Gala for Calatrava

Here it is! Especially lit up in Israel's colors for inauguration night, the 118-meter tall pylon of Gesher HaMetarim, variously translated as the Cords or Chords Bridge or the Bridge of Strings!
Spanish architect-engineer Santiago Calatrava took his inspiration from the Book of Psalms where King David plays the harp and sings praises to God.
To show you just how it sits in the congested western entrance to Jerusalem, I have to borrow the photo below by Ariel Jerozolimski which appeared in the media this week. The bridge will carry pedestrians and a new tram line still being built.

Herzl Street was closed to traffic for the gala event on Wednesday afternoon. Those of us who did not score a chair in the VIP section sat wherever. Little religious boys had a great time running around or riding bikes down the normally full-of-traffic boulevard, just like the secular kids do on Yom Kippur, the holy day when NO ONE drives.
A close-up of how the 66 cables go in and out of the mast.
The changing colors of sunset were the best lightshow.
But when the sky turned black the earthly show began. Next to the giant screens was an orchestra and a boys choir, and dancer girls advanced single file up the pedestrian walkway.
The thousands below gasped as projectors lit up the Bridge of Strings. I stood under the mast for three hours, enthralled.

Fireworks!
The smoke from the fireworks was beautiful in itself.
The online Jerusalem Post has a 2-minute video about the bridge here, with an interview of Calatrava and the comments of the public. But be warned: citizens either love or hate the expensive bridge. And a You Tube video of the entertainment is fun.

For more information and views of the bridge being built, see my previous posts here

and here.

There is a lot more to share about the bridge and the party, unless y'all have had enough.

Maybe tomorrow?