Errands and David's Citadel

Today was a good day. We started off the morning by running errands. I never thought I'd be saying that I ran "errands" in Jerusalem. We went to Aladdin's (pronounced: Al-a-dean's) to exchange money. I wrote a check, and they didn't even ask for identification! Can you believe that? Aunt says they like Mormons and you never have to show id if they know you are Mormon. From there we went to the Citadel of David Museum. After a whirlwind 4000 years of Jerusalem history in 2 hours (and loads of stairs) we went to lunch at this Vegetarian restaurant Aunt had found on the Internet before they even left Provo. One thing that is interesting, and potentially glaringly obvious (I'll explain why it's only potentially in a second) is there is a guard at the entrance of almost every site/shop. (I almost said every place, but the millions of little shops don't have someone there -- just the shop keeper bidding you entrance and assuring you that "everything is cheap today") These guards want you to open your purse or bag so they can look inside and check for weapons, etc. In a way I guess it makes me feel safer, at least I have a titch more assurance that someone doesn't have a bomb or something. Now, why is it almost glaringly obvious? Well, at the places they know Uncle and Aunt we were waved through -- they didn't even pause us. Additionally, at places they didn't know us we were still waved through. I guess they figure that Americans aren't going to be causing trouble, and since Aunt is so Scandinavian looking, and with my red hair, well, I guess we just don't look the part of a suicide bomber.

The Citadel of David is really unique, considering that David was never actually there. Here are three pictures taken from the top of the Citadel. The guide claimed that this was the highest spot in the Old City of Jerusalem. Judging from my pictures, she's not kidding. This picture is the view over-looking the Dome of the Rock in the foreground to the left and The Mt. Of Olives in the back.

This is exactly 180 degrees from the previous picture. As you can see, we were standing on the roof the Citadel. The next picture was taken on the far side of the fenced area and looking down.

If you look down to the center of the picture you can see a lone arch, archeologist believe that there was actually a row of arches, like those in the back ground, but time has taken its toll. In front and back of the arch you can see little bridges, these are actually for a small trolley-esque train that runs through when there are excavators working. Most of the area is under constant excavation, which is fascinating, but I wonder how I would feel if archaeologists decided that my home town was a rich source of history and started digging and never stopped.