmills_19.html now the Prima Royal); Dan Panorama (formerly Moriah); and other hotels, B&Bs, self-catering apartments, and zimmerim (http://www.bnb.co.il/ and flathunting.com) are all in easy walking distance of a true Jerusalem experience.
• The 4, 4 alef (on older digital displays, alef looks like H), 14 and 18 all run along Emek Refaim. Tell a taxi driver "Emek Refa'eem" or "Ha-Moshava" (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/taxis.html ).There are always empty taxis cruising on Emek Refaim to take you back.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

On the Walls

• If you have a head for heights, a walk on the City wall (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/even-licensed-guides.html ) provides excellent views of the City, the new city, and the hills beyond. Acrophobes beware.
• From the park above Gehenna we entered the City through a postern on the north side of the Citadel (which king did not build David's Tower?) and paused in an irregular plaza to examine the foundations. Then up fieldstone stairs to the top of the City wall. Here, on the west side of Sulieman’s (http://www.answers.com/topic/suleiman-the-magnificent ) fortification, the Jordanians (who held the City from the departure of the British in 1948 to 1967) added a wall on the City side. Beneath our feet the old stones were uneven, but the double wall assured security. Up steps, along the wall, down steps, up steps – and now nothing but open view to my left. Rational folks know a sturdy new railing protects them. Acrophobes are irrational.
• We passed "Mount Zion" (who isn't buried in "David's Tomb"?) (see also http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/jerusalem-cable-car.html ) and paused by a vacant field, not too far below us in the Armenian Quarter. Once again forward over uneven stones. Beyond the Zion gate, the ground dropped off again.
• The woman ahead of me turned into a narrow opening in a tower at the edge of the Armenian Quarter. I followed.
• The staircase twisted down into windwless black. Over the echo of her footsteps she called back, "Do you want to share a taxi (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/taxis.html )? Where do you want to go?"
• "To the ground."
• A scrape and squeak as she pushed the rusted turnstile. Now I could see it and the street where children played.
• On the drive from the Armenian Quarter to the Dung Gate, you get a great view of the City wall. High, high it flows around stony ground where wild flowers and thistles grow.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Not Jaywalking

• Aside from the physical danger and the psychological (the guilt of imposing undeserved guilt on the law-abiding driver who'd knock me over), I'm kept witing for the walk light by the sight of the traffic cops writing a ticket for a pedistrian across the street.
• At crosswalks where there is no light, pedestrians have the right of way. I step off the curb and look both ways. The approaching car stops. The driver looks angry that I haven't just crossed briskly.
• At the end of Ramban, at the five-street intersection where it changes its name to Agron at King George V, and King George changes to Keren HaYesod, with ben Maimon (HaRambam) slipping in at the top of Derekh Azza ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/two-horses.html ) above Gahn Ahtsmaoot -- Independence Park ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/fantastic-animals.html ), cars block the crosswalk when I have the walk light. I weave around taxis and buses with due caution. Otherwise I'd keep waiting, while the lights cycled, until rush hour’s end.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Trains

• From Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh, the train winds down Nahal Soreq through gorgeous, and mostly undeveloped, hills. Don’t bring reading material or games. Just keep looking out the window.
• The train station, near the giant Malha mall, is large, immaculate, and empty.
• Trains run once an hour. It’s 40 minutes to Beit Shemesh where the train station is tiny and immaculate. Go out the other side, up the steps, and across the street to the shopping center if you don’t want to wait in the station for the next train up to Jerusalem.
• On the way back, feast your eyes again. Two trains a day stop at the Biblical Zoo before continuing on.
• The round trip ticket costs about two dollars and a quarter. Choose the English option on the ticket dispensing machine. Pay with cash or credit card. You need the ticket to get onto the platform and again at the other end. Occasionally a conductor on the train asks to see the ticket.
• The 4, 6, 18 (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/katamonim.html ), and 24 buses go directly to the train station. There are always taxis waiting.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Taxis

• Like a magician who summons a magic carpet with a handwave, or a billionaire whose chauffeur is always within call, the Jerusalem pedestrian has taxis.
• Two short beeps from a car going the same way you are means a cab driver would like you to stop exercising. When you sit at a bus stop, passing cabs honk or slow down to see if you’ve gotten impatient enough to take a taxi instead.
• You can also phone for a cab. That will add a seventy cent surcharge to your fare, but fares are low. Four to six dollars will take you anywhere in town you want to go.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Shushan Purim

• On the 15th of Adar, the train to Jerusalem is standing room only. In newer cities Purim has ended but in cities with walls, or even walled cores, children still wear costumes.
• At the station parents and kids, older siblings dragging younger queens and pirates, rn for buses and taxis.
• The taxi dispatcher radios, "Come to the train station, all of you."

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox