...we were toursists in our own city

A few months ago, my friends and I took part in an awesome Friday morning activity: a scavenger hunt in Nachlaot, a historic residential neighborhood in Jerusalem. One of our friends works for a company that designs scavenger hunts, and she wanted to try it out on us before she led a group of visiting tourists in the same hunt.

We lucked out and had beautiful weather. We split into two teams; got a list of clues, a map, and a source sheet with some interesting facts; and then we were off. It was a really fun morning, and I saw so many things I have never noticed. I lived in the area of the scavenger hunt for a few months, and there were so many things to which I was completely oblivious. Below are a few pictures of some amazing things that I had walked by tens of times and never noticed.

 

 

Part of the scavenger hunt was also to talk to a local and learn something new about the area. I was the nominee of our group because my Hebrew was the best, and I picked a photographer who was snapping up some of the same pictures as we were.  He turned out not to be a local of Nachlaot, but he lived just outside of Jerusalem and came often to photograph historic areas in this city and throughout the country. He was not religious, but he was drawn to the Old City and beautiful historical shuls. He seemed like a pretty typical, secular Israeli, but seeing his appreciation for Jerusalem was really inspiring. The conversation with him was a nice reminder of why I love this city, and walking around exploring was a great way to spend the morning enjoying the nice weather. Now I'm just waiting for our friend to need another trial run so I can explore even more of this amazing city I call home.