A leisurely start to start celebrating Philip’s birthday today. We had breakfast on the rooftop terrace of our hotel. I made a picnic lunch with some of the extra breakfast. Gave Philip some chocolate that I’d brought from Perth as his present. Any other present would be superfluous, with us being on such a special trip here.

I organised the day to be dedicated to doing “Philip-fun” things. So with the help of a new (to us) app called HereWeGo we walked to the Israel Museum. (An Indonesian/Dutch couple we befriended on Mount of Olives told us about HereWeGo.) We’re now staying on the west side of Jerusalem, but still not far from the Old City. So we’re now in a Jewish section. I enjoyed wandering through the Jewish streets, looking at their housing and gardens. It’s only a 40 minute walk. We’re surprised by just how hilly Jerusalem is. No matter where you are. You seem to be always going either up or down. Hardly any level walking.

And how many cats live in Jerusalem? I’m making up that there’s twice as many cats as people. No matter where you go or what the time of day, you will see lots of cats. Lots and lots. Not mangy, feral looking cats. But contented well-fed tabbies sunning themselves or stalking the streets. They’re everywhere.

The Israel Museum is near the Hebrew University and incorporates many art galleries as well as many historical and archaeological exhibitions. Huge open spaces and galleries. Wide open gardens and different levels everywhere.

The jewel in their crown are the Dead Sea Scrolls. Which was our primary focus. We spent a long time there. It really was amazing. A lot on the discovery of the Scrolls and the community that lived there and preserved them. The Dead Sea Scrolls are an amazing, inspiring story and find.

I know this is a difficult to decipher photo. But it’s Philip looking at some of the exhibit. You weren’t supposed to take photos. So I snuck a photo without flash – and the result shows! But it was such a thrill for us to be there.

There’s also a huge Jerusalem model outdoors of how Jerusalem probably looked at the time of Jesus. After looking at it, I understood more of the Jerusalem Archaeology Park we’d seen earlier in the park. I still find it incredible to discover that we’ve walked in places that were in place when Jesus was there in Jerusalem.

Other amazing exhibits we saw at the museum – Jewish life in different countries down through the centuries, mummified Egyptian, wonderfully decorated manuscript Old Testaments, lots of archaeological artefacts from pre-history in the Middle East.

Lots of art galleries that would have been fun to explore but by this stage we were weary, hungry and at “saturation point”. So just one art gallery. Here’s Philip in an Alice in Wonderland moment, under a table.

A very late picnic lunch outside the museum.

Then a walk back to our next hotel. This hotel is more like a backpackers, but adequate for us and quite comfortable. I took this photo of their electrics. It’s outside our door in the passage way. A hole cut in the wall.

We went out for a celebration birthday dinner this evening. Wandered around Jewish shops and malls. A few of them closed because it’s Passover holidays.

We thought we’d like to try something different. We wandered down some little alley ways and found a Georgian cafe called Kangaroo. Georgia as in the country that is between Russia and Turkey – near Armenia. Not sure why their cafe is called kangaroo! Philip had a deep-fried meat pastie! A bit salty, he said, but good.

Then he finished it off with a special birthday treat of Jewish ice-cream! Happy birthday Philip! A birthday to remember! I’m very blessed to have spent it – and our married lives – together! Thank you!