Jerusalem

My time in Israel was quickly running out, and I had been working so much that I did not have a chance to see any of the other famous historical places. So, I decided to try and squeeze in some sights after work in the evening. Jerusalem was only about a 45 minute departure from my normal route home from Kiryat Gat to Tel Aviv, so I took the scenic detour and arrived at dusk. In all honesty, I think this city looks best at night, as the ancient stone buildings bask in modern artificial light.

The Old City

East Jerusalem

The Western Wall

I ventured to East Jerusalem to take some B&W shots of the stone streets. I did not know at the time that this was not the safest neighborhood to be walking around at night alone. I could sense I was being followed by 3 men. I tried to keep walking to keep my cool. Unfortunately, the street dead ended, and I was forced to turn around and walk towards the 3 men I believed to be watching me. They began speaking to me, however it was either Arabic or Hebrew, so I had no clue what they were saying to me. I ignored them and kept walking. As I passed by them, they grabbed me from either side and attempted to rob me. After a short scuffle, I managed to break free and ran as fast as I could. I held tight on my camera as they were trying to pull it from my possession. I was especially concerned since I had just splurged on a new Cannon DSLR 18MP just days before the trip. Later, someone reminded me that I should have been more afraid for my own safety....however, at the time, I gotta admit I was thinking more about my belongings and somehow knew I would be able to hold my own (although it did not even cross my mind that they may have weapons). I must say that all the martial arts training in grad school was worth it in this brief moment. It's not that I went Chuck Norris on them, but the training gave me great confidence and even better body awareness/presence in difficult situations. A couple swift moves to break their grip was all it took to avoid a potentially dangerous situation. After running to a safer area of town, I found a nice restaurant and sat down to treat myself to an amazing meal. Somehow I felt I deserved it or that I was celebrating getting out of such a situation completely unharmed. I just sat there for awhile after the meal, alone, enjoying the view of the city at night, and thinking, "damn, I am lucky, and I have been through some cool stuff, and I have seen a lot of cool things in my life". As I am always rushing through life to see more and do even more, it sometimes takes something drastic for me to stop and reflect on what I am actually doing here. And then I quickly slipped back into my old self and resumed walking around taking pictures at night like a fool (albeit, now staying in safer parts of town)....I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I did taking them! :)

I saw a car that barely made it up this steep road

a typical street in the Old City

the exterior walls of the Old City of Jerusalem

After exhausting the safe areas of Jerusalem, I ventured towards Bethlehem....however it proved to be a little rougher than Jerusalem. After my encounter in Jerusalem, I thought it would be best just to do a quick drive through Bethlehem and not get out of the car to take pics. Also, I didn't have a GPS, so I was winging it old skool style with a paper map.....which screams tourist....so I didn't venture far. After driving by a burning dumpster (below), I concluded that I had experienced enough adventure for one night and drove straight back to Tel Aviv to the safety of my posh hotel. Sometimes you gotta know when to say when...and quit while you are ahead.

OK, I did actually get out of the car once in Bethlehem at night...but only to capture this dumpster fire

(one more final Israel blog coming soon)