Tour

There was no cooking in our rooming house, where one other patron was sitting on one of a number of beds, an elderly be-speckled gentlemen reading his bible, while the girls went in another woman's room only, and we were hungry; and the only thing open serving cooked meals was the King David Hotel nearby. Apparently king's do-not have to strictly observe the observances, or why be a king, and where we all met and ate. Spent half a day and night at the hostile in Jerusalem. Christmas Eve day and Christmas day were normal work days in Israel since Christ became a Christian. The Jewish Sabbath is on Saturday instead of Sunday. Everything closes late Friday afternoon and stays closed until late Saturday afternoon.

Everything stopped running, all the buses even the stop-lights and sometimes the streetlights were not even lit. On Friday or Saturday we could eat by either going to the YMCA, or to the Arab quarter of the old city of Jerusalem. I quite liked the walled in city of Old Jerusalem. It was one great bazaar. The buildings are all of stone and the streets are very dirty. In the city there are Jews, orthodox (something) and otherwise, Christians and orthodox Greeks and Catholics and a smorgasbord of I do not know what else. All the different religious costumes were quite a site to see.

We, the whole gang, went to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve afternoon, and were there well into the dark of night. I believe it was a coldish-evening, and a lot of soldiers guarding the town. We went to the place of Christ's birth, which was a manger in a stable now a cave, underground with centuries of layered civilization lived on top. We stood in a long line in the tunnel cavern, the walls strung with little-lights. There were the just plain tourists like us, and there were the full regalia of serious-life givers to the savior. Other than the close-dark - tunnelly-string of costumes, in the black-cavernous earth-cold; my only intellection in that moment was conflict between sanctity and showmanship. I was born.

For the present then I liked the town and the place where I was staying with Mr New York and Mr California. California is going to Egypt and Africa he says. The hotel is right at the center of town and has a balcony overlooking the street. It was $1.25 a day. I am going to Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

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