Flat Moo Comes To Town - Part 6

Hallo again, Effurrybuddies!

It is I - the Mighty Shimshon a.k.a. the Little Purrince (Shimshi for short), Captain of the Guard and Master of the Queen's Mischiefs. How are you all? Did you have a good time over Rosh Hashana? Are you ready for Yom Kippaw, which starts at sunset today?

We have lots to tell you - because, as you know, We have a furry special guest - Joanie's travelling cow from the 15 and Meowing blog. If you have been following our last few posts, you will remember that Flat Moo is on a world tour and that she has been here in Jerusalem for several weeks already. Moo expressed a wish to stay for the High Holy Days, which made Us furry happy - and, in fact, We have purr-suaded her to stay for Sukkot also, not that she needed much purr-suading (mol).

We have been showing Flat Moo all around Jerusalem, which, although it is quite small when compared to other capital cities, such as London and Paris, has a lot of furry impawtant places to see.  But besides the well-known sites which all the tourists visit, there are some beautiful spots which not even many local people know about, unless they happen to be right under their noses. One such place is the Railtrack Park in the south of Jerusalem, just a short drive from where We live.  It follows the route of the old railway track from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and is furry popular with joggers, cyclists and so on.

Along part of the route, one can find examples of urban art - such as mosaics representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Here, for example, Moo and Caspurr  are admiring one representing the Tribe of Naftali:

  

Naftali is represented as a hind or a doe, because in the Bible, his father, Jacob says:  "Naftali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words."

I, Shimshi, posed with Moo beside a depiction of the symbol of the Tribe of Simeon - a city wall and gate. This is supposed to represent the city wall and gate of Shechem, which Simeon and his brother Levi destroyed in their attack on the city. I chose it because the name Simeon in Hebrew is Shimon, which sounds furry much like My own full name, Shimshon: 

Caspurr remarked that many of the houses along this street have walled gardens with arched gateways like the one in the mosaic. He, himself, was born in one of those gardens which line the former rail track, although he doesn't remember it furry well. He was only a few weeks old when Mummy gotcha-ed him, and that was more than five years ago. 

Trixie's favourite was the depiction of the Lion of Judah - because We are related to lions. They are also felines (mol).  In fact, We will show you some more lions later on...  

Judah's symbol is a lion, because in the Bible, it says: "Judah is a lion's whelp...he couched as a lion..."

We like the Bible. Mummy reads Us a chapter effurry day!

After a long walk in the Railtrack Park, We thought Moo might like to see Emeq Refaim Street, hub of the German Colony, so called because in the late 19th century, many Germans belonging to the sect known as the Templers, settled there and built beautiful European-style mansions. The British kicked them out when World War Two began, as they made no secret of their support for the Nazis. But their beautiful houses remained and are amongst the most expensive in Jerusalem. Moo could not resist a peak in some of their lovely gardens - especially as she was feeling rather hungry by now, and the grass lawns, although not so lush at the end of the long, hot, dry summer as they might have been, were still too much of a temptation.

Of course, that was rather naughty of her - but there was nobody around from whom she could ask purr-mission, and they surely won't miss a few blades of grass...

From the German Colony, We went on to Mishkenot Sha'ananim and Yemin Moshe, the first Jewish neighbourhoods to be built outside the Old City walls in modern times. Yemin Moshe is named for Sir Meowses (Moshe) Montefiore, a British-Jewish philanthropist (isn't that a big word, kitties?) who donated a great deal of money to build these new Jewish neighbourhoods. He also built a windmill there, which can still be seen today and beside which, Moo was anxious to have her photo taken:

Next to the windmill is a replica of the carriage Sir Meowses used on his travels in the Land of Israel. The original was destroyed in a fire in 1986.  

According to a song made popular by the singer Yehoram Gaon, there are people who swear that on dark, windy nights, they have seen Montefiore standing by the carriage...   

What's that, Mummy?

Oh, okay! I will tell them.

Kitties, Mummy says that is puff-fectly true and that one evening, she herself thinks she saw Sir Meowses standing by his carriage...   

Between Mishkenot Sha'ananim and the main road is a park, and in the park, there is a fountain, called the Lions' Fountain. I told you We would be seeing more lions, didn't I? It was there that Moo and I posed for our last photo shot of the day, before heading home.   

  

   

  

That's all for now, dear furriends. We would like to wish you all Gmar Chatima Tova and, for those of you for whom it is relevant, We wish you well over the Fast.

Flat Moo Comes To Town - Part 3

Hallo, Effurrybuddies!

The Little Purrince Shimshi here - Master of the Queen's Mischiefs!

You're all dying to hear more about Moo's adventures, aren't you?
Well, here goes.

Moo was furry keen to see what effurryday life was like in the streets of Jerusalem, so earlier this week, We took her downtown, to "The Triangle".
This is a spot in the centre of town bordered by Jaffa Road, King George V Street and Ben-Yehuda Street. These used to be the three main streets of Jerusalem, back in the Bad Old Days when Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan. We have heard that in those days, what is now a modern Capital city was a sleepy, provincial-like town. But now, the Triangle is a bustling pedestrian precinct, with lots of shops - many of which cater mainly to tourists - cafes, restaurants and pubs. What's more, it's a popular spot for street mewsicians, like the one in the picture below.

Moo loved it! She could hardly keep from dancing to the mewsic - or maybe We should say Moosic (mol) - and these little humans just widened the circle to include her and make her welcome:

The Triangle includes many little sidestreets and narrow lanes. In some of them, there are private houses and even synagogues. One of these is Yavetz Street, a little lane known to Jerusalem residents as "Bahari Alley", because it has been home since the 1960s to the Bahari family's famous shop selling pitzuchim (פיצוחים) - one of those untranslateable Hebrew slang words meaning nuts and seeds, such as pumpkin, watermelon or sunflower seeds. At one time, there used to be two such  shops belonging to the Bahari family, in the same short, narrow street - due to a quarrel between two of the brothers, who could not get on with each other.

Anyway, in this little alleyway, We met these sweet kitties, who were sharing a tub of cottage cheese put out for them by one of the residents of the street.  We stopped for a chat with them and asked them for suggestions where to take Moo next.

They thought Moo might be interested in the Italian Mewseum and synagogue in Hillel Street, just a short walk away. I didn't really want to see another mewseum, but Moo and Trixie liked the idea and Caspurr is so easy-going, he didn't really mind where We went, so that was decided.

Mummy knows the Mewseum and synagogue well, because She has several times purrformed there with her Caterwauling Club.

Outside the Mewseum, We met the Guardian, Laila.






We explained to her who Moo was and what she was doing in Jerusalem. Laila wasn't in the least bit surprised. It turns out that she knows Cleopatra, whom We met at the Israel Mewseum earlier this week, furry well indeed. She and Cleopatra are both on the Mewseum Cats Committee  and Cleopatra had already told her about Moo. So she had been expecting Us and was furry happy to give Moo a purrsonal, guided tour - the highlight of which was the beautiful synagogue. The synagogue was originally located in Conegliano Veneto and after the Second World War, it was transported to Israel and reconstructed in Jerusalem, where, as well as being a part of the mewseum, it is also in regular weekly use by the Italian Jewish Community of Jerusalem!

Here is a picture of Moo, in front of the Ark of the synagogue.

After our guided tour, We decided to take Moo to Independence Park. To get there, we crossed what is popularly known as "Cats' Square" (כיכר החתולות - Kikar Hachatulot).  Nobody seems to know what its real name is. Mummy had to look it up. Officially, it is called Maccabi Motsri Square, after a Palmach commander who was killed in Israel's War of Independence. Why it's called "Cats' Square" is also something of a mystery. It might be because there is a large cat population in the area, due to the many restaurants and eateries in the surrounding streets. But some people say it is because before the neighbourhood was cleaned up and gentrified, there used to be a lot of not furry respectable ladies working there, and the local residents referred to them as "cats".

(Trixie says that is furry insulting to Us Felines.)

Anyway, as I said, We took Moo to the park and she enjoyed grazing on the grass there, while We had a pleasant rest in the shade under the trees by one of the pools.



After We had rested, it was time to head back home, where, after a snack or two, We were all of Us (#MooToo) in need of a nap.