Noach in Jerusalem

Hi there,

It's been a couple weeks, and they've been full ones, so here's another lengthy and picture-heavy post.
By the way, I'm officially just over halfway through my time in Israel, a fact which is bittersweet of course. I'm both looking forward to returning home, and enjoying and trying to make the best of my remaining time here.

Last week I went to the opening night of the Israel International Music Showcase Festival. Or I went to part of it; there were some discrepancies in advertised starting times. I got to see the group I particularly came to see (the Adam Ben Ezra Trio) and 1.5 of the others though, and it was nice to get home a bit before 1am rather than around 3am as I was expecting.
This was at the "Yellow Submarine" (in Jerusalem) - an interesting place.

Most of my pictures of the actual performance came out looking a bit like impressionistic watercolor paintings, but here's the Adam Ben Ezra Trio:

Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but - 5-string upright!!!

So, now I have seen 3/4 of the Israeli ensembles (the IPO, Project RnL, and Adam Ben Ezra) I hoped to see while in Israel. If Morning Bound does a show here to which I can make it, I will be super thrilled, to say the least.
It was late and I was a bit hungry, so I decided to stop at the מיני-מרט ("Mini-Mart") and grab some munchies:

Peanut and chocolate flavored Cheetos - only in Israel . . .

I realized that, though I go get most of my groceries at the Shuk every week, I probably haven't been taking adequate advantage of all the interesting stuff there lately. So, I've been getting something things to try.
Last week I got some really yummy dried fruit:

Dried strawberries, cinnamon dried apple chunks

Mmmm, who wants candy when this exists?

This week some tasty, and nutty, baklava:

Pecan, pistachio/cashew

Don't worry, Mom, I actually still think yours are the best. I'm not just saying that either; these from the Shuk are good but quite chewy and almost excessively sweet, yours are nice and crunchy and the sweetness is just right. : )

On Sunday, despite being super stressed out and homesick and almost deciding not to several times for various reasons [including some direct/non-direct bus confusion], I went to Ein Gedi and hiked most of the trails at the national park there. It was absolutely gorgeous and the weather was perfect. It turned out to be the best thing I could have done with the day. There's something about being overwhelmed by the majestic beauty of Creation that really helps one overcome the stresses of everyday "civilized" life.
So, finally I can share some of those "beautiful pictures of Israeli landscape" that I keep promising. I took hundreds of pictures, below are [still a large number of] the best ones. Some of them are still kind of silly though, sorry. ; )

Here I am!

And - going up . . .

What would a sight-seeing, hiking trip be without touristy selfies?

Well, I have to take the traditional picture under the rock ledge, right?

So . . .

An intriguing, leafy tunnel.

Looks like I'll be going through.

Whew, made it!

"David's Waterfall"

Really great views. Oh, and that off in the distance is Jordan.

This one's for Dad.

This too.

Pretty neat.

(Ein Shulamit)

Wow.

It's dry and windy, and eventually your hair starts going crazy . . .

. . . and crazier . . .

. . . and crazier still.

Oh, why not . . .

Okay, this is almost the last selfie (promise!).
I had to take one with this tree in the background, of course.

Alright, if you say so.

This was pretty cute.

Ya think?

Here's the cave.

The cave!!!

Just too weird and funny not to post.

Wow, even better views.

Coincidentally, the timing of my trip worked out perfectly as I almost entirely missed the rush-hour. Lots of school field trips started pouring in on my way back down. That was actually kind of cool though, I overheard one teacher saying "Who forgot his project sheet" (in Hebrew, of course) as they went from one area to the next and I heard another telling his students about some Israeli history related to the location.

Here they come . . .

The ruins of a Chalcolithic Temple.

After hiking (and lunch), I went down the road a ways to the Ein Gedi Ancient Synagogue archeological site. Very, very neat.

A grove of palms just outside the site.

Beautiful mosaics

I went to the main Hebrew University library the other day to get some books for a midterm paper, and I of course checked out something entirely unrelated as well. It has quite an interesting story too: