Yom Kippur

I spent Yom Kippur in my youth hostel. A chazzan was brought in to lead the services. The guy was a nice guy and had a good voice, but he had this really annoying way of laughing far too much at his own mediocre jokes. The services themselves were very good and I took a lot away from them. On Friday night I went out with a few of my friends and walked up the road towards a small community. No city in the world shuts down like Jerusalem on Yom Kippur. On that Friday night we walked in the middle of the street and found the entire neighborhood outside in the middle of the roads. There are no cars at all. We saw one car when we were out and we were out for 2 hours. Afterwards I went back to the hostel and played Rumikub for a bit and then went to bed. I woke up the next morning and went to services. I took the high holidays very seriously this year and the praying was very intense and meaningful. I was in services from 9 - 2 and then a bunch of us wanted to walk to the Kotel (Wailing Wall). On the way we found this Israeli guy who walked with us. He claims to have done the exact walk every Yom Kippur for the past 25 years with the same route. He spoke good English and was very interesting to walk with. It was a hilly, two-hour walk, but we managed and I got to the Kotel to catch the last services of the holiday. Needless to say, it was absolutely amazing to be at the Kotel and I bumped into Zach Trupp, a boy who graduated with me. I broke fast with some free food that was handed out; muffins and juice. I then took a taxi home with some friends and ate more and relaxed at the hostel. Yom Kippur, along with Rosh Hashana, was incredible.
Hope everyone's high holidays were wonderful,
Kevin