We overslept and left Jacob's house in a rush. He left me at Haifa's Southern bus terminal on his way to work. He was already late from work so we said quickly goodbye and then I went to look for a bus to Jerusalem. Bus trip from Haifa to Jerusalem lasted only 1,5 hours. These short journeys make you realise how small this country is. Jerusalem's Central Bus Station was kind of a maze but my first sight there was a blue-coloured Kosher McDonald's. That and all the conservative Jews made me realise that I'm now in maybe the most holiest city in the world. Street outside the station station was in chaos because they were building new tram line. I had checked that my hostel is about 2 kilometre walk from the station so I started to walk towards it.
When I found the place where my hostel was supposed to be I started to feel little lost. Around me was only Ethiopian embassy, some government buildings and printing workshop. When I was looking my map some guys came out from the workshop and asked if I need any help. I told them I was looking for my hostel. They said there was some hostels little but further down the road. I continued my walk to there but when I saw Jerusalem's old town I knew I was in the wrong place. The hostel was supposed be 1 km away from the old town. So I continued my walk up and down the road and I didn't see any hostels. So I decided to go seek help again from the printing workshop. One of the guys who helped me before was working near the door and again helped me. He checked the exact location from the internet. Turns out that the hostel was only 1 km away from the bus station which meant that I passed it long time ago. Damn you Google Maps! I thanked the guy and he invited me to visit later the workshop.
After walking around for hours I finally found my hostel. It was like heaven to lay on the soft bed. But I was hungry so I went to look for something to eat. The hostel is located near the Mahane Yehuda market so I went there. I found a bakery and bought a piece of vegetable-cheese pie. It was a delicious! After eating I went for a walk. I walked around Russian Compound and went to see where's the shortest way to old town.
As I didn't had found anybody to host me I needed to stay in hostel. But there was a meeting of local couchsurfers that evening in a bar close to the hostel. I decided to go there to find out if there was somebody who could host me for the rest of my stay. When I came there was only one guy but soon there was probably around 15 people. I had really nice time talking with this local girl and after she left home I had a conservation with this very nice guy who was working in a tourist office. Then one of the girls, called Olga, heard that I didn't have host so she offered her couch to me for 2 nights. I agreed with Olga that I will come to her place tomorrow afternoon. When more people left home I noticed that I wasn't the only foreign in the table. Polish Marcin was also visiting Jerusalem. In the end there was only me, Marcin, Olga, Marcin's local friend and one of the local guys left. We had very nice talks and lots of beer. And then the bartender gave us free shots of arak. I really like the taste of arak, it's similar to Finnish salmiakki drinks. But when the bar was closing we were super drunk. I promised with Marcin that I will see him at 7.30am at Jaffa Gate and then we will go to see the Temple Mount. So I had some 3 hours time to sleep before that.
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