fri, 4 july

Above, view from our hotel.
Beneath, Mea Shearim. Enter to orthodox jewish area. There is big warning sign on wall of how people should dress properly:
Ladies in pink:
Jaffa street:
Dinner at friday evening:

We went shopping in Mea Shearim in area of orthodox jews, so we had to cover ourselves. I had long skirt but needed to buy scarf before going there and my friend did buy nice hat for herself. Oh what a experience it was walk in there and see something so different from my life. Other friend did buy lots of silver and we needed all our strenght to carry those heavy bags. While walking back we suddenly noticed all these men in black. Streets was full of them! I saw couple of women but they were beside of building, far away. So there we were, in the middle of men in black. They were shouting something in hebrew, we did not know what was going on. Scary! We managed to go through the crowd and walk beside buildings to get out of there. After that we saw couple of english speaking men and asked them what was going on. We did learn it was protest against autopsy. In Ashkelon police found 62 year old dead woman in her house and wanted to do autopsy and figure out was it burglary or not. Earlier police had arrested six orthodox jews while breaking car windshields in riot. I'm so glad we got out of there!

We went to buy food in market area. Friday afternoon, everyone was in there to get food for sabbath. Hot, noisy, crowded, smelly. We got nuts, halva, pastries, fruits, vegetables, fried chicken and something with the chicken - we did not know what it was but we eat it anyway.

In the evening we walked to Old City and the wall. Lots of men in black with funny hats and few expencive fur hats. What a odd fashion style. These men are always in hurry, they walk fast. I never been to the wall before. It was dignified and ceremonial. In sabbath we could not take pictures. There were so many people praying it sounded like millions of bees buzzing. Some of them sung together. Women were separated from men. I was impressed of this invisible power. They all looked so happy and sure of their causes. Happiness, joy and love.