About a month ago, my roommates and I were sitting around on a Sunday morning, unsure what to do with our day. For reasons I can't even begin to guess now, somehow we found ourselves on a bus heading for Jerusalem! It was a beautiful moment of spontaneity, perfectly exemplified by the fact that we had put such little thought into the idea that we didn't even think to check the weather, which called for showers on and off throughout the day. Oops. Yet, in classic Ben Eli fashion, we decided to make the best of it, bought 15 shekel beanies to keep warm, and made our way around the city!
One of my roommates, Basha, and I accidentally walked out the door wearing the same outfit, so naturally, we had to document. I've included a second photo of us twinning on a different rainy day from the following week because the photo is just too funny to keep to myself. We're adorable.
This post really isn't meant to be about Basha specifically, but because Jerusalem is 100% her city, she made it into quite a few photos throughout the day. She got pretty emotional as we crossed into the actually city, so here's yet another adorable photo of the two of us, this time holding hands on the bus.
As soon as we got off the bus we headed straight for the Machane Yehuda Shuk! It was so crazy to see things actually open for a change so we spent a fair amount of time just wandering the stalls, taking in all of the smells, sights, and energy of people getting back to their pre-corona lives as best they can. The cases in Jerusalem are actually a bit higher than in other cities in Israel so we went full send on the hand sanitizer and double-masked for safety :)
here's a lil' selfie of me in my new beanie sporting the double mask look.
For lunch, my roommates all got food from Jachnun Bar, a famous restaurant in the shuk, but their bestseller is basically meat wrapped in gluten, so I opted for the classic falafel salad and fries. In all honestly, I think I came out victorious because this falafel bowl was unreal. I got cabbage, sabich (eggplant), Israeli salad, falafel, hummus, tahini, shchug, and amba with a side of incredible french fries. I used to think that if I had to eat one meal for the rest of my life it would be a toss-up between tacos and pad thai, but after this meal, it's now a three-way competition. The place is called Falafel Brothers Levy (meant to be because that's my last name too); it's right outside the shuk, and you can click here to see it on Google maps. I seriously can't recommend it enough.
Yet another photo of Basha and me, oops. The rest of the evening we spent wandering around the city, until we broke up so some of us could go to the Western Wall and the rest of us could do some shopping. I picked the later and ended up getting an adorable sweater on sale, so overall it was a very successful evening! I also managed to score the first of two books on my list to purchase this year, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, in Hebrew! Ever since I was in high school, whenever I visit a new country, I buy the first Harry Potter novel in the native language of that country. So far at home I have the books in French, British English, and Dutch, so this was a great addition. I'm also on the hunt for the book in Arabic so if anyone has any suggestions as to where I can find it let me know!!
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