Snow Update

Apologies for the delayed reportage. I was out playing in the snow. Then we escaped Jerusalem by train (no one takes the train normally, but the highway was closed) to visit my friend Amit's kibbutz on the coast, not far from Netanya. More on that later.

We did indeed get an impressive amount of snow overnight on Wednesday about 15cm.  Thursday morning Jerusalem was a winter wonderland. I spent two hours walking around enjoying it. Here are some highlights. First, from my neighbourhood:

Snow in my backyard at 730 am (10.01.13)

Snow!

Emek Refaim looking south -- no traffic!

Just one of the many snow-laden trees in town

My bus stop, in the snow

Emek Refaim -- peaceful! I love snow!

HaMoshava HaGermanit (10.01.13)

 Then we wandered into the Old City:

South wall of the Old City near Zion Gate

Looking southeast (toward the Dead Sea) from near Zion Gate

Theresa in the Old City...with falling snow

The Western Wall and Al Aqsa in snow

The Dome of the Rock in the snow

To get to the train station (which is oddly in the south of town) we had to walk, since there were no buses running until well into the afternoon. In a way it was an epic walk to escape Jerusalem, a city under siege of a snowfall. But, we weren't actually trying to escape because of the snowfall. About 6 weeks ago we planned this weekend trip to Amit's kibbutz to visit his family and tour the region a bit. It just so happened that our weekend away coincided with this crazy snowstorm.

Theresa

lots of folks were making snowmen

Amit leading us down Aza Street

Finally, here's what's left -- 3 days later -- in my backyard.

Around the city piles of snow remain. Things have warmed up a bit and the sun is out, but the indoor temperatures remain chilly. I'm still sitting in my office in my down sweater jacket. The infrastructure is just not built for winter --- or anything resembling it. The forecast is for 10 days of sun before our next wallop of winter.