Jerusalem Day, 2010, or My Brief Career as a Groupie

My son plays in a band at his school. They performed at the Flag Dance (Rikudegalim) on Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim), May 12, 2010. I followed the band on a float through its entire route, from the start in Paris Square to the Dung Gate of the Old City, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Other photos of Jerusalem Day are posted in my Flickr Jerusalem Day set.

They haven’t started moving yet. I couldn’t get a good shot of the whole band because there were flags on the left and traffic poles on the right. I was standing on the raised plaza of the Sheraton. My son is the guitarist in the middle with the orange electric guitar.  Most of the time I was walking so close to the float (to avoid being trampled by hordes of dancers) that it was impossible to fit the whole band into a frame, even at 18mm. I walked the entire route, which took two hours.

The float has just turned down Agron street. The Center for Conservative Judaism is behind them.

The Palace Hotel, covered with scaffolding in the background, is being gutted. The interior will be completely rebuilt.

They’re passing in front of Jerusalem’s newest shopping mall, the Mamilla Center. The first Gap store to open in Israel is in this mall.

They turned around the corner towards Paratrooper’s Street. The Dan Pearl hotel is behind them on the left. I think the building on the right belongs to the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Coming up to the Old City walls and the New Gate.

That’s the Damascus Gate of the Old City, visible just over the backdrop of the float.

Down the road between the Old City and the Mount of Olives. It’s getting quite dark. I was shooting at ISO 800 or 1600 by this point. Taking pictures while walking in the dark was an interesting challenge!

End of the route, just outside the Dung Gate, which leads to the Western Wall plaza. The kids were exhausted. The Dome of the Rock is visible over the wall. We didn’t stay long at the Western Wall because the plaza was packed with people.