Pseudo seashore

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 S is for seashore.
Sure, but in Beer Sheva, in the Negev desert??

Pretend you see blue sea and sky and sand.

Imagine these are soft lounges to lie on and sunbathe.

Surf this pipeline (in your dreams).

So funny, Beer Sheva is trying to brand itself as the Water City (Ir HaMayim).
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday and Signs, signs.)
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Park HaMesila, the Railway Park

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In my wanderings yesterday near the German Colony neighborhood, I was delighted to see the progress that has gone forward in the creation of the Jerusalem Railway Park.

I remember not so long ago when the Emek Refa'im section of abandoned tracks  was overgrown with brush; it had sat desolate since 1998. 
In June 2011 I saw first signs of the railway's rehabilitation, although at the time I didn't realize  just how big a project was planned. 

Now people can stroll on it and bikers can ride on the new bike path.
The Tichnun-Nof Landscape Architects'  guiding principle was "to create a harmonious sequence of pedestrian promenades, bicycle lanes, and a linear park creating an interlock between the neighborhoods on both sides."

The space between the 19th century iron tracks has been covered in colored architectural concrete with wooden overlays on the moldings.

More about this unique urban park:
the philosophy behind it  (and photos!)
and
practical information
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Steam chimneys and World Water Day

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Our group was in Tiberias, and from afar we saw the tomb of Rabbi Meir the Miracle Worker.
(This is another instance of a "holy industry" that grows up around a holyman's tomb, as we saw in the post about Honi the Circle Drawer.)

At the base of Rabbi Meir's hill is an official park, Hamat Teverya National Park.
It is just across the street from the Sea of Galilee.

Hamat's hot springs have been in continuous use since ancient times.
Some 2,000 meters below the surface are 17 highly saline hot springs long renowned for their healing qualities.
The water can reach 60 degrees C or 140 F.
In the photo above you can see the steam escaping through steam chimneys.


Steam also was coming from this opening and water was flowing from the black pipe.
The water is cleaned and cooled to 33-40 C and then channeled north a bit, to the modern spas of Tiberias.

After use in the baths, the water is conducted to a Mekorot Water Company facility within the national park and from there to a channel that conveys it to the Jordan River south of the Sea of Galilee.
I noticed Mekorot was building something new there last week.

The worker bending rebar, and the black basalt ancient wall behind him, made me wonder which would last for more centuries--the metal or the stone.
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Legend has it that when the sick begged King Solomon to find a cure for their ailments, the King ordered legions of demons to go down deep underground near the shore of the Sea of Galilee and heat the springs.
He then struck them deaf so they would never hear of his death and stop heating the springs.
And so the demons carry out his command to this very day.
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Today, March 22, is U.N. World Water Day, although they concentrate on fresh water.
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For the 4th of July

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Jerry the Dragon's spiky back and tail cast nice long shadows for Shadow Shot Sunday.
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The dragon lives in Liberty Bell Park.

(I'm hoping he will qualify as an animal for Camera-Critters meme, too.)

I was there two weeks ago for the big Hebrew Book Week fair.
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This innovative activity park intersperses stone paths, greenery, and an open-air community center offering cultural and recreational events.

Jerusalem created Liberty Bell Garden in 1976 in honor of America's Bicentennial.
The replica of Philadelphia's Liberty Bell was a gift to Israel from the City of Philadelphia and is mounted in the center of the park.
But without the crack.
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The inscription chosen for the original bell is from the Bible, Leviticus 25:10--

"PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT THE LAND, TO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF."
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Happy Independence Day to the United States and to Americans everywhere!

Sharing a bench

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Face to face, two felines in Chile Square, Jerusalem.
The lion is the symbol of Jerusalem, while the stray cat can be found everywhere in Israel.

This picture has a shadow for Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot meme, an animal for Camera-Critters, and a bench for bench-collectors RuneE and Vogon Poet.

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When I sat down to drink water, this surprisingly friendly feline proceeded to walk back and forth across my lap.

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Gates, gardens, groves, and government

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Gee, it's time for ABC Wednesday already.

Still inside the Supreme Court Building, we look down the Knesset passageway.
The flag you see flying in the distance is atop the Knesset building.


I walked out the gate of the court and soon turned around to snap this picture.
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The Knesset passageway connects the Knesset, the legislative branch of government, with the Supreme Court building, the judicial branch.
The path represents both the connection and the separation between the legislative and the judicial branches of government.

In between these two important places is the Wohl Rose Park.
Click on the map to see how many gardens and groves there are.
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Foreign dignitaries can land on the park's helicopter pad, and then they are officially received on the parade ground.
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Covering 70 dunams, the public park is a venue for festive and public events.
Over 400 species of roses from all over the world bloom in summer.

Sure enough, the path led to the Knesset, with the famous menorah standing at its gate!
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Golem

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G is for Golem.
No, not the famous Golem of Prague (but DO see a fascinating summary of the legend here).
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Jerusalem's "Golem" was created in 1973 in the Kiryat Hayovel neighborhood by sculptress Niki de Saint Phalle as a gift to the children of Jerusalem.
A UC San Diego website says that de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) "is best known for her oversized figures which embrace contradictory qualities such as good and evil, modern and primitive, sacred and profane, play and terror."

But no one calls it Golem.
We call it HaMifletset, Hebrew for "the monster."
It is a landmark.
So you can hear "Driver, does this bus reach the monster?" or "Go straight-straight then turn right at the monster."
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A certain guide would always quip to his tourists that, because of its many frightening tongues, it is nicknamed "The Mother-in-Law."
Not true.
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The sheer size of the cavernous slide can be frightening the first time a little boy sees it.
But a few weeks into his visit in Israel my brave grandson asked to stop at this park again and to go up the stairs you see here above and then slide down the steep slide.
Yay Dean!
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In July signs go up in the neighborhood inviting folks to a birthday party for the Mifletset.
Don't you love that idea?!

Hope you will visit other bloggers showing off their Gs today at ABC Wednesday
and especially my friend at her wondrous From a Thin Place.
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A Zen moment

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A funny thing happened on my way to the Machane Yehuda shuk this morning. Instead of transferring to my usual second bus I decided to walk in the general direction of the shuk (market).
And all manner of surprises were around, waiting to be discovered!
Three hours later I realized it was time to catch my infrequent bus back to my village. I came home with tons of photos but zero fruits and vegetables.

But look at this! Jerusalem's Gan Sacher park has a bonsho, a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple bell!

There are 108 little chubchiks around the top. And in Japan, Hawaii, etc. the bonsho is struck 108 times on New Year's Eve to eradicate the 108 "Buddhist sins," the blind desires one has created throughout the year. (Or so I learn now via the Internet.)

The plaque under the bell reads:

"The bonsho has been placed here as a symbol of lasting peace over the City of Jerusalem. The concept of the bell was welcomed by the late Prime Minister of Israel Mr. Yizhak Rabin. The project was made possible by the donations of people whose names are listed in the scroll beneath the Bonsho, represented by Mr. Pikihiro Madarame, presented to the City of Jerusalem and accepted by the Mayor M.K. Ehud Olmert. April 1996."

Click on the photo above to read the famous verse from Psalms: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee."

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Striking the bonsho is associated with striking against evil. I wonder, then, why we have no wooden beam suspended next to this bell.

In the background is the old neighborhood of Nachlaot, beyond which is the shuk.

Yes, I came home hungry but filled with satisfaction that our Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were open to the lovely meaning of the bonsho and were gracious enough to accept the beautiful bell.
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An icon of liberty and justice

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HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, DEAR AMERICA !

In honor of America's Bicentennial, Jerusalem created the Liberty Bell Garden in 1976.
A replica of Philadelphia's Liberty Bell is mounted in the center of the park.
But without the crack.

"Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof . . ." is part of the inscription on the bell and is taken from Leviticus 25:10.

Happy 4th of July to Americans and Shabbat shalom, Sabbath peace, to everyone.
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Knitting peace

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Thanks to Kris McCracken and wife Jen, I heard of World Wide Knit in Public Day.
In the normal world it happened this year on June 14, I believe.
But because that was a Saturday, and Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, and knitting is considered work, and work is not done on Shabbat, Israeli knitters sat outside together and created on Sunday instead.

Imagine my delight a few days ago to discover the fruit of their labor in downtown Jerusalem, on the bronze Mare of Peace!

The plaque says the "Cavalla della Pace" was created and donated in celebration of the 3,000th anniversary of Jerusalem.

Interesting things about this horse can be read here.
And more about the park, Gan HaSus, here. 
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