Rooftop Tour

When we last spoke, I was getting ready for the rooftop tour with Udi. As some of you may know, I am terrified of heights. I hate being up high where I can see the ground below and I really hate being able to see the ground as I am going up (like those metal stairs that you can see through and roller coasters). I don’t know why I have this irrational fear. But I do. So naturally of all the tours available, I chose the one where I had to climb up these kinds of stairs and ride in rickety cramped elevators. The first stop on our rooftop tour was the imka (YMCA to you Americans). The imka is a community building that had live jazz playing when we arrived. We paid our fair to climb the stairs (yes there was a fee for climbing the stairs, although it was half the price as the elevator). There were a lot of stairs. Circular stairs. Without railings. If you recall, this summer I was working as a nanny in a house with a circular staircase and on my first day I slipped on said stairs not only once but twice. So the sight of a circular marble staircase was not that exciting for me. As I started climbing (since there were people behind me) I was moving slowly, getting slightly dizzy, but continusouly moving up none-the-less. Until the marble stairs changed into those rickety metal ones. Joy. I slowed down and warned my friends that I hate heights and these kinds of stairs and kept walking up. These staris were never ending. Until we got to the top. The view from the imka tower was beautiful. We got to see what felt like all of Jerusalem at sunset. See pictures to be posted later. After the imka, we made our way to the old city of Jerusalem. We entered through the new gate just in time for the siren signaling the end of Ramadan. This is significant because we were walking through the Muslim Quarter of the old city at this time. During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat or drink when the sun is up. But after the siren, the Muslim quarter came alive. The vendors were all out selling food and snacks and Ramadan lights (think Christmas lights but shaped like the crescent and star with green and red lights) and a ton of people walking to mosque in the direction opposite to where we were going. Udi (our guide) stopped at one point and made sure we all had his number in case we got separated. We made it through the Muslim quarter to the top of the Austrian hospice (now hostel) for our next sight. We walked to the roof and overlooked the old city. We mostly saw a lot of Muslims out and a about, but it was cool to see the lights from a different perspective. After a quick snack of cookies we moved on to our next stop, Notre Dame (no not the one you’re thinking of, but a hotel and church with a really great wine and cheese bar). We trekked to the top of the hotel for a dark view of the city (my camera phone didn’t have flash so I stopped taking pictures after the first stop) and a late night meal of wine and cheese. We got two cheese platters and everyone got drinks and we had a lovely evening of talking and eating before heading home. It was a really awesome night!