On Tuesday, I spent the day with Michael, the Swiss UN military observer I met on Monday. It was his last day in Jerusalem, so we spent some time driving around to his favorite spots over his 11-month mission here on a sort of "farewell tour" of Jerusalem. Pictured above is the fancy UN car we drove all around the city. It seems that Israelis are a bit resentful toward the UN presence here, so I noticed some hostile stares here and there. On the up side, Michael can park the UN vehicle anywhere he wants, regardless of "no parking" signs. Fantastic.
We went first to a lovely and secluded rooftop cafe in the Old City, where we had a spectacular view of Jerusalem in all directions. We could look down into the square and watch the merchants and tourists, and the Dome of the Rock shone just above the rooftops. We were close enough for the midday call to prayer to come through extremely loudly, and a second mosque started a recorded call a few seconds later. It was very interesting to me at first, but quickly became irritating because the recordings go on and on, it's really loud, and the two different recordings created some piercing dissonance. In spite of the dissonant wailing, we enjoyed some really fabulous lemonade and conversation on the roof.
The view into the square from our rooftop lemonade cafe.
With Michael, the Old City rising in the background.
Next we went to Michael's favorite restaurant near the Jaffa Gate in the Christian Quarter, and had a delicious meal, the name of which I can't remember. It consisted of pita bread with tons of little items to put on the bread: hummus, eggplant, tomatoes, and several other things with elusive names. From where we were sitting outside, if I leaned my head back, it would rest against the Old City wall. While we ate, a small, beautiful bright green lizard darted from behind a pot and in and out of stones in the wall.
Later, we toured around Jerusalem to some of the best views of the city, and also drove by each of Michael's former abodes (and friend's houses, and grocery stores, and hairdressers, and pizza places that produce food poisoning). It was really a treat to see so many parts of Jerusalem I never would have otherwise discovered. I took some time in the late afternoon to meet Tova for an opening exhibition at the Israel Museum, which houses a large art collection and is also the site of the Shrine of the Book, the home of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Tova and I sat around the reception until she found the person who had invited her, then she suggested that we "split." She leaned over and asked me in furtive tones, "Do you think we should split? I'd like to split." It seems that Tova doesn't like crowds, so we split and headed to the Shrine of the Book. To see the actual pages from the actual scrolls, and to look at actual artifacts from the Khirbet Qumran community (including a sandal, a comb, an inkwell, and even a pair of scissors - all perfectly preserved), was really exhilarating.
I met back up with Michael for dinner at a Tapas restaurant (Spanish finger-food), and later we went to a live jazz bar which was playing a CD of Don McLean's greatest hits in lieu of live jazz (apparently this is the situation on Tuesday nights). We stayed and really enjoyed the CD, actually, even though "American Pie" might be the most hackneyed song in all of my young-adulthood. Michael finds the song to be quite moving, though, which is very charming. We drove a bit more around the city and took in some views of the stunning Jerusalem skyline by night. Since his mission is over, Michael is heading back to Switzerland this afternoon, so we enjoyed a lovely day together and said goodbye. I am so happy that we happened to sit in the same random restaurant on Ben Yehuda Street at the same random moment, and to have that coincidence give way to such spontaneous and immediate friendship. I learned so much, and I saw Jerusalem through a completely different set of eyes. For that, I am so grateful.
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