My Pilgrimage: June 21

It’s been a long day, I’m tired, it’s getting late, and I have a long day of travel tomorrow, so I’m going to try and keep this short.

My list for today was a long one, though shorter after I decided not to try and venture out for a Medieval Castle about an hour away from town.  Another time!  Instead, I started with an out-of-the-way ride to the Danube River.  I’m this near to a historical waterway, I have to touch it.  So I did, I took in the sights, the swans, and I made my way back to Old Proper.  Despite what the song says, it’s not blue (and yes, I was listening to it while I was there).

Ok it's looks blue here, but up close it was more green (though not as bad as the Jordan)

My four museum stops for today were all close together.  First was the Natural History Museum.  It has two major claims to fame: the oldest and largest collection of meteors, and the famous Venus of Willendorf, which is 25,000 years old (though interesting they have an even older figure in the same room).  Besides that, it is surprisingly mediocre when compared to Chicago’s Field Museum or, especially with the tiny dinosaur collection, the Houston science museum.

The second oldest gold objects ever found

Isn't she lovely?

And...even older

Ubiquitous dinosaur shot

A tiny portion of their big meteor collection

Across the plaza (with a humongous statue of Maria Teresa) is the Kuntshistoriches Museum, the art museum.  I’ve been blessed to see some great art museums (Louvre, Uffizi, Vatican, to name a few), this is up there with them.  The highlights include Raphael’s Madonna of the Meadow (which has been following me; we studied it in my Michelangelo class and it was outside my door at IPF), Rembrandt, Rubens, Caravaggio, Bruegel, Titian, etc.  As a big fan of Renaissance art, this was a treat.  It was after noon by this time, and I could not find information for any nearby food stops, so I grabbed a quick sandwich at the museum’s café.

Titian's Thesus, like all good European art museums the building is as impressive at the art

Maddona in the Meadow

Caravaggio

Automaton ship centerpiece, the cannons actually fire

They have videos of each of the automatons, but this was my favorite.  You have to stay until the end.

The third stop today was the New Palace, which has three exhibits.  First was the archeological findings from Ephesus.  Second was a huge collection of musical instruments, including two clarinets said to have been played by a young Beethoven (plus his portrait) and the violin of Mozart’s father.  Third was my real interest: the royal arms and armor museum.  Maybe not as impressive as the collection in Paris, but still pretty cool (though room after room of armor gets a little old).  Interestingly, their weapons collection does not include anything from the 20^th century.  Almost like they don’t want to remember the world wars.

Young Beethoven and his instruments (the black one and the small one to the right)

Table with drinking songs

Just one set of suits of armor

Lots of guns

The last big stop for the day was the Imperial Treasury.  If only I wasn’t the walking dead by this point, I could have better appreciated all this had to offer.  The treasury includes two Holy Roman Emperor crowns, the royal cradle for the son of Napoleon and one of the Hapsburgs, a golden rose from the pope, the 11^th century Imperial Cross including large pieces of the True Cross (with nail hole!) and the Holy Lance, a reliquary with one of the nails said to have been worn by Constantinople, and many other pieces that made the Hapsburgs THE royal family.  And then there was my highlight: the royal ecclesiastical collection.  We’re talking rooms full of chasubles, chalices, monstrances, reliquaries (many not labeled, but some including the apostles, a tooth of John the Baptist, a piece of Jesus’ loin cloth, a piece of the cloth used at the Last Supper, and many others), and all kinds of amazing Church paraphernalia.  It’s a liturgist’s (or seminarian’s) craziest dreams come true.  The only problem was the rooms were very light, and with no flash photography most of my pictures are very dark.  That is until the last room, when I decided to try my phone instead of my camera.  I’ll never mock the iphone camera again.

Golden Rose

HRE crown

True Cross

Holy Lance

When I finished there it was 4:00, so I had about an hour before Mass at St. Peter’s.  I spent some of that time back in St. Michael’s and some of the time roaming the streets.  St. Peter’s is an amazing Baroque church.  I didn’t have much information on it, so I just went by what I saw.  I did notice remains under a couple of the side altars, but I have no idea who they were.  By the way, a quick note about what I observed in two Masses in Vienna.  I was surprised.  Both had at least 60 people for Daily Mass, and from what I could tell they were locals and not tourists.  Today’s Mass was about half people in the 20s and 30s.  Both priests wore fiddleback chasubles.  No homilies.  The priest today held his hands “the old way” during the consecration.  St. Stephen’s uses its altar railing, St. Peter’s does not have an altar railing so people knelt on the lowest step.  And no extraordinary ministers.  They seem pretty traditional to me.  Again, they were pleasant surprises.

Then it was time for dinner.  I won’t go into the whole story, but let’s say I was upset with how difficult it was to find a traditional Austrian restaurant.  I settled for an outdoor café near the cathedral, and went total cliché.  Weiner schnitzel and apple strudel.  They were pretty good.  But now I’m tired.  I can really feel the three plus weeks wearing on me.  As much as I like Vienna and could easily spend more time here, I’m worn out from being away this long.  I’m looking forward to tomorrow.  Not the travel (you can probably tell by now I hate it), but more the fact that, God willing, by 7:00 I will be back in Madison.

My Pilgrimage: June 20

Long story short: I really like Vienna so far.  I think I’m not an honorary Hapsburg.

It was an early day for me, because I wanted to get to the Schönbrunn Palace, the huge palace of the von Hapsburgs just outside of Vienna.  But first, I have to mention the hotel breakfast buffet.  I have never seen anything like it!  Five long tables full of food, anything you can think of.  All kinds of cereals and fruits, yogurt, pre-made smoothies, omelet stations, meats, eggs, French toast, one side full of different pastries, juices, milk, etc.  I could have gone crazy, but I held back.  I grabbed a yogurt and smoothie (the yogurt was the most bland part of the breakfast, not really chilled), and of course a couple of pastries.  One was an amazing croissant filled with chocolate and drizzled with chocolate.  The other was a cake donut with chocolate glaze, it looked like the kind you can get in bags that taste nasty but this was fantastic.  I really wanted to eat more, but I also really wanted to not get sick.

It took about an hour to get to the palace, since I had to first figure out how to get tickets, then take a train to the city center, then get on the U-bahn to the palace, then actually walk to the palace.  Whew.  But believe me, it was worth it, and I knew it as soon as I saw it!  Wow!  The palace has something like 1400 rooms, but the tour takes you through about 40 of them.  Unfortunately you cannot take photos inside (which is why I bought a book about it afterwards), but I can say the real WOW was the main ballroom.  It’s hard to describe, but I imagine it’s something like the mirror room in Versailles (which I’m now extra bummed I didn’t see while in Paris). 

Now THAT'S Money!

My only picture inside, before the No Photo signs

After the tour, which took about an hour, I was well ahead of my schedule so I took my time walking through the gardens and the grounds.  Then I came up to the zoo, the oldest in the world.  I debated with myself for a few minutes.  In the end, my love of zoos, and especially historical ones, won over my concern for the cost.  I took about an hour to walk through most of it.  The highlight for me was the close up with hippos, but I also liked seeing the arctic wolves and lions.  Unfortunately, the tigers were nowhere to be found.  While walk through, I splurged for a strawberry gelato (a whole 1.50 Euros), which was good since it was starting to get hot.

There is glass there, but those kids were still too close

Hungry Hungry Hippo

King Penguin

A couple of arctic wolves

Check out that view!

I finished my walk through the grounds, including some great views of the palace with Vienna behind it, and made my way back to the metro.  I was still about an hour ahead of schedule, which worked out well.  I went directly to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, getting there around 11:30.  As I walked in, the guard said the nave was closed for Mass.  I asked what time Mass was; “12:00 everyday.”  I then asked if I could go to Mass, he said “surely” and I was in.  So that’s the trick to skip pay the 4 Euro to get into the main nave.  It was an interesting Mass, my first in German (add that to English, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, and Arabic).  They had four hymns, including a post-Communion, but no Alleluia and no homily.  Oh, and they used the communion rail.  I was able to take a few pictures, then made my way out of the cathedral.  Before leaving, I wanted to see the treasury, but unfortunately it’s closed for renovations and will reopen “next week.”  Sigh.

A lot of construction inside and out made some pictures difficult

Vanquishing the Turk

So then I decided to wander through the streets of Vienna, take it in, and make my way down to the Opera.  Their tours were on the hour, so when I got there around 12:15, I had some time to spare.  What to do?  To the Socher Hotel for the famous Socher Torte!  It didn’t take too long to be seated, and I ordered green tea and a torte for my lunch.  What can I say?  It is very good (and hot tea on a day like today is a dumb idea).  The cake by itself would be a bit dry, but the apricot jam and whipped cream really work well with the chocolate.

Next up was the Opera tour.  To put it bluntly, it puts the Houston Symphony hall to shame.  The tour guide said we were lucky because today we were able to see the stage from the side of the stage, so a little of the backstage.  What’s amazing is that they run for 10 months (September through June), and each season they have about 50 operas or ballets.  At any one time there are usually five rotating, so every day they have to dismantle one set and put up the next.  They have to store the sets at a nearby museum and truck them in every day.  Seems like a bit much, but they make it work.  The building itself was pretty remarkable, especially the parts that served the bombing in 1945 (the main staircase and a couple of intermission salons, including the royal one).

The Royal Intermission room, spared from bombing

It was about 2:00 and I was starting to drag, but I still had one more big stop to go: the Imperial Apartments.  They were a bit difficult to find, but I finally did and started the tour through the “kitchen collection” as I’m calling it: silverware, serving sets, plates, etc. (the only part of the tour you could take pictures).  The first few rooms were cool, but it got old fast.  That part finally ended and I walked upstairs to the apartments.  Or at least that’s what I thought it was, but they started with a long tour of the life of “Sisi,” Queen Elizabeth, wife of Franz Joseph.  She had a “tragic” life, I suppose, marrying him reluctantly at the age of 15, hating the spotlight and doing everything to avoid it, having her only son commit suicide, and finally being assassinated at a young age by an Italian anarchist.  They really played her up as tragic, but I kind of thought she was a bit overdramatic.  That part of the tour could have lasted 30 minutes if I listened to the whole audio guide, but I wasn’t really interested in her life so I kind of fast forwarded until I got to what I want to see: the actual apartments.  While they were good, they were somewhat of a letdown after the Palace in the morning.  Or maybe I was just tired.

Royal Chamber Pots!

Just part of a HUGE centerpiece

After finishing that tour, I was pretty bushwhacked, but I didn’t want to call it a day at 4:30.  So, I decided to check out a couple more churches in the area.  First up was St. Michael’s, directly across the street from the apartments.  WOW!  This church is some kind of beautiful.  The sculptures behind the altar are breathtaking, and the eight (I think) side altars are pretty great too.  As slightly underwhelmed as I was by the cathedral, this blew me away.

Close up on Michael

15th Century Pieta

I then made my way up to St. Peter’s, only to find out they were about to have Mass.  No bother, I will try to return for Mass tomorrow (I noted the times) for a better look.  By that time I really was tired, not to mention hot and smelly, so I made my way back to the metro, train, and hotel.  I’m pretty happy with myself, after I was nervous this morning, that I navigated with no real problems both the transportation and the city.  I’m looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

My Pilgrimage: June 19

Ah travel day.  Hurry up and wait.  Hurry up and wait.

The majority of the group headed back to the States early this morning, so I woke up to see them off at 7:00.  I was awake anyways, so it wasn’t a big deal.  Then it was time for a little breakfast and rest before I had to vacate the room at 9:00.  But at least I was able to hang around at the guest house until the two of us travelling to the airport together left at 10:30.  We had a taxi scheduled to pick us up at Notre Dame Hotel (where we had waited on Friday) at 11:45.  That gave up plenty of time to make the walk, which is uphill the whole way (we were happy about going downhill Friday, not so much today).  We then had a nice lunch at their café (a pretty good chicken, mushroom, and onion sandwich with lemonade) before we had to wait for the van to pick us up.  When the guy pulled over to pick us up, he says “Jennifer?”  Um, no, Michael.  Oh well, get in to the airport.

We arrived at the airport around 1:00 because my friend’s flight was at 4:30.  I am not allowed to go through security until 3:30 for my 6:30 flight, so I have some time to wait in the main lobby.  I actually went through the first line of security to get to the counter, hoping I could get on the earlier flight to Vienna, but they said “no, you must wait.”  At least it’s a clean airport and there’s a decent amount of seating around a coffee kiosk.

So it took me about an hour to get through security.  There are essentially three levels of it.  The first weird part was when I went up to the ticket counter three hours before the flight (3:30).  There were about two dozen people waiting in line, and four people behind desks, but none of them were helping anyone.  Someone else asked about the flight to Vienna, and the guy behind the desk said “not until three hours before.”  The questioner replied, “that’s now,” which garnered a response of a shake of the head but no help.  About five minutes later, they reluctantly said “ok, Vienna.”

Once I got my ticket, it was our normal security.  Except that when they saw my laptop, the girl said “follow that man,” and a guy took back around to the front to a special area where I guess they check electronics.  It wasn’t bad, it was just a little annoying that they didn’t say anything about why I was there.  Anywho, I got through, passport check was easy, and now I’m waiting in the food court thinking about getting dinner before the flight.  It’s an interesting setup here.  A main area in the middle with spokes coming off it with different series of gates.  One spoke is the food court, so all restaurants are in the same place.  Also, even though there are two or three “free WiFi” connections, all of them do not work.  I guess that means I need to read for a little bit before dinner.  A feel a hamburger calling me soon.

It’s funny how, though I don’t eat hamburgers often, after three weeks I was really craving one.  And even a mediocre one, like I just had, is good enough.  The fries though.  In general, they are just not good in Israel.  Then again, I’m not a huge fan to begin with.

It’s always interesting to fly on a new national airline.  Austrian Airlines certainly is different.  First, they didn’t call group numbers for boarding, it was a free-for-all.  And chaos ensued.  When you entered the aircraft, you immediately noticed something else different: Mozart playing.  Overall, the flight was just fine.  It was only about 1/3 full, so there was plenty of room for everybody.  Also, apparently I didn’t need to get dinner beforehand because they served dinner (a pretty good pasta in cheese with chicken and tomatoes; I couldn’t eat it all due to the hamburger).  We arrived about a half hour earlier than expected, which was good because I’m tired.  I’m looking forward to some sleep before a busy day in Vienna!

My Pilgrimage: June 18

Our last full day in Israel – Corpus Christi Sunday – started with Mass in the Basilica at Ecce Homo, and nice, intimate Mass at the end of which Monsignor blessed the articles we had purchased in the Holy Land.  Then we walked on down to the Zion Gate and hopped on a van to Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Museum.

Through the Jewish Center at our seminary, we had set up a tour with one of the bigwigs at the center.  Usually he only gives tours to heads of state, so that was a great honor.  Oh, and you are not allowed to take pictures inside, so no pics here.

The new museum was completed just over five years ago, and he was able to give an insiders’ tour of the thought process behind the museum.  That actually was a blessing, and a curse.  While the tour was interesting, I feel like we missed out on a lot, and so on the whole I would say I preferred the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

So the building itself has a made throughway that is built with slanted walls to the top, making it quite dark and somewhat claustrophobic, but with “light at the end”.  There are eleven rooms you wind your way through, and they have built it in such a way that you are forced to go through the entire museum, you cannot just cut through the middle.  While we were there, there were many Israeli Defense Force members touring as well.  We were told that during their training they visit at least once in order to remind them of their history.  A really good idea, in my humble opinion.

The museum is laid out chronologically, starting with a brief wall of images from the interwar period showing normal Jewish people living normal lives “so as to avoid playing the victim card.”  From what I could tell, it does a fairly good job of showing the Holocaust from the Jewish perspective – their focus – without much on the Nazi or any other perspective.  Again, that’s what they are going for, so it works well.  I will say, as a historian, the history is a bit slanted, but that’s to be expected.

What is interesting is that, once you hit 1943, the focus shifts to a thematic approach, covering topics like resistance, Hungary, and non-Jewish heroes.  It then finishes with the inevitably difficult movement through the last years of the war, the extermination camps, a little on the soldiers who found the camps, and life afterward.  It ends with a pretty powerful display of names and faces of some of the 6 million+ Jews who died.  Overall, it is a worthwhile tour, though at three hours it is a considerable length of time.

Schindler Tree

The original plan was to have lunch at the center afterwards, but they had a sign that the cafeteria was reservation only, so back to Jerusalem!  We found a simply restaurant near Ecce Homo, with a pretty good chicken shawarama and a really good drink of lemon slush with mint.  After that we were on our own.

At that point, I lead a group to Mount Zion for a couple of last minute stops.  Somehow, those who were interested went from a half dozen yesterday to three today.  Oh well, that meant we could move faster!  Which is a good thing, because it was all the way on the other side of the city.  In fact, it’s only a couple of hundred feet from where we stayed when we were first in Jerusalem.  If only someone had told us.

What is to see on Mount Zion?  Our first stop was David’s Tomb, which was not what I expected.  First, it’s hard to find.  Second, when you enter it’s like a mini Western Wall (men on one side, women on the other, head covering required, people praying).  I was able to silently pray for only a couple of seconds before a man there started talking to me, asking me where I was from and giving me a piece of paper for a prayer intention (for my dad, David, on Father’s Day).  I thought it was all nice and everything until the guy asked for money.  Ugh.  $20?  Yeah, right!  I reluctantly gave him a smaller bill, since he did say a prayer for me and my intention.  On the way out, another man asked me.  He started asking if I was Jewish.  No.  Do you have Jewish blood?  Maybe.  Can you find out?  Um, maybe.  Well if it’s on your mother’s side then you are Jewish.  In fact it might be on my mother’s side.  So do you know?  I just said maybe.  Okay, well you should really look into it.  And here’s a card for more information on …. No thanks.

With that done, we made our way to the main points of going there.  Next was the Cenacle, the Upper Room of the Last Supper.  In a tour book, they said it was simply an empty room in which it is difficult to imagine Da Vinci’s painting.  Well, the tour book was right.  After a moment of being underwhelmed, I was able to pause and reflect on the importance.  And wish that they had a chapel there, especially today (Corpus Christi!).

Then, it was next door to the Church of the Dormition.  This is where Mary is said to have lived after the death of Jesus, where she fell asleep (Dormition) and was Assumed into Heaven.  The upper church is nice and simple.  The lower crypt has a beautiful statue of Mary lying asleep and there are many Marian images from around the world.  Again, it was nice to pause there for a moment and pray for Mary’s intercession.

Finally, there was my fourth hopeful stop in the area: the grave of Oscar Schindler.  The man at the museum had said he would give us the name of someone to contact to open the gate for us, but he never did.  As a result, all we could do was walk up to a gate with a sign over it reading Oscar Schindler’s Grave, and peer in to see a number of graves.  So close, but so far.  It was time to head back to Ecce Homo.

On the way back, I made a slight detour into the Jewish Quarter for my final, small purchase in Jerusalem: a mezuzah.  It is a container placed on the doorpost with a scroll of scripture from Deuteronomy.  This is where I really showed my expensive taste.  I went into a store and talked to a man about some of them.  There was one that I particularly liked, and when I asked for the price, he said it is silver so it depends on the weight.  This one, he said, was one of the most expensive ones.  Over $100.  Oh, and if you want the parchment, it is separate.  A kosher parchment is $36.  I told him I would think about it, and decided to shop at other places.  After going in a few other stores, I realized that I didn’t want to spend who knows how long finding the right one, so I went back to the original store.  I decided to go with a new plan: a set price of $25 (so no kosher parchment).  They pointed to a few other ones, and I decided on a nice pewter one for about $15.  Sometimes you have to realize that budget is more important than wishes.

So with that, we finish out our stay in Jerusalem.  Most of the group leaves early in the morning for their flights around noon.  My flight is at 6:30, but I am going a little early to share a ride with another guy, so we head to the airport around noon.  I will have about two hours at the airport before I can go through security, but that’s ok.  In some ways, it will be just as sad to part with the group as it will be to leave Israel.  We’ve almost grown into a (dysfunctional) family.  We’ve had a lot of laughs, and some pain, but overall it’s been a very good experience.  Oh, and speaking of pain, please keep a member of our group in your prayers.  She may have broken a toe a few days ago, and her foot is quite swollen (but she is remaining a trooper, only sitting out yesterday’s venture).  We pray for safe travels for all of us as we head our separate ways tomorrow.

My Pilgrimage: June 17

Let me start by saying today made up for the frustrations of yesterday.  We were able to sleep in a little bit, at least theoretically.  I only slept in spurts last night due to Ramadan calls for prayer and the general noise coming from the street below our window. 

At 8:00, we met downstairs in Ecce Homo to start our tour for the day with the area below the convent.  It is located on part of one of the palaces used by Pilate, which was traditionally the spot of the condemnation of Jesus (and hence the first couple of stops on the Via Dolorosa are in the area.  In the area below the convent, they have preserved scratchings made by Roman soldiers for dice games, as well as some of the original Roman street that Jesus would have walked on.  Pretty fascinating.

Roman street

We then walked down to one of the gates and hopped on a van up to the top of the Mount of Olives.  There we visited the church of Pater Noster, which includes the Grotto of the Teaching where Jesus was said to have given us the Our Father (hence, the name).  In the church, which was largely empty, we prayed the Our Father in English, Spanish, Latin, and a Nigerian language.  Then, despite various groups from a certain area of the world taking up more space then they need to sing the Our Father in their native language, we were able to squeeze in and quickly look at the grotto. 

We then made a slight detour.  The Church of the Ascension, including a stone with a footprint made my Jesus, was just a few minutes walk away.  On the calendar, we were going to take a taxi here tomorrow to keep in the sequence of events for Jesus’ life.  Instead, we agreed to go there now to save the time and money.  A mosque has been built around it, but the stone itself is still intact.  It was great to have a little time there to reflect on the importance (as a side note, there are about five other Ascension churches claimed by various other Christian denominations).

We then started our walk down the Mount of Olives.  We had some stunning views of Jerusalem from the Mount, and it was great to be able to stand up there and visualize the path of Jesus in His last few days.  As someone who learns by seeing, this trip, and this stop in particular, has been very helpful in understanding the Passion.

Our next stop was Dominus Flevit, a church built with a dome in the shape of a teardrop where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem (again, hence the name).  It is the newest church in Jerusalem, and somewhat lackluster, but again the view is amazing.  As the tour guide pointed out, it is on the same plane as the Temple Mount.

We then continued out tour down the Mount of Olives with Gethsemane, the Garden of Agony (again, there are a few different sites for different denominations).  In the garden, there are a few olive trees over 2000 years old, meaning, as Monsignor pointed out, they were witnesses to Jesus’ Agony.  We were originally supposed to have Mass there in one of the garden altars across the street, but since we were almost an hour early, we were able to get in and have Mass at the main altar!  What an amazing and unexpected treat!  I will not go into detail, but I can say that this was the most profound Mass for me in the Holy Land so far.  Just in front of the altar is some stone which can be venerated that may have been the site where Jesus gave the witness to us all to say “not my will, but Your Will be done.”

Following Mass, we walked around the garden a little and then across the street to get a better view of the façade of the church.  We also were able to see from there more of the Jewish cemetery which takes up much of the Mount of Olives, including the tomb of Absalom, son of David (we did not walk down to see it up close).  We then trekked up the hill to re-enter Old Jerusalem to begin the Via Dolorosa.

I won’t go into our praying the Way of the Cross in detail, but it was a very good experience.  A couple of the stations were open that many times are not, so that was nice.  It ends at the Holy Sepulchre, and while it was much more crowded (and thus chaotic) then when we had Mass a couple of weeks ago, it noticed that I came with different eyes.  It was also neat that the tour guide brought us down to the Helena Chapel, a place Monsignor did not even know about.  This is where Constantine’s mother in the 4^th century found pieces of the True Cross.  The other very interesting part was the area below the area of the Crucifixion where the rock was split by the earthquake.  It’s still hard for me to process that one church includes the area of the Crucifixion, the area where Jesus’ body was dressed, and His tomb.  Again, I did not know that when we first visited, so that accounts for my “different eyes.”

The cracked stone

The place of the True Cross

After that, we were free for the afternoon.  A group of us walked over to the Christian Quarter and had a pretty good lunch.  I wanted to walk over to Mount Zion and the Upper Room, but when I went to pick up a map of Jerusalem I asked the people there for a schedule and found it was closed on Saturdays.  So, we plan on going there in our free time tomorrow afternoon.  I also hope to talk them into visiting Oscar Schindler’s tomb in the area.  So since that was closed, we just walked through the shopping area, stopping in a few stores.  I made my last purchase in Jerusalem.  It was a big debate for me, but it was pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

In my previous trip to Europe, I had regretted passing up opportunities to purchase paintings of some of the great cities I had visited (I did have a friend bring me back a painting from Paris).  Here, we visited a shop of a nice English woman a couple of the guys had been in before.  She sells beautiful prints (and originals) from various painters.  The one I had my eye on was a print from a British painter in the 19^th century.  As I told her, I didn’t want something too modern, but the price was a little more than I wanted to pay.  Well, after thinking about it, and a bit of encouragement from the owner and my friends in the group, I decided to go for it.  It’s a very nice print, and as she pointed out it is on canvas and not paper, so it is more durable.  Now, I just have to decide how I want to frame it when I get home.

We had our celebratory dinner tonight, and it was good, though the restaurant gave us some problems.  They said we had reserved for 17.  We are only 12.  It became an issue, but we got our food and it was tasty.  A bunch of different dips (hummus, eggplant, yogurt and lemon, and something with parsley and garlic that was quite good) with pita bread; an “Arabic salad” (cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions); french fries and a mixed grill of chicken and I think beef with tomatoes, peppers, and onions; and a slice of watermelon for dessert.  By the way, the melons in Israel are fantastic.  They have the best, juiciest cantaloupe I’ve ever had.

So overall it was a very good day.  I like Jerusalem, but it is a bit too crowded, and the streets can be confusing.  One last full day here before we pack up and head our separate ways on Monday.