Field Trip to the Zoo

Shalom Carly and friends and a special Shalom to Ben!

This week I went on a field trip to the Biblical Zoo, The Tisch Family Zoo in Jerusalem.  I wish you could have all gone with me!  We took the city bus to get there and I thought that was fun.

I loved seeing all the animals.  It was a beautiful day too.  There were animals there that are native to Israel as well as some that used to live here.  There were also animals from other parts of the world.  My favorites were the monkeys and giraffes.  See what you think...

 

 

 

 

 

These animals live in Israel today:

 Deer

Ibex

Leopard

These animals used to live in Israel.

Lion

Bear

These animals came from other parts of the world and were gifts to the zoo.  How many of them can you name?

 

This one you may not guess... but I will tell you what he is at the end of my blog.

 

I don't know what this is, but he was very pretty and let me get really close to him.

 

 

There was even a model of Noah's Ark from the Bible at the zoo.

I am having a lot of fun with Carly's grandparents in Israel.  I hope all of you get to go to the zoo this year.  Maybe you can take me to Lowry Park Zoo when I come home and we can have fun together!

Our mystery animal is a Red Panda.  Did anyone guess that?

Shalom from Israel,

Stanley - the flat one

David's City in Jerusalem, Israel

Hey Carly and Friends!

 Meet my Jewish Guide, Missy

This has been a very busy week for all of us.  Carly's Grandparents took me to see the city of David in Jerusalem last Sunday.  King David (King of Israel 3000 years ago) built this city.  It is in ruins today and the archeologists have been digging it out so they could see what it was like.  Pretty much you see piles of stones made into walls.  The tour guide explained what we were looking at.  She said they learned a lot from stuff they found while digging.  So if Tampa got buried and one of you had left a candy bar wrapper on the ground, they would know what people ate, what it was made of and if it had a date on the wrapper - when it was made.  This is how they learned what happened in David's City 3000 years ago.  Can you believe looking at something so old?

This is the view of David's city today

And this is what David's City looked like when King David lived here.

This is what a house in David's City would have looked like 3000 years ago.

This is what it looks like today!

and aren't you glad you don't have to go to the bathroom on this?  OUCH!

Jerusalem has grown around the city of David so it is now a large city with as many people as Tampa.

Then we did something really neat.  When they built cities back then they looked for a  place they could protect (this city is on a large hill) and water.  Water is scarce in Israel.  We all need water to drink and to wash.  They found the Gihon Spring in the valley so they built the city on top of the hill and the water was at the bottom.  They built walls around the city and the people were safe inside.  But if the city was attacked, the people couldn't get the water because it was at the bottom of the hill, outside the wall.  So 300 years later they built a tunnel from the spring to a pool inside the city of David.  The men dug it out from both ends and met in the middle.  There was no construction equipment, no bulldozers so they dug it out with an axe by hand.  It is a long tunnel 1750 feet long.

We are getting ready to go into the tunnel

Now here is where the fun comes in - we went through that tunnel which is 2700 years old and the water still goes through it.  Carly, I know you love water- ME TOO!  I'll bet all your friends do.  We got in the water and walked through the tunnel.  The water was cold but it felt soooo good because it was hot outside.  The water came to the top of our legs sometimes.  I guess it could get as high as the waist of you and your friends.  Sometimes we had to duck our heads because that part was lower.  I loved it.  Your Grammy carried me so that I would not get wet!

 

 

Grammy did let me get my feet wet!  Yaaaay Grammy!!!

Shalom from Israel.  Do you remember what that means?  Peace - the Israeli hello and goodbye.  Love you and miss you, Stanley

Visiting the Jewish Open Air Market

Shalom Carly and Friends,

Shalom means peace but Israeli's use it to say hello and goodbye

I flew to Jerusalem Israel located in Asia with Carly's grandparents. It took eleven hours to fly here from Atlanta, Georgia. Today was my first outing and we went to the Jewish Market. There are some supermarkets here (smaller than in America and not as many choices) but many people shop in the markets for fresh foods.

Here, the prices are in Shekels (one Shekel is worth about 25 cents) per kilogram (one kilogram is a little over 2 pounds).

Israel was once desert and swamp land. But now the Jewish people use modern irrigation methods and grow many types of fruit and vegetables. They sell a lot of fruit, vegetables, and flowers to Europe.

Do you like fresh fish?

Shopping for Spices

More Spices

Want some dates or almonds?  Yummmy!!

Who wants dessert?

Did you notice that all the food is out in the open?  Nothing is wrapped.  Not very sanitary but oh so very good.  I am going to get fat if I don't stay away from the desserts!

I'll be looking forward to wrting to you again from Israel.

Shalom!

Stanley