I didn't buy anything

Last week, I met a friend for lunch in one of the "coffee shops" in the "new" Givat Beit HaKerem, just across from the Shaare Zedek Hospital, Jerusalem.

It's not far from where they're constructing Jerusalem's "light rail." Actually it's probably the spot that has been in the news for waste, incompetent planning etc. No surprise that the people in charge haven't the vaguest idea of how to construct a railway and didn't do all of the feasibility studies to see which equipment and techniques are most suitable to the area.


The shopping area we went to is nice, but it's the street level of the "55 plus independent living complex," which is trying to keep itself secular and Hebrew speaking. There are all sorts of stories about their turning away English-speaking religious Jews.

We had a nice lunch in "Englishcake," a branch of the bakery/coffee shop.

Then we wandered around and looked at the stores.

I couldn't resist photographing this gift shop.