Israel - Day 1

We were picked up at the airport by family we have in town and spend most of the day together. It was wonderful. I got to meet people I've only seen in photos and see others I haven't seen in a long time. This being family means we had a LOT of yummy food. And as you read in the previous post, I even got a new recipe. Yay! But because things having to do with family are private, I will not go into any more detail about that.

In the evening, the family went with me to the hotel and essentially handed me over to the tour guide. It was really cute. After I got to the hotel and checked out the room, I decided to change it because it was smelling of smoke too much and I didn’t really like the view. Not enough ocean. So we all went downstairs (this first room was on the 4th floor) and I asked (again) for a non-smoking room. This time, I got a room on the 14th floor with an AMAZING view and it didn’t wreak of smoke.

Then it was time to go find the tour guide (her name is Raya and she speaks Russian) and the rest of the group. She said there are about 35 people in the group and I’m completely not surprised that I’m the youngest one.

She (Raya) gave us the usual spiel about what’s what and where and we were on our way. This was about 6:30-7 PM local time and I was about to fall asleep. I finally went up to my room and decided to capture some of the stunning view. It is incredibly windy today, but overall the weather is nice. There is sun, so it’s much warmer than what I'm used to at this time of the year, but I still have my jacket and fleece and long-sleeved things to wear.

After finishing the few shots, I decided it was time for shower. Has it been 2 days since I brushed my teeth? Ewww. The shower was very invigorating and relaxing at the same time after which I finally fell asleep (around 9 pm local time). But of course, I woke up to the phone ringing. Lenny gave me his wife’s other cell phone and programmed his and their phone numbers into it, so I can call them. But they called me first and the phone was in my bag and I was asleep. With an unfamiliar ring, it was fun to try to figure out what the noise was and what I needed to do about it, especially with about 2 days of no real sleep. Ella said my dad was gonna call, but for some reason he wasn’t able to. I wonder if the hotel gave him my correct room number.

I fell asleep again but woke up around 1 AM ‘cause of the noise neighbors. It sounded like the entire Israeli population of children was next door and was yelling loudly. So after much (not really) debating, I decided to go knock on their door and politely explain that it’s 1 am and I'm trying to sleep and they’re too loud. Seemed to have worked out OK. But now it’s nearly 3 am (nearly 7 pm Milwaukee time) and I can’t sleep. Sure, I took a few more night-time pics. IT'S SO WINDY! I was afraid of the camera being snatched out of my hands by the wind.

I should try to sleep more.