5: Israel Museum

The Israel Museum is described as an Encyclopedic Collection. This means that it has an incredibly broad variety of exhibits, including Chanukah menorahs, actual parts of synagogues from other parts of the world, cultural clothing from many areas, archeological displays, paintings, sculpture, a beautifully painted Sukkah, necklaces worn by Jewish brides in Yemen; and a nail attesting to the practice of crucifixion in Jesus’ time. An urn-shaped building on the grounds of the museum, the Shrine of the Book, houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and artifacts discovered at Masada. 

The museum is on a hill with a sweeping view of Jerusalem. Since it was a beautiful Sunday morning, we decided to walk there from our hotel - about 30 minutes through lovely neighborhoods and a park, and right past the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Once at the museum we took advantage of several guided tours, learned a lot, and, at the end of a long day of walking around, took a cab back to our hotel in time to head out for dinner.

On a beautiful Sunday evening, the Jewish Quarter was lively with families, kids, music, shops and places to snack or dine. When we approached the restaurant we had chosen, we were greeted at the entrance by a young woman who handed us two menus - there were two separate restaurants here - one for meat, and one for dairy. This was a unique way to keep kosher - which requires the separation of milk and meat. We chose the meat side - filled with people of every age, and in a variety of head coverings - each which tells its own story about the identity of the wearer. I could not resist - I had chicken soup. It was great.

After dinner we headed back to our hotel to pack and get ready for the next stop on our adventure - the Dead Sea.