Palestine

Our intense day yesterday was followed up by a much more slowly paced day today.
Our only real plans were to visit Ammunition Hill in the daytime and the City of David Sound and Light Show in the evening.
We tossed up whether to walk, catch a bus or a taxi to Ammunition Hill and decided the half hour walk would be fine. Down the hill on King George Street through Mea Shearim (again) and then steadily climbing towards the very large Israeli flag flying proudly on this decisive location from the 6 Day War of 1967.

We had visited Ammunition Hill once before but it was very late in the day and on that occasion our stay was short and rushed. The Ammunition Hill Heritage site has undergone a big transformation since that visit and is still having its facilities upgraded.
It took us a little while to get our bearings around the site. There is a new audiovisual theatre and a new interactive museum, as well as the outdoor trenches and some military hardware that was involved in this difficult, decisive battle. As is often the case in Israel, the staff only drip feed you enough information to get you suitably confused about the logistics of the site.
We had decided we would do the 20 minute theatre experience first as it would be a good way to cool down in the air-conditioning after our walk. Signage to the theatre was sparse, the electronic key tag to open the door refused to let us in but eventually we found a fire door at the side open. The film was in progress in Hebrew and was attended by a full complement of young female Israeli army recruits. When their presentation finished and they exited, we sat down and waited for the promised English presentation.
Eventually, after more trips backwards and forward to the front desk ‘Oh, yes, the tag wouldn’t work because there was a Hebrew group in there …. Oh, has the group now finished? A girl will come and start it for you . . . ‘ Eventually we got the English version up and running.
It is a powerful and informative show detailing the extreme events during this most intense of wars, with a physical 3-D model of Jerusalem and its strategic surrounding hills being lit up at various points of the film in order to understand where the events were taking place.
Unfortunately one of the two overhead projectors illuminating this model was not working, so some of the impact of the presentation was lost. Fortunately we were well enough acquainted with the events and the topography for this not to be too much of a problem for us.
At the conclusion of the presentation, we thought we should mention the deficient projector to the more senior staff member who had just come in. He was extremely apologetic and offered to try to make it up to us. We weren’t quite sure what this meant but when he realised we hadn’t done the interactive museum yet, he personally took us there and gave us a one-on-one introduction and explanation of the whole ‘Ammunition Hill’ history.
He was the CEO of the whole site and was knowledgeable and passionate about it and the reason for this soon became obvious.
He shared with us the fact that he was a 10 month old baby boy when his own father lost his life right here on Ammunition Hill during that battle in 1967 and it was very moving to hear him tell us of his resultant life growing up without a father; but also of the solid support his family - and indeed all families in a similar situation - received from the government and the wider community.
He was surprised that we were not Jewish ourselves but we took the opportunity to tell him of our support and connections with Israel and of the miracle (in the true sense) that the nation actually is. He was especially surprised that we, like they, had marked the 75 year anniversary of the declaration of the State of Israel with a special day of talks etc.

The interactive museum was next and it is very well done although there seem to be some teething problems with the ‘georeferenced’ audio guide that would often flick across from one track to another when it was not supposed to.

As we were so close to Mount Scopus we decided we would walk across to this other strategically important mountain. Mt. Scopus has often been the favoured staging point from which invading armies would mount their attacks on Jerusalem (e.g. Titus and the Roman army in A.D. 70).
We were flagging a little in the heat of the day and didn’t quite make our objective of the Hebrew University which has the best views of the old city. We did however make it as far as the Dan Jerusalem Hotel, Mt. Scopus - which although didn’t have quite as commanding view - DID have air-conditioning, comfortable seating and good coffee.

It was time to head back to the unit for an early dinner before our evening at the City of David and for the first time, we decided we would catch a bus that would deliver us right to our door. We found the nearby bus stop at Mt. Scopus with no problem, boarded the bus which arrived almost immediately but then could not work out their system of how to pay for our fares. The bus driver waved us away with a dismissive gesture toward the automated ‘tap-on’ machines, the instructions were all in Hebrew and we had little idea what to do.
A lovely young local who spoke excellent English told us that we needed to download an App called ‘Moovit’, register your credit card and then select the appropriate fare. She also said that if a ticket inspector got on and found you hadn’t paid your fare ‘They were ruthless - they would show no mercy at all’.
In a country where young women sling machine guns over their shoulders like handbags, this was enough for me to feverishly jump on to the App store and with visions of news headlines at home featuring ‘Australian couple executed for fare evasion on Jerusalem bus’. I downloaded the App, started putting in the relevant details for the credit card…. and then came up against that dreaded obstacle where the credit card provider would send a 4-digit code to enter for verification. Again, as I was not using my Australian SIM, this 4 digit code was not received…. and I was left with very unhappy thoughts.
Loss and I moved seats so that we had a view of everyone boarding the bus at every stop. We had a prearranged understanding with each other that if someone who looked suspiciously like a ticket inspector were to board the bus, we would exit immediately via different doors in the hope that at least one of us would survive to be able to finalise the Estate of the less fortunate one.
It was a tense ride home.
Thankfully only a combination of Orthodox Jews, students and regular commuters boarded the bus and we were able to exit at our chosen stop without incident.

We had an early dinner then walked back down to the City of David for the evening light and sound show. Again, this is new since we were here last so it simply had to be done(!).
It was really well executed - far superior to the sound and light shows we have seen at the Citadel of David in the past. It told the story of the destruction of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the walls under Nehemiah. The visual projections onto the stonework of the foundations of David’s palace were spectacular and the English audio headphones produced a very immersive experience although the pyrotechnics and water features at the conclusion made it feel a little like a sporting event finale.
An unexpected bonus was to be allowed to inspect some of the excavations while we were waiting for the show to start. This allowed us to visit and photograph some of the areas with no one else around. At the end of the show I thought I should just have a quick look in the courtyard area of the City of David where there is a very unspectacular looking manhole / grate. It is suggested (and was confirmed by the staff member we spoke to) that the deep and voluminous cavern that this opens up to underneath could be the very place Jeremiah was thrown into (Jer. 37, 38). It is hard to see much down there during the day and I was really surprised that when I peered in there this evening it was all fully lit from inside. The staff member said that with all the new excavations taking place adjacent to it, the area might be open for inspection at some point in the future.
It’s things like this that keep making you want to return!

A pleasant wander back up through the Jewish Quarter at night and then the Mamilla Centre and Ben Yehuda street which were really buzzing at 9.30pm. Most of the shops were open and doing brisk trade, the buskers were out and people everywhere enjoying the balmy Jerusalem evening.

Tomorrow is our last full day before heading home.Read more