The Pink Ukulele: Day Two: Soldiers and Yellow Hats

Hello everyone!

I’m sorry I haven’t been posting over the past couple of days. I have been traveling and haven’t had internet. For my second full day, Sean and I walked around Jerusalem for the whole day. We started off by going to a huge food market called Machane Yehuda. It was full of fresh produce and goods. I loved every second of it. I think that food markets are a great way to get to know a city and a culture. It was full of people of all difference ethnicities and strands of Judaism.

Then we went to the old city in Jerusalem. The old city is divided into 4 quarters. The Muslim quarter, the Jewish quarter, the Christian quarter and the Armenian quarter. It is amazing how such a small country is so important to so many religious groups.

In the old city we started off in the Armenian quarter. They have an amazing market filled with beautiful scarves and silverware. Sean and I wanted to be adventurous, so we took some random turns in the market. We eventually got really lost, but found our way to the Jewish quarter. There were lots of Israeli soldiers and tourist groups wearing yellow hats. We went to the Western Wall. It is the holiest place in the world for Jews. I do not consider myself to be a religious person, but the past couple of times I have been to the wall, it has made me feel more connected to my Jewish roots. I don’t know what it was, but when I walked up to the wall on Monday, I felt nothing. I just looked around at all the women on my side of the wall and tried to understand what they were feeling. When they prayed, who were they praying to? What where they praying for? The cracks of the wall are filled with little sheets of paper. Each contains a wish to God. There are so many pieces of paper that some have fallen on the floor. I am always amazed at how people from all over the world come to Israel to see the Western Wall and to put a note inside a crack.

That night my friend Rebecca came into Jerusalem and went out for dinner with me and Sean. We went a very bohemian restaurant that only served soup. It was delicious. I had a pumpkin chickpea soup. Yum!

It was the perfect cap to my perfect day in Jerusalem.