Jerusalem 1

After a desperately early start (0245 wake-up time) I left Heathrow on Thursday morning, landed at Zurich, and took off again — so that after a few hours, this…

gave way to this, and we landed at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv.

I caught a shuttle bus driven by an authentically wild Israeli driver who carried a dozen or so of us at a lively pace towards Jerusalem, and who during a hectic hour while he was busy doing his filing, shouting into his mobile and writing on bits of paper – sometimes simultaneously – had undertaken the further responsibility of encouraging all the other drivers with toots from his horn, and periodically swung swiftly around them while they paused at corners and stop signs to show them how it was done.

Fortunately when I was dropped in my turn, Susan and Bailey the dog were waving a welcome from the balcony and I was ushered inside a large airy flat. After feeding and watering I was ushered out again to try to find our friend and driver who was stuck in traffic around the corner. The reason he was stuck was apparently due to a “suspicious object” at a nearby bus stop. A child soldier with a machine gun held us back while it was being sorted out, and soon enough we were on our way. I had a fabulous tour of the city by night,

and a pause on the Mount of Olives (Robert Maxwell’s in there somewhere, apparently)

before driving down past Gethsemene and its splendid churches. Susan volunteered the interesting fact that “Gethsemene” actually means olive press.

Friday, she said, was an excellent day to visit The Shuk (market), as everyone is rushing around doing their shopping before everything – shops, transportation, the works – shuts down for the sabbath that starts at dusk.