A day underground -- digging, bullet factory

After a restful two days, we are back on our relentless (in a good way) tour with Ikey. This morning we headed to Bet Geurin for an Archeology Seminar dig. We were lucky to be out there on a day when they did not have any other groups or families even so we had Ian, the head of the organization's personal tour and attention. First we went dowQuicn into one of the caves that they are currently excavating and he gave us an overview of the area. Then we got to play amateur archeologist and dig through the ground in some of the rooms. Since we were essentially digging in an antiquity dump as they kindly put it there was instant gratification all around. We immediately found shards of pottery and bones dating back two thousand years. After some digging we went up to the surface and sifted through the dirt finding a few more small treasures. Then Ian led us through a system of caves that had not yet been excavated to give us a sense of what it's like to find them. Last he showed us pictures of some of the larger finds from the area. In the end, we were able to take shards of pottery from previous digging because our batch will need to be catalogued first (before it is given out to future tourist diggers). Overall a fun process. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and the kids were so proud to show Ikey their pottery. If you haven't done this in Israel, it's an experience not to be missed. Here's a New York Times article with a bit more about it. http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/travel/16family.html?pagewanted=2


Quick lunch and then off to the Ayalon Institute otherwise known as the bullet factory. An unbelievable story about a kibbutz that secretly produced the ammunition for the war of independence in an underground bunker practically next door to a British army camp. Really incredible and something that those of us who have been to Israel had not seen before. Then back to Jerusalem with a quick stop at the menorah at the Knesset. Kids could not wait to get back to the neighborhood -- Orly and Bram wanted to get to the playground. Bram and Ross headed to Pittuyim (a great cafe) for backgammon. In the evening, Lenore and Allen had a peaceful dinner at Selina on Emek Refaim while the five Mansbachs went off in search of Rav Chen movie theater to see Night at the Museum 2. The kids never stopped talking about seeing Ice Age 2 in Mexico so we thought we continue the tradition. An American movie in English, for sure, but always interesting to see it elsewhere. Back at the apartment it's now time to pack up. We head to the Galilee on Monday!