Markets and Western Wall: Week 5 / Day 29 / Feb 8
Jerusalem, Israel: Today was a fairly quiet day as I took it easy after all of my walking yesterday. I spent most of my time wandering around the shopping districts looking at things, but not buying. I did come across a small park that I know would be the main place visited by my daughter Kelly if she ever got to Jerusalem.
After wandering a while I stopped for lunch at a cafe. I thought I was going to be eating light by getting the soup and salad, but that was not the case.
After lunch, it was only a bit after 3:00 PM, but the restaurant was completely empty and things were starting to close up.
As I left the restaurant I could see a number of other businesses shutting down in advance of the coming sabbath at sundown. Heading over to the market to get some food (I was pretty sure that all restaurants would be closed tomorrow), the pace of shopping had picked up compared to other days. Rather than people leisurely looking at things and buying, there was a bit more of a frenzied pace and shoppers were crowding the market stalls.
After taking my food back to my apartment, I decided to head down towards the Western Wall to observe the beginning of the sabbath.
As darkness fell, the area near the wall was much more crowded than I had seen it previously. The atmosphere was an odd mix of solemn religious observance and charismatic revival. The pockets where many men gathered around tables (which were on wheels and available for all) to sing, dance and pound on the table in rhythm gathered crowds of onlookers peering over the rails.
I eventually made my way back to my apartment passing the market en route.
What had been a packed concourse yesterday evening (all of the bars and restaurants in the market take over the walkways at night with tables, filling them with wall-to-wall people packing the entire market), was now empty save for a few workers cleaning and others walking home.
