Fortress King David

True to predictions, the city is in lock down. I walked to the train station at City Hall today rather than try to take a bus. The roads were snarled at 730am. I'm sure it was faster to walk. And, I got to go down King David and check out the preparations for Obama's arrival.

King David was closed to all vehicular traffic -- except for Obama's entourage. 

King David St at Karen HaYesod St

King David St looking at the YMCA clock tower

The sidewalk on King David St -- view of the roadway is blocked

I was on campus all day so I missed the arrival of Obama. Apparently all the rooftops along the route between Bibi's house and the King David are crowned with snipers. It's security like I've certainly never seen.

We have a visiting scholar this week and I spent the afternoon showing her around the market, the shopping district, and the Old City, testing my Jerusalem tour guide skills.  (I'm definitely making progress on wayfinding in the Old City.) Anyway, I missed all of Barack's remarks and most of B&B's press conference.  As of right now, I really don't know what's going on...but I will get caught up, just as soon as I get some sleep! 

But, before I hit the hay, a little bit of awesome...

Yesterday, riding in the bus down the same street (the Greenline) I ride down nearly every day from Mt Scopus (Har Hatzofim), we were stopped in traffic and I saw this:

Yep, "Engineering Corps St". I'm not sure if the sentiment is the same in Hebrew or Arabic. But, it makes sense; many of the streets in Jerusalem (and Israel more generally) are named for people who were critical to building the country. Why wouldn't the engineering corps get a street?