After a little sleep-in we had breakfast and then uploaded the blog as we had been too tired to finish it the night before.

While in the lounge area accessing the internet on the hotel’s WiFi Jen went down the road to Chat with Narout and could not believe her eyes when she saw Ghassan as she got to the bottom of Latin Patriarchate Road.  She insisted that he quickly come back to the hotel to meet Rob and we made arrangement to be in contact on Sunday night when he got back from a trip with a tour group.

Being back in Jerusalem is feeling more like home each day bumping into people we know.

We then walked up Jaffa Street first stopping at the post office to cash some traveller’s cheques and then dropped off the film from our Dead Sea experience.

The buildings in the new city are mostly from the turn of the century and are mainly only two stories high with a few taller buildings. More modern buildings sometimes blend in and other times stand in stark contrast.  That all buildings have to be faced with Jerusalems and stone does, in one respect, make for a uniform look, but the creativity of the builders have a wide range of expression in how this is achieved.

There is a constant sense of design and creativity in every thing nothing is just plopped down; even the concrete blocks used for the poles in the street have a design on them.

At the Mahane Yehuda market the array of fruit, vegetables, meat, breads, confectionery, wines is overwhelming, this combined with the hustle and bustle of all the locals out buying for the Shabbat blends into a cacophony of sounds, smells and experience that at one level overwhelms you but also invigorates and inspires.  The freshness and variety of the vegetables and fruit stirs a desire to cook and eat fragrant dishes with the spices and herbs that reach out and tantalise the sensors. The perfume of fresh baked breads and pastries lure the weak to expand their waistline with no guilt or sympathy, and the conductors of the side shows cajole, haggle and bargain the not always innocent buyers.

Leaving the nativity of good eating we wandered down to collect our pictures and laundry which needed to be collected before 14h00 when they, as most of the shops, would close for Shabbat.

After dumping our washing at the hotel we walk down to Elia Photo Service. This Armenian shop, started by the present owner’s (Kevork Kahvedjian) grand father in 1924 has the most remarkable collection of photographs.  Investing in some of these prints which are both artistic and a sample of a technique that is rapidly disappearing was a pleasure.  These photographic images are historical, and have depth and soul.

As Shabbat drew near Jen took a nap to recharge her tired legs while Rob wandered the streets taking photographs, totally self-absorbed and not encumbered by his long suffering wife.

(Rob’s comments on his afternoon “walk-about”)
Standing at the Kotel at the end of the week waiting for the start of Shabbat stirs a strange mix of emotions. The solid timeless stones of the wall, decorated by tufts of plants growing between the stones, the serious fur-hatted, black clad Hasidim davening at the wall, interspersed with tourists (identified by paper kippot) viewing the spectacle. The sounds of the rabbis and worshipper’s lifting their voices in prayer to HaShem (the one God) competes with the running commentary of tour guides.
 But each person – serious, devout, spectator or seeker – must stand here and consider what is before them.  Here stands the wall which encompasses Mount Moriah, the footstool of Ha Shem;  either they accept or reject him that is for each to choose.

    

On a less serious note, we had a fun-filled dinner with Suzanne at Naro’s new restaurant,  Bulghourji – this time she didn’t get cut up about it!   Every time we have visited it seems more like home.  The Armenians are a wonderful, warm and hospitable community and we have come to appreciate them more and more each time we come into contact with any of them.

It was both fun and sad, saying “goodbye” to Suzanne.  She is convinced that we will return, sooner than we would imagine.  So the correct expression should not be “goodbye”, but “lehitra’ot”.  (See you again.)

Tomorrow … in the steps of Yeshua ? Day 21