Jerusalem

Ah, I also forgot we went to Jerusalem 2 weeks ago as well to tour around. After our game vs Netanya we drove straight to my cousins house to spend the night. We got an early start (like 730am blehhh) and took the train from the suburbs, where my family lives, to the last stop up on Mount Herzl. There we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. It was the first time I had been there, though I had been to a Holocaust museum in Washington DC, and Mere had never been to a museum like that before. Obviously it's a very powerful place and we both took it all in. Not exactly an uplifting morning but it was good to see. After finishing at the museum we went up the mountain a bit more to see the famous military and political gravesites and memorials. It's kind of a peaceful place with nice views. Also got a peek at Theodore Herzl's grave, the namesake of my current home Herzliya.

(view of the museum from the mountain)

When we were done there we hopped back on the train and headed into town where we got off at whats called the Shuk in Hebrew. It means the market and its a fun and kinda wild place. They have a million stalls selling fruit, baked goods, spices, snacks, everything you could think of. It's a great place to just wander around and see and taste different things. Unlike at home, you can just sample things in the street and often the street vendors will invite you to come eat their products. We bought a couple different things, all food, and had lunch with my uncle, who was in the area, before continuing on.

After leaving the Market we started the walk to the Old City section of Jerusalem. It's the really historic part of the city with all the famous religious monuments. It was a pretty nice walk and we stopped in at Ben Yehuda Street which is basically an outdoor mall. It has lots of cafes and shops but most of the stuff is pretty touristy so we didn't buy anything really worth mentioning. By the time we got to the Old city it was getting close to sunset. We had to walk through another market-like passage way for something like 25 minutes before we saw the sign directing us to the Western Wall. When we got there we saw lots of people and tours, but not a crazy amount as there sometimes are there. It is quite the tourist attraction for people of all religions and we saw tour groups from Italy and China among others. We put our notes in the wall, as is customary, and took some pictures before getting ready to go. 

By this point the sun was down and it was getting cold. We wandered around the Old city making our way back to the gate we entered at and headed back to the train stop. A half hour later we were back at my cousins house and soon after on the road back to Herzliya. It was a really busy day but we had a lot of fun.