Tel-Aviv - Day 15

Today is the last day of our trip in Israel. Before I left, I wanted to visit my great-grandmother's grave. The last time I saw her I was 11 years old and full of confidence that I'll see her again soon. That was nearly 20 years ago. My uncle and I went this time (grandma and her sister went earlier in our trip) and we cleaned the grave a little and put fresh flowers and lit a candle. I don't know what the custom is for taking a picture of a loved one's grave, but I didn't. It seems a little tacky (though I did take pictures at the cemetery on Mt. Hertzl) to take pictures of the grave of a loved one.

After the solemn start to the day, we were on our way to Carmel market. I needed spices. We checked out local stores and the spices I need/want weren't available and I knew that I saw them at Carmel market. After walking the main line of the market one time I was afraid that I missed the vendor with the spices I wanted. So we had to go back through the throng of pushing and shoving and shouting people one more time. Oh how I love my local store. With shopping carts, and people saying "excuse me", and no strollers in the middle of the isle blocking everything, and the isle being wide, and no shoving/pushing/shouting. I think I will relish shopping in a store more than ever before. I like personal space and in America we have it. I don't think the concept of "personal space" exists in middle east. Second time through the market I found the spices I was looking. Now, with spices in hand, it was time to head home for lunch and to start packing.

For lunch, I had borsch that my great aunt made and some chicken kotleti (meat patties that are slightly fried but don't taste fried). Turns out my great aunt makes an awesome vegetable borscht. I want her recipe. I love borsch in general, but this one tasted like it was meat-based though it wasn't. I'm going to have to call her for this recipe.

After lunch it was time to start packing. I was expecting it to go a lot smoother and quicker than it did. First, it turns out that my grandma got a lot gifts of the clothing variety and dind't expect that. Then, I got a lot of spices and my suitecase is rather small (it was a carry-on on the flight to Israel). Then, while packing, I kept forgetting and remembering other stuff that needed to be packed. For example, I completely packed my suitecase only to realize that I left my new tripod under the chair. Crap. Have to re-pack. Crap. At least I remembered it while I was still there. Then I forgot grandma's suit while packing her suitecase. So I put it into mine. Then when I put the tripod in I had to put it into the carry-on bag. Oy! But everything eventually fit. Surprisingly.

After an early dinner, we were on our way to the airport. This was a great trip. It would have been better had I not lost my voice and scared my whole family that I'm really sick.