This summer was not normal.
Rockets were falling and tourism was way down
But those tourists who did come had a great time.
The Tourism Ministry recorded 218,000 visitor entries in Israel in July 2014.
Groups from southern Israel were brought to Jerusalem for fun days.
President Reuven Rivlin and his wife hosted more children this week.
Slowly we are returning to “normal.”
The last two weeks in August there is no regular child day care,
which makes some workplaces look like day care centers.
Grandparents, cousins,
or any family member or friend can be called to help out.
A popular summer activity was the view from Big Bambu at the Israel Museum.
Some ‘seniors’ finding out they had to go up with their young children,
were not so thrilled about having to make the climb.
The new play area at the Israel Museum was much easier to experience.
The Bloomfield Science Museum, an old favorite, is always great for a day outing.
The water activities on a hot day are always a winner.
The new sand area is usually a busy place,
but not this early morning in July,
though learning activities led by staff were well under way.
I wonder how many of the children ever saw a meat grinder like this,
or would have any idea what it is?
It was seen on my way to a new building for a special exhibition:
The Machine Within: Bio-mechanics,
the machine inside is built to survive.
Using small screens
and large ones,
and animals to attract attention and teach.
This shows the outside of a pouncing animal,
but walk around it,
and the exhibit shows how it works inside.
One of my favorite scenes was this boy,
who figured out how to interact
with all the right moves.
During the month of July with all the troubles and tensions you heard about,
at places like the Science Museum, where this Muslim girl is on staff,
and in the Israel Museum where Muslim men worked and rested on Ramadan,
life went on as “normal.”
That was the real Jerusalem, Israel streets.
Will the cease fire and quiet hold?
We will all have to see what happens next.
