14th September, 2016

Now some of you might be wondering why Val and I are in Jerusalem and the answer is that we are here to see our lovely daughter, Claire (yes, Caroline, you are lovely too!). She is a research fellow at the Van Leer Institute, researching into matters philosophical including supererogation (look it up!) and the ethics of technology. She has been here two years and we did in fact visit her in February of 2015, when, astonishingly, it manage to snow!

We had a nice slow and easy start to the day and then it was off to lunch at an excellent restaurant though I now have to ask Claire what it was we actually had. Kubbeh (dumplings in soup) and Azura (named after the restaurant) which is roasted aubergine with minced beef cooked in cinnamon. No photos, sorry, but absolutely scrumptious.

The restaurant is close to the Shuk (as in souk), though this is not the same Shuk which is in the old city and is more of an every day market, partly covered and partly open. Lots of produce on show, especially some lovely looking fresh fruit and lots of nuts and dried fruit. Very bustling with some industrial-strength shopping trolleys wielded by some very experienced and somewhat uncompromising local shoppers. Ankles beware! This is still the land of the plastic bag and so, laden down with our goodies, we hailed a taxi and headed back to Claire’s flat. The taxi drivers are almost universally chatty and interesting in Jerusalem and this one was no exception, taking time out to help Claire with her Hebrew (which is already very impressive). Quite  warm at around 30 degrees, so it was good to get back and have a nice cup of tea (how English we are – it was even Earl Grey).

A few photos to keep you going….