Umrah 2019, Day Six: Expansions

Today I completed what might have been my fifteenth Umrah.

No place in my travels changes so much on a visit by visit basis than Makkah does. For example the clocktower is now ten years old, yet memories of its building are still vivid. It also broke my heart when the public access to the Zamzam pump was taken away.

The more recent work being done is in the Mataaf, with us witnessing its various inconvenient states during at least the last two visits. However now that the work is more or less structurally complete the value is clear and it's a pretty good job. The main casualty is that the direct walk from the main gates to the Kaba is now but a memory. That makes me sad as no matter how needed it is, its yet another reduction in intimacy.