Upon visiting some place new, senses are heightened and the
mind is working overtime trying to store as much information as possible. The
one thing I noticed on arriving at The National Hotel in Jerusalem was the
smell: Citrus, everything smelled of citrus. The next day, on entering the Old
City through Herod’s Gate into the Arab Quarter we noticed the preponderance of
oranges, bananas and pomegranates. The citrus smell that I had put down to some
cleaning product was everywhere. After a few days I realized that it was coming
from my own pours. I began to smell like citrus. Of course I had been imbibing
in frequent juice breaks of freshly squeezed orange and pomegranates. As far as
nutrition goes the vitamins in citrus fruit deteriorates from the point of
picking, but this was so fresh it tasted like nothing I had ever tasted. My
favourite drink was pomegranate. I found it expensive in the grocery store back
home, but here, in Jerusalem it was relatively inexpensive and beyond worth.
After walking a number of hours in the crowded streets it was delightful to sit
and drink fresh juice and become one with the smell of citrus, which everyone
else smelt of.
