Israel. July 23, 2021. Day 6. Good Thing I Bought Those Water Shoes.

Well, after a solid 4 hours of sleep, it was time to get up!

I’ve been getting wake up calls every day, which have been really annoying. Apparently the tour group actually scheduled them for everyone. At this point, its not even worth stopping because they won’t do it on Shabbat and then the other days we have to be up even earlier. Anyway, I got dressed and headed to breakfast. I could barely eat (for real this time) because I was full from earlier. I tried to find an Aroma, but there isn’t any within walking distance that would have me back in time.

Our first stop of the day was Yad Vashem. I really wasn’t looking forward to it because it felt unnecessary, but I think this visit was really one of the best. We had a fantastic tour guide who specializes in Holocaust art. She started off with a presentation of some art and then took us through the museum. I learned new things, relearned some things, and was just so impressed with her. I found out she actually grew up in Lawrence before moving to Texas, and then moved to Israel. She said she went to Beth El, so I told her I got married there and showed her some pictures.

From there we drove to the City of David, the hottest place in Jerusalem. I swear, the hottest memories are from that place. They prepared a lunch from Holy Bagel. You know how sometimes you think Toddy’s doesn’t put enough tuna? Well, Holy Bagel puts no tuna. It was like a tablespoon of tuna for the entire bagel. Also, we were outside.

The plan was to go to the water tunnel, but there were people who didn’t want to do it. There was so much confusion over who was and wasn’t doing it and who was going where, but we finally managed. The people who didn’t do it thought they’d have a chance to just go off by themselves but no, no, no. They had to walk with us up to the entrance and then wait for us at the exit. I’ve never done the water tunnel before, and it was pretty cool, but really long. Good thing I had my specially purchased water shoes. And after we were out of the water tunnel, we walked through another tunnel that took us out at Robinson’s Arch, so that was cool. Except that tunnel was SO long and tiny. I love when you go places in Israel that are tourists sites, but would be hard hat zones in America.

People were so anxious to get to Machane Yehuda. Finally, we found the bus, after about 10 people got lost, and headed to the shuk. I was so efficient I even surprised myself. I got marzipan rugelach, dried fruit from Rosemary, a bageleh, candy and chocolate, spices, and dried fruit. I walked into the spice store and asked “are you Oshrat” and her response was “Peas love and carrots?” Yep. Then I got an ice coffee from Roladin and called it a day.

I took a cab back to the hotel which was tough because no one wanted to drive, and now we have an hour or so to get ready for shabbat!

Shabbat Shalom!