July 23rd--Old City, Central Jail, Chicago Cousins, Ammunition Hill and Luigis

What a fantastic day with Savta and Roy! We left Raanana at about 9:30 this morning to head for Jerusalem, our favorite place in the world. We parked at Mamilla and walked through the shuk and down to the Cardo to pick up Leora's beautiful graduation ring that we ordered last week from the Hodaya store. From there we went down to the Kotel to take a family picture. Coincidentally (well, sort of) we were all wearing green today...
Next we went out of the Old City, stopped on the steps up from the Kotel for a Savta and Roy fresh fruit snack, and then up by Kikar Safra to the Central Jewish Prison. We had never been there before and it was really interesting. It was originally a Russian Women's hostel that was converted into a prison by the British to hold Jewish Haganah fighters before the War of Independence. The stories were very interesting and the jail was fascinating.
Next (after a Savta and Roy ice cream treat) we went to Sanhedria to Mordechai and Malka's apartment to see all of the "Chicago" cousins -- all living in Israel. We especially loved meeting the two newest (Tova and Chaim Zev) for the first time. The ice cream was yummy and the cousins were even better.
Next we went to Ammunition Hill where we the Israelis captured the stronghold from the Jordanians in 1967. The kids loved running around in the trenches and we loved hearing Roy's history lesson, as always.
Finally we went to Luigis in Katamon for dinner. Thank you so much to Savta and Roy. The food was delicious...and we practically rolled out of the restaurant.
On the way home we saw the most gorgeous sunset as we came down the mountain from Jerusalem and it seemed to follow us all the way back to Raanana...
What a day to remember!