My adventure to the Old City......

As I was walking to the bus station in Cairo this morning, I was thinking about how smoothly this trip was going to work out. Bus to Taba, walk across the border. Bus to Eilat and then bus to Jerusalem. Pretty easy right?

Little did I recall that today is Friday and that everything in Israel shuts down at 4:30 for Shabbat. Uh-oh.

I didn't make it to Taba until around 12:15 pm (after leaving Cairo at 7 am. It was supposed to be 6:30, but Egyptians are always late). Standing around at a tiny bus stop, I was unsure where to go. So I started walking toward what I assumed was the border and I got lucky.
After a few minutes with the border patrol, I was able to actually leave Egypt. Then I had to get into Israel. I had to convince them that I was coming for tourism. They asked where I was going and I replied Jerusalem, the Old City.
She then asked, "What are you going to see?"
"Um.........everything?"

And with that she let me through. The drawback was that I discovered on my way to Taba that the last bus to Jerusalem from Eilat was at 1 pm on Fridays. I arrived at 1:28 pm (after paying 40 NIS for a 10 minute taxi ride). So now what???
I got lucky. There was a bus to Tel Aviv leaving at 2 and I started thinking about it. If I waited for the next bus, I would be in Eilat till 4:30 pm Sat and I'd basically miss out on a day. I decided to head to Tel Aviv and try to either stay there or get a cab/mini-bus to Jerusalem. So off I went with no where to stay and knowing full well that almost everything would be closed.

After many, many stops (Be'er Sheva and numerous bus stops ON the highway) we finally arrived in Tel Aviv. Now I was confused, do I wait till tomorrow or push my luck? Well, I pushed it. I spoke with the first guy knowing full well that it was going to cost a ton, but I just wanted to be in Jerusalem tonight. Period. Luckily (again....divine intervention?) he agreed, although it cost a ton, more than the two bus trips and previous taxi ride combined. Heck, more than my hostel for the four days.

It was worth it though. I spoke with an Israeli man that was very interesting. There was a little talk of politics and he basically has a one track mind--women. He asked many times if I was looking for women (pimp?). I said no, to which he replied, "Why not?"

An hour later, we arrived in Jerusalem. We had to ask for directions, but we finally made it. The streets are cramped, but I'm finally here........