Elegant motorcycles inside the Old City

Yesterday I felt a strange need to visit the Old City of Jerusalem. Immediately upon entering the old Jaffa Gate, I understood what had "called" me there. Look at these BMWs!!

(You see, when in college in America my mode of transportation was a Honda 50. I loved it and always dreamed of crossing the country, ala John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, on a black BMW.)
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I circled the bikes, trying not to drool on them. I sat next to them, took pictures, read the stickers, wondered about the license plates, marveled at the helmets. Then finally I figured out that man in black was the rider.

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Click on the photo and you'll see the Austrian eagle and the name of Innsbruck.
The American man leaning on the post explained he and a small group were touring Israel with these and six other motorcycles with Edelweiss Bike Travel (http://www.edelweissbike.com/). Because motorcycles cannot be rented in Israel, they had to be brought in from Austria for this first-of-its-kind-in-Israel trip.
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They had wanted to ride to Petra also but the Jordanians did not allow the bikes into the Kingdom.
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The lucky man gave me permission to post this and I wished him happy trails. His lucky lucky wife returned from her shopping spree in the bazaar along with the second couple.
And off they drove.
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The powerful purr of the BMW engines was just as I remembered it from the 1960s.
Sigh. . .

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