Take Back The Streets (Y.K. 2009)

Yom Kippur happened a few weeks ago. It is the most interesting combination of the solemn and the zany. The country shuts down, and one can walk wherever one pleases, but one cannot buy anything, or be too boisterous.

This year, in Tel Aviv, the quiet buildings stood like sentinels. It felt like after hours on a movie set or a post-apocalyptic alternate reality. Here is a small photo-log of this singular day for 2009:





This kid was going about 20km/h on his little scooter.



A squad of kids races each other down Eliezer Kaplan to the Ayalon freeway:



I saw this Vespa parked in the same spot 12 hours later:



The Kaplan interchange. Easily the busiest intersection in the city. Here we have a rare emergency vehicle.


Obligatory "I was here" self-shot, seated on the Ayalon freeway.


HaShalom train station. Deserted, but eerily lit.



This little guy on the right was brought to a Yom Kippur service, but wandered across the street.


A shot from the Gesher Ma'ariv flyover:


And the same flyover. This guy was doing photography of the buildings in the distance.


The next day -- again, at the Kaplan interchange. Spot me in each photo: