The Suite High of Jerusalem

My first night in Jerusalem was my second night in Israel. The first night I spent in Eilat. All of the second day I drove the length of Israel north from Eilat to Mount Bental near Syria, then I drove back to Jerusalem. It was Sabbath, I did not have a reservation, so I pulled off Route 1 just 20 miles from Jerusalem and surveyed my options on Orbitz.  

Since I had to park a car until I could return it to the airport, I needed a place with low hassle parking.  I chose the Crowne Plaza which wasn't very expensive and had easy access to the road to Jerusalem.  I have been a member of the Holiday Inn loyalty program since 1999 so occasionally I get upgrades.  

But not like this.  

The Crowne Plaza is a tall tower with 21 floors on height above the Central Bus/Rail station.  When I checked in I got upgraded to the 19th-floor suite.  It had a balcony that wrapped 3/4ths of the way around the hotel to the south, east and north and could have held a party for more than a 100 people.  The room was huge.  And best of all was the view. Here is what I saw on the balcony after I checked in: 

This was my room:

And this was the view in the morning:

The hotel: 

Ammunition Hill Memorial Site and Museum, Jerusalem

The view from Ammunition Hill of Jerusalem

One of the fortified trenches 

Ammunition Hill is the site of one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the Six-Day War.  The hill was taken by the Jordanian Arab Legion in Israel's War of Independence in 1948 and held until Israeli paratroopers and armored troops took the hill in June 1967. Michael Oren's book on the Six-Day War explains this battle in considerable detail.

An US-built, World War II vintage Israeli Sherman tank 

A jeep with a 105mm recoilless rifle

An armored truck

The museum on Ammunition Hill is underground. It has a film explaining the battle and a series of exhibit showing and telling hour-by-hour what happened as the battle progressed.

Memorial inside the museum

Multi-lingual exhibits

As with every military museum I visited in Israel, young soldiers are touring the museum learning about the history of the Israeli Defense Force and the key battles of their history.  

Another view of Jerusalem from the battle site

Another of the trenches