My Israel Adventure: Day One

On the plane to Israel. Clouds below me, blue sky above. When we passed over what must have been Germany I could see snow-capped mountains through the gaps in the clouds, both as white as each other.

About 15-20 Hasidic men praying, facing east, rocking forward, tugging their forelocks. I find it slightly moving, and slightly disturbing. Also chilling to see a large number of people blocking a plane gangway, all looking in one direction.

No problems going through customs. Israeli-Palestinian taxi driver, who professed to hate Jerusalem, but was very friendly. Seeing any place for the first time by road at night is a strange experience. Motorways are pretty much the same anywhere, but I can see the trees are different, the buildings, and of course the language. Driving into Jerusalem, Agrippas Street had lots of food outlets, places selling cheap fabric, bit stores. The hostel is tatty, but cheerful and slightly eccentric.

Had a meal in the German Colony – Jerusalem’s version of Glasgow’s West End. I was too tired to appreciate the novelty of ordering wine being a political minefield: one of our party, a Jewish American who works at Brigham Young Jerusalem university, wanted to know exactly where the wine came from in case it was produced by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The restaurant was like any in the west, but kosher.

As we walked back to the city centre, I tried to absorb my surroundings. YMCA building, and King David Hotel, along the British Mandate stretch. Rising up into the sky, beautifully lit, but like nothing in the UK. This is the most ‘diverse’ place I’ve ever been, in that the locals all like they come from all over the world. My hostel is right on the intersection of two streets like Buchanan Street and Sauchiehall Street – noisy, because it’s Thursday and thus an Israeli version of a British Friday night. Ate some amazing ice-cream, dark and rich, again, like nothing at home.