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Sometimes it is easier to walk in Jerusalem instead of trying to get a bus or a taxi.  I found myself walking most of yesterday.  I don’t remember a time more crowded than now.  Our Israeli producer told us it is because it is the Passover season and everyone is on their way here. The Jewish people are required to come to Jerusalem three times a year:  Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles.   Passover this year is April 19th. Not only am I seeing tourists, but lots of school kids and lots of people.  The buses and taxis are sitting in lines of traffic, so it is quicker to walk.

I took time yesterday to go to the Israel Museum.  I love Museums and try and go to one or two when and wherever I am traveling.  The Israel Museum is world-class.  Two of the exhibits I wanted to see were: Looking for Owners: Custody, Research, and Restitution of Art Stolen in France during World War II and Orphaned Art: Looted Art from the Holocaust in the Israel Museum.   Both were excellent.

Looking for Owners is on display for the first time in Israel.  Fifty three paintings by major European artists from the collection known as MNR from France, including works by Paul Cézanne, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Aelbert Cuyp, Edgar Degas, Eugene Delacroix, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Claude Monet.  The exhibition focuses on the complex history behind the MNR holding — which were taken away from France during the second World War and are held today in custody by the French National Museums — and on the research conducted over the last decade to trace their hisory of possession and to identify right ownership.

Orphaned Art:  Showcasing paintings. drawings, prints, and books, together with a dozen examples of recovered Jewish ceremonial objects, this exhibition tells the story of art that was looted by the Nazis during World War II, discovered by the Allies in hiding places throughout Germany after the war, and brought to Israel during the early 1950’s by the Jewish Restitution Successor Organizations (JRSO).  The works — including paintings by Jan Both, Marc Chagall, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Egon Schiele, and Alfred Sisly — arrived with little if any documentation of prior ownership and have been held in custody by the Israel Museum since it inherited the holdings of the Bezalel National Museum in 1965.

I had to have a burger, so I headed to Burgers Bar.  Really the best in Jerusalem. Grilled in front of you and made with fresh bread and always fresh fixin’s.  They could give In-and-Out a run for their money.  I sat at an outside table and watched the crowds go by.  Lots of people and the weather was lovely.

I am still one of the few Americans at my B&B.  I hear French, Spanish and Hebrew.  The flavors of breakfast and the different cultures really wakes me up in the morning.

I am off to the grocery store. Israel is an amazing country.  I bought a wooden rolling pin for about $5 and then noticed at the grocery store that paper towels cost the same.

Will has been on a “Visa Vacation” and is due back today, so I am making him a pecan pie.  I brought the pie crust mix, pecans and Karo syrup with me from the States, so all I need to get are the eggs.

I was fixing the pie crust when the sirens went off this morning at 10am.  The alarm lasted about a minute and a half.  It made me think at bit and be glad that it was only a test. Anyway, the crust was easy to do (thank you Betty Crocker).  I hope it tastes good.

This entry was posted by Sandra on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 3:10 am and is filed under From Israel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.