Winding things down in Jerusalem

For the final day in Jerusalem we knew there were just a few things we wanted to do before everything closed up for Shabbat and we headed to the airport.  Mostly we wanted to make a trip to Ben Yehudah street, which is a well known walking street with lots of shopping a food.  When the cab let us off we were just around the corner and I found a Waffle Bar.  This may not be funny to you, but just know I was using Waffle Bars as land marks around Jerusalem.  Too bad I never went in one.

 

This was a nice chocolate shop but they would not let me take pictures inside.

 

Here is Ben Yehudah street.  It seems over the years the signs have taken a beating and it is hard to get a good shot of the street sign.

 

Here are some pictures taken of the street.

  

Look, there is even a McDonald's here, and it's kosher!

 

Here was a nice looking bagel shop, which was very busy at this time of day (which was a little before things would close up for the day)

That place was Sam's Bagels, but I wound up getting one later on at Pillbury instead.

 

Wait!  Before buying some food to take back for later, I had to try out the fro-yo.  When I was in Israel the last time I had the best fro-yo ever.  They put the flavorings (like toppings) in this machine and then stick in a block of fro-yo, pull down and it all mixes together.  These happy people seemed to really want to be in my picture so I asked them to smile.

 

See, these are the "toppings".  I picked mixed berry, chocolate and one chocolate chip cookie.

 

In went those toppings and some vanilla fro-yo, and out came this...

 

I was so happy that I found this again, so a big thank you to these fine employees!

 

After that it was back to Pillsbury for a bagel.  This was actually what I wanted for dinner since everything would be closed that night and we needed to eat before heading to the airport.

 

They had great looking challahs, but we had no use for it since we were leaving.

 

Lunch was a tough one.  We were given falafel suggestions, but could not locate the places we were told.  After much looking, we settled on this place.

Looks good to me!

 

We did ours with flatbread this time instead of pita.  Everyone once in a while you gotta change it up.

  

Finally, as we were leaving, I got a picture of the Ben Yehudah street sign.  YAY!

 

We took the falafels back to the condo and ate lunch there.

 

Then my Aunt and I took a stroll through the mall to pick up some food for my grandparents to eat for dinner.  I got excited when I saw the North Face store, but then quickly realized I had no room left to pack anything.

 

Can you guess what this sign says?

 

If you guessed Tommy Hilfiger, you are correct!!!

 

I loved that when there was no word for whatever it may be in English, they spelled it out using Hebrew letters.

There were a few performers at the mall, and we enjoyed this one, so we gave her some coins.

 

There were quite a few people enjoying the music with their lunch.

 

We stopped in Greg Cafe for a quick coffee.

 

What I loved about this place was the patio seating on the walkway over the mall.

 

Yum!

After this we kept on walking to the deli nearby to get my grandparents a sub before everything would be closed.  I took one last shot of the old city walls, complete with palm trees.

 

While waiting for the sub, I spotted these two places nearby.

 

If you are curious about Israel beer, here is one of them.

After lounging around the place, and finishing up packing, it was time for dinner before heading to the airport.

Can you guess what this says?

 

If you said Pillsbury, you were right!  Boy was this good.

 

Then it was off to the airport, where we parted ways.  If airport security was in America what it is in Israel I think we would be safer, but so many less people would travel.  Let's just say it involved a good 10-15 minutes of questioning and a thorough scanning of all my bags.  If you ever go to Israel be prepared for the security check taking some time on the way out.  The good news is that everyone else on the flight has to do it too, so there is little chance of you missing your flight if you arrive as early as you are told when you booked the flight.  

After security I sat down, and did a lot of work.  My flight was actually not until 6:30, and security would not open until 3 am, but my grandparents and Aunt flew back on a flight just after midnight.  So I took the cab with them.  I was not able to go through security and to the gates until after my check in, even with a boarding pass already printed.  The good news is that this is a busy airport with food open 24 hours.  This was very good news because I did get hungry and decided to order this wonderful salad. I wish airport food in the States was this yummy and healthy.

Finally, I did the long security check in and went back towards the gate.  I was shocked to see it was raining inside, but then, despite my tiredness, I realized it was more like a staged display (so I hope!).

Goodbye Israel...for now...because I will be back!

QUESTIONS:  What airport do you think had the best security?  What about the easiest time getting through?  What is your favorite airport food?