"Jerusalem" a Jerusalem Travel Page by counsel14

I don't know what I was expecting...but it wasn't this place. There is a combination of ancient and new age that just blows your mind. People with fur hats, earlocks and black coats to the ground, then girls that look twelve years old in Army uniforms carrying sub-machine guns and shopping for lipsticks...it really wasn't anything I'd expected. Yet it was all so normal feeling.
I felt safer there than I felt in La Guardia airport back in NY City.
I could hear French, Spanish, German, English and other languages spoken at every turn. So cosmopolitan, and yet, so ancient. Soft drinks at a coke machine next to a ancient stone building where you could buy coffee from a vendor in a long white robe.

I love to wander through the Old City marketplaces. There seem to be far more in the Arab quarter than anywhere else. I remember seeing these beautiful robes and wanted one so badly. Our day trip guide said "Oh, I know where you can get them, better quality, much cheaper". he wanted to take me to the shops along the Cardo area in the Jewish side. Sorry, been there and the items are more expensive. I ended up buying two of these robes for lounging around when I got home. I wore one to the City Council meeting after I got home and startled everyone there. Tough cookies, as my son used to say! They're comfortable and pretty besides.

I met this wonderful little man who is an Arab grocer right inside the Damascus gate. We'd buy our fruits and veggies from him each morning before setting off to see the sights. It caused no end of discussions from our "tour guide" who thought we were getting ripped off. But, we always walked out with fresh produce at a vastly reduced price; Kaleem was happy, we were happy, so what if we took ten minutes each morning? never had to foot a bill for lunch unless we chose to do so.