Israel. Pesach 2022. Day 6. Grenade Launchers and Meat Cleavers.
No one woke me up in the middle of the night. It was wonderful.
Tzvi peed at 7:15, which woke me up, but then we fell back asleep until 8:30. Then we were all in a huge rush and no one was ready. Tzvi took the girls to breakfast and I eventually made it downstairs, maybe around 9:30, which was when we were supposed to leave the hotel. I want to point out that while planning this trip all I heard was that “Tuesday is Old City day.” So naturally, I assumed that we would have a leisurely morning, get out of the hotel at a glacial pace, and walk around the Old City. Well, apparently we had a “virtual reality” thing book at the Kotel that no one told me about, so my dream of a relaxed morning was gone. Anyway, I ordered coffee and an omelet. I got the omelet but never got the coffee. At one point I asked someone where it was but by the time she said it was on the way I had to leave.
I went outside and saw that my mom and Tzvi had ordered separate taxis, both to the Kotel. There is extra security around the Old City because of all the rock throwing etc., so it’s difficult to actually get a cab into the Old City. My parents got in one cab with and Avery and Gabs, and we got in another. Well, theirs dropped them off at Jaffa Gate. Ours drove us all the way into the Old City and dropped us at the Dung Gate! At the entrance a solider stopped our driver and asked where he was going and asked if he was coming back. He said yes, and she asked if he would say hello, and he said he would say “boker tov.” Then she let us in. I like her style. She also thought Madeleine was very cute, so that may have helped. We were very lucky because he took us straight to the kotel, whereas my parents had to walk all the way from Jaffa Gate. Thank God, because I never would have made it with Madeleine on my back.
We got to the Kotel and Hallie was excited. We went to the left side of the wall for the VR experience. Basically they take you into this little room with a bunch of chairs that spin around 360 degrees and give you virtual reality glasses. Then you watch a ten-minute movie about the beit hamikdash. I’ve never really done a VR thing like that, but it was pretty well done. It really gives you a good idea of what the temple looked like and what it would’ve been like to be there. Tzvi said it just made him sad that we’d never get to see that in real life, because Jews don’t like to build massive temples anymore, just little shteibels. Hallie watched for like three minutes and then was scared.
When we were done we went to the actual kotel. Madeleine didn’t care to touch it but Hallie enjoyed. Then we headed back. Madeleine was strapped on my back (thanks to the Bernsteins for their carrier) and walked all the way up the steps back to the Rova.
Our first stop was Hadaya for jewelry. Hallie was upset she didn’t get anything but (1) my mom had just bought her a necklace on her trip two weeks ago and (2) Hallie has a Hadaya bracelet somewhere that she lost. She kept trying to explain to us why we should buy her a new bracelet and how she would be responsible this time. Nice try. We were in the store way too long and the kids were going nuts. After Hadaya we went to get Tzvi a new tallit. We probably paid a big premium to buy in the Old City, but at least now he can remember his tallit is from the Old City.
From there we went for lunch. Hallie wanted a burger so we took her to Burgers Bar. Madeleine got chicken nuggets. It took a really long time to get the food. Also the entire store was filled with police. I think they were just regular police but they looked like a SWAT team – they were decked out in full riot gear, massive vests and were all carrying what appeared to be grenade launchers. It was probably the safest place to be in the Old City. Since every table was taken by police, we took the food and sat in the Rova. Tzvi and I got salads from Holy Bagel because we wanted to stay dairy. They were pretty good.
After lunch we went for a stop at the Blue and White gallery in the Cardo to shop for art. We weren’t planning on buying anything but we ended up buying a piece. There’s always something that captures us at that gallery. Today it was a large painting by an artist named Ligtenberg. He’s a Dutch born painter who hid from Nazis, then moved to Australia and later to Israel. He paints mostly Jerusalem landscapes in the style of the old Dutch Renaissance masters. The painting we bought is a scene of first temple Jerusalem. We really loved the colors and the way he played with shadows and lighting. Anyway, we spent a while in the store, during which Madeleine was taking all of the containers of paint off of a shelf and moving them to a spot on the floor. Then she would carry them back to the shelf, and then back to the floor. We were spending enough on the painting that they just let her do her thing.
(we bought the one on to)
From there we split up – Tzvi and I and the girls walked out of the Old City through Mamilla and stopped for iced coffees at Aroma. Madeleine fell asleep on my back and we did some shopping. Hallie bought slippers at Steve Madden. I will say I haven’t been to a Steve Madden in a while, but it seems that all the old shoes styles are back. It’s both comforting and frightening, but hey, if you want a pair of slides…
“Life is happy only without internet and movies”
We walked to the end of mamilla and Hallie started complaining that she wanted a cab and was so tired, which she probably was. We kept walking up the hill and almost made it to the King David before she fell down and was crying on the street. An old America man stopped to give her a band aid, commenting it was band aid brand. Nice man. At that point Madeleine woke up so we just took a cab from there.
Back at the hotel Hallie watched her tablet and Tzvi went to the pool to read. I bathed the kids and we got ready for dinner.
Dinner was at a place called Black Iron, a steak restaurant near the shuk. I think the concept of the restaurant was supposed to be like very meat-focused and most of the steaks are Wagyu. There wasn’t much on the menu, mostly meats. We got chicken for the girls and a platter of grilled veggies, which I think had some kind of meat fat or something in them. We also got good chunky potatoes and a tomato salad that Tzvi liked a lot, and a massive marrow bone filled with marrow and caramelized onions. For mains I had the rump steak and Tzvi had the picanha, both of which are cuts of meat that come from the back of the cow (which is only Kosher in Israel). It’s so hard ordering meat here because we have no idea what anything is. Half of the meats are just called by a number, and the other have names we’re not familiar with. Entrecote. Denver steak. Rump steak. My father tried to order the Denver steak and the waiter told him that it’s very tough and you really need to work at it and chew it a lot. We were waiting for him to say ‘but it’s really tasty and worth ordering,’ but he never did. It kind of sounded like it was just a bad steak and I don’t know why they were serving it. But my father liked it, so I guess that’s why they were serving it. Anyway, we didn’t know at the time that we were ordering back-of-cow (something we probably would’ve been more excited about had we realized it at the time), and our steaks were pretty delicious. Also, all of the dishes came on a cutting board with a small meat cleaver. Cute. Also, gimmicky. I couldn’t help but notice that everyone in the restaurant seemed to be an American tourist…
There was nothing to have for dessert so we went back to the hotel. I went upstairs to the rooftop restaurant and they said they had the same desserts at room service. That’s nice. I didn’t know room service has dessert, as its not on the menu. I once again asked about brining kids and they were like “well, we don’t allow kids but we can make a deal.” Whatever that means. Anyway, I went back to the room and we ordered the room service desserts, by which I mean we ordered all of the desserts that they offer – chocolate mousse, a fruit plate, and a lemon custard thing. The mousse was great. The lemon was not. [Tzvi: I kind of liked it.]. Maybe it was more like a flan. Then the kids got ready for bed.
Maybe they went to bed before 10:00. I’m not sure.
After they fell asleep we opened a bottle of the free wine they had given us and I took a bath by the open window while watching the Mets on my computer. Great end to a really nice day. (Oh, and remember when I said the other day that I watched the Mets in the bath? I guess that was actually tonight. The days just blend together…)
