Barkat's Jerusalem Maintains Public Squares NOT The WC

Those of you who also read my blog A Jewish Grandmother know that I have a series of posts, Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem, about Jerusalem's public toilets, and recently my letter about their sorry state was in "In Jerusalem." 

Yesterday, although my recent visits to the large loo on floor "0" of the Jerusalem Municipality's Safra Square have been rather unpleasant, it was the most convenient, so I bit the bullet and got off the lightrail to use it. I was hoping that I'd get there soon enough after the infrequent cleaning and stocking, so I wouldn't have to search my bag for tissues while holding my nose.

Before going down the elevator, I just had to admire the new "furnishings" in the square and promised myself time to photograph them afterwards. The stink of old urine hit me as soon as I got out of the elevator in the hallway outside the toilets, but inside it was better, and there was toiletpaper at 5pm. 

Apparently, Mayor Barkat and his staff figure that the pedestrians and skateboarders are more valuable than "pishers." The square looks lovely. What do you think?

Jerusalem Field Trip to The "Underground Museum"

A couple of weeks ago, the senior citizen "vattimkim," program I attend every week had a field trip to Jerusalem. I already blogged about our visit to the Jerusalem Municipality complex at Safra Square where we saw their amazing scale model of some of the city.

Just behind Safra Square is what's known as Migrash Harusim, the Russian Compound, in which there's a police station, jail and the jail that the British used when they were occupying the Land of Israel, during the Mandate.

In that old jail is a museum dedicated to the Jewish prisoners who had been arrested, held and executed by the British before the declaration of Independence of the State of Israel. Over the almost half a century I've lived in Israel, I visited that museum a number of times. Each time there are updates and improvements to help the visitors gain a good comprehension of what imprisonment was like there during that difficult time.

Most of the Jewish prisoners had been members of the Etzel and Lechi, known as the "underground." Since members of the Haganah and Palmach cooperated with the British by informing on the Etzel and Lehi, fewer of them were jailed. Pretty much everyone in our group has a good knowledge of pre-state history and knows the historical context of the Underground Museum. Our guide had to take that into account, and she was wonderful. When members of the group wanted to enter a room that the guide hadn't planned on showing, she cooperated happily.

Most of the group I was with didn't need

This is a wonderful museum, not too large. It is easy to get to by public transportation, bus and the lightrail. The tour guides are excellent, as are the public toilets.