The train north

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Last Tuesday morning  was my first time to take a train  from Beer Sheva.
The city has two stations.
This smaller, plainer one is Beer Sheva North - University station.

External shade elements help lessen the heat of the desert sun.

The English version of this sign made me chuckle.

Senior citizens pay half price on public transportation in Israel.
My Beer Sheva to Tel Aviv train ticket cost only 15.50 shekels ($4.25).

Here comes the train, a double decker!
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(In an older post you can see the interior of an intercity train.)
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Linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.
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Ezeh keta!

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Form [sic] 9:00 to 18:00 only public "transpotraion" is allowed on this congested section of Agrippas Street in central Jerusalem.
Well, at least the Hebrew original is OK, almost.
I wonder how the Arabic translation fared on this big sign.
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Let's send it to the Signs, Signs meme--and maybe back to the printer too.

This is what the street looks like.
Standing or creeping buses as far as the eye can see.
It doesn't look like the private cars noticed the sign prohibiting them.
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Until a few months ago, most of this traffic went along the wider Jaffa Street.
But then came the new tram and most of Jaffa St. was closed to vehicles.
Agrippas is a mess.
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A bridge unseen

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I discovered a shortcut, by foot, down to the Hebrew University.
But then I was so excited to be standing on a bridge looking down at Begin Expressway for the first time that I forgot to photograph the bridge itself.
Sorry bloggers at Sunday Bridges, you'll just have to imagine it.
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The photo did, however, catch the early-morning shadows of the median trees for Shadow Shot Sunday.
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Named for the late Menachem Begin, the north-south urban freeway in western Jerusalem is all of 12.2 km or 7.6 miles long.
Many of its sections have these tall acoustic walls.
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IMPORTANT UPDATE! I finally found info on the acoustic walls that everyone is asking about!
Gash engineers designed a three-span bridge and acoustic walls with unique architectural cross-sections.
From the Gash bridge engineering website:

Acoustic barrier semi-roofing shape

The height of the wall and its shape was determined by taking under consideration an acoustic defense line at the edge of the traffic lanes instead of at the margins of the road as usual. As a result the wall's height was lowered from 12-13 meters to 8.5 meters.
Its arch shape was developed in order to reflect the noise sound back to the road.
The structure consists of modules of projecting beams covered with arch-shaped membranes made of 8 cm concrete. The beams also support prefabricated plated serves as a retaining wall for the back landscape's filling.

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The website has close-ups and blueprints in detail.
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Segways on the bridge

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Summer is for touring Jerusalem on Segways.
These three young people on the bridge were admiring the view to the east just before sunset.
The mountains of Moab in the Kingdom of Jordan, across the Dead Sea, were just visible in the haze.
Mount Zion is on the left in this photo.
Below is Gehinnom, the valley (guy) of Hinnom .

Here is their bridge as seen from the Jerusalem Cinematheque.

I posted here about the Bnai Brith Bridge and its famous handprints in the concrete.
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This post joins others at Robin's Summer Stock Sunday and Louis' Sunday Bridges.
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UPDATE: In response to comments I add some more information:
How does a Segway work?
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Mostly you only see these silent electric vehicles being ridden along the Armon HaNatsiv Promenade. A 1.5 hour guided tour costs $55. See their route on this map.
Me? I'd rather walk.
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The Domino effect

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It was too early in the morning to eat Domino's pizza.

The delivery fleet was still chained together, making some nice shadows for Shadow Shot Sunday.
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We deliver

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Sultan Suleiman Street is a main, usually congested, thoroughfare in east Jerusalem just outside the Old City wall; and it is the main street of Arab businesses.

The wide sidewalk between the city wall and Sultan Suleiman at times becomes a loading zone.

Big trucks, which cannot enter the narrow lanes of the Old City, off-load merchandise here.

It is then carried through the closest gate into the Old City.

"Carrying" can mean on a porter's back or head or on a small dolly.

But the normal means of transportation is this cart.

Note the tire on a chain. On a downhill, the driver steps on it and slows down.

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I still remember my first year in Israel--donkeys were still in use inside the Old City.
No more.

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