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.

Tel-Aviv - Day 14

Everything is closed today. I was getting really nervous since I hadn't gotten much in terms of souvenirs and had only 1 day left. My uncle was off work and we could do something since he has a car, but it's a holiday (Pesach or Passover) so everything is closed. Therefore we decided to go to Jaffa since we didn't really see it as part of the tour. We only got to get off the bus for 5 minutes and take pictures - that was our only view of Jaffa.
But today, my uncle, his wife, his youngest child, and I went to Jaffa. The day was perfect - a very slight and pleasant breeze accompanied the warm sun. Because it was a holiday, there were hardly any cars out and very few people out and about. Mostly, I guess people just stayed at home. Which gave us the freedom to roam around without crowds. We ducked into nearly all the galleries that were open (and most of them were closed) and browsed to our hearts' content. The views of Tel-Aviv from here (which is north of Jaffa) were great. Waves, greenery, sunshine - it was a perfect spring day. I won't see this weather back home till mid-June probably.

Having walked all over the upper part of the town we made our way through the narrow and shadowed streets to the port. Until the port of Haifa was established as a major port, this one in Jaffa was the primary port of Israel. It's been a port since ancient times, and still works as a port.
Here, we took a little boat ride that lasted about a half hour or so, but gave panoramic views of Jaffa and Tel-Aviv. The wind wasn't too strong while we were on the water, but it was a little wobbly. I don't like roller-coasters and this wasn't as bad, but I definitely felt my stomach doing flips.
After the boat ride, it was time to head back home (it was close to 2 PM) and on the way we stopped for some shashliq. This time it was chicken and we took it to go. It was really delicious. Surprisingly so, since I'm a bit of purist in this regard and don't eat chicken shashliq. I guess I consider it chicken on a sqewer, but this one had all the right spices and such. To reiterate, it was delicious.

Eilat, Tel-Aviv - Day 13

This morning the weather looked absolutely gorgeous and my uncle asked if I wanted to go tanning. Having lost my voice completely by morning, I declined (the Silent post was written on Eilat - Day 12). So we set out back to Tel-Aviv right after breakfast, ahead of schedule. Too bad this gorgeous weather wasn't there for us yesterday. But oh well. I guess I'll have to come back. ;)

On the way back, we passed the same raw natural beauty, road signs I won't see at home, and the same Kosher McDonald's. Somehow I managed to nap most of the way back.

This was also the first day of Passover.
We don't celebrate with all the customs and traditions mainly because we don't know them. But we do have gefilte fish. And my great aunt made an awesomely delicious batch yet again. I know I have the recipe from the last time she visited us, but I didn't see her make it. All I know is that the process is very involved (several times she passes the fish meat through the meat grinder, and that's after picking out all the bones).

Tel-Aviv - Day 10

This morning I had breakfast at the hotel and then my uncle (technically, he's my second cousin, but dad calls him "brother", so I call him "uncle") picked me up. It turned out to be not a short drive to Tel-Aviv from Jerusalem, but we didn't really hit any traffic until we got to the general Tel-Aviv area. Today was the day I rested. Sort of.

Mainly played with the little cousins (2nd cousins once removed) who are 8 and 3. I don't remember what we ate, but it was good. Everything is quite delicious and the veggies are very yummy.

We also went to the "downtown" area and walked around trying to find souvenirs. No such luck. Since it was Sunday, there were no bazaars or flea markets. The only thing I found was a table cloth for my round table. Apparently, it's rather difficult to find a round tablecloth in the size I need (180cm in diameter), and I have lots of Israeli tablecloths, but none are round. The reason I like these tablecloths is that they wash out really well and hold up to use and abuse. We only took the older cousin to go with us, and the younger one was with the babysitter.

In the evening, we played some more and had dinner.

It was a rather uneventful day, for which I was really grateful.

Tel-Aviv, Caesaria, Haifa, Nazareth - Day 3

Today, there were hot things for breakfast. So I decided to try the omelets (I had one with mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese) and some of the same things as the day before. And nobody sneezed on my food, so I find that breakfast was great overall.

After breakfast we headed to Carmel Market near our hotel. It was still very early so most of the shop stalls were still closed, but there were some that were open. The spices were so fragrant, the strawberries superb, the bread amazingly fresh-baked, and the flowers glowed. I was glad that it wasn't busy so I could take pictures, though I do wish we had gotten the full sense of the market. There were also plenty of fruit, vegetable, and souvenir vendors.

As you can see, I was quite taken with this market. I just love open-air markets, and this is nothing like a farmers' market back home.

After a short time at the market (only 30 minutes!) we were on our way to Caesarea. I loved the view through the aqueduct. The weather was lovely; it was sunny and breezy but not cold. Just enough to be warm and be able to run around taking pictures and get all icky.
Not too far from this Aqueduct, there is an open air theater and a hippodrome that were build by Herod. The theater was discovered about 40 years ago, if I remember correctly, and it still holds performances. We spent probably an hour or so in total exploring these sites. There were also nuns who were having fun, enjoying themselves, and being goofy (how often do you see a giddy nun running?).
Next, our destination was the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa. Unfortunately, we didn't spend nearly as much time there as I would have liked. But the views of Haifa from the top of the hill where the gardens start is unparalleled. Simply breathtaking. You can see how manicured the gardens are, but also the sparkling dome at the bottom of the walkway. At the foot of the hill you see Haifa and then the Mediterranean Sea. Haifa is a very busy port.

Having seen this spectacular view, it was time for lunch and we stopped at a Druze village. When I heard that it was a village, I expected something rural, maybe like a farm community. This was nothing of the sort. It was very busy, lots of cars, people, souvenir shops, etc.
We had two options for lunch: a falafel or shawarma with a drink. It was decent. Definitely not worth $10 (40 shekels).
After lunch we continued with our trip and were on our way to Nazareth to see the Church of the Annunciation. The church itself is fairly new and made of concrete. It's very modern and I didn't care too much for the design. The one thing that I found interesting is that many countries had tableaus of Mary. If a tableau was from China, Mary looked Chinese, if it was from Guatemala, she looked Guatemalan, etc. It was great to see the different interpretations/depictions. This church is also built on the cite of a previous (ancient) church and you can still see some ruins.
The church was out last sight-seeing stop for the day. Now we're at hotels in Tiberias and had dinner at the hotel. It was OK.

Tel-Aviv - Day 2

This was the first morning at the hotel. It was a lovely breakfast, even though nothing was hot. No omelet station and no toaster for bread. The reason for that is Shabbat. There is even a "Shabbat" elevator, but more on that later. I tried a little of almost everything, but I was staying away from unknown dairy products (is it yogurt? milk? cottage cheese? I just didn't want to waste it). But a few pieces of bread with apricot jam and hot tea, some smoked salmon, fruits comprised my breakfast.
As I was getting a plate of fruit and coming back to my table, a kid from the table next to mine sneezed all over my table and the food already on it. The little snot! Literally. I gave him and his family decidedly the most unpleasant of looks and picked a new table.

After breakfast we had a walking tour of the city. It sounds more difficult than it was. Really, it was just a walk around the few neighborhoods not too far from the hotel. It was really windy at the hotel, but it's right on the beach, and the wind wasn't anything but a pleasant breeze when we got away from the sea. The Mediterranean one.
On our tour we walked by David Ben Gurion's house, which is quite modest. The tour guide told us that there is a library in that house consisting of about 20,000 books (yes, that's twenty thousand!). It sits on a quiet residential street, which is actually a boulevard. I haven't seen a boulevard in ages. To me, a boulevard is a very wide road that is separated by a narrow strip of "park". It's lined with trees, benches, people playing cards or board games, and little play grounds.
There were also kiosks. But these aren't your typical kiosks where you buy a pack of cigarettes, these were places where you can grab a quick bite to eat. In fact, we saw quite a few people enjoying the weather and eating their breakfast outside in the boulevard.

We crossed a few major thoroughfares and walked south to Rabin Square (dedicated to Yitzhak Rabin). On the way there we stopped for a while at the Rabin Memorial which is in the exact spot he was assassinated. Raya (our guide) indicated to the Israelis this assassination is what JFK's assassination is to Americans. Though this one is still quite fresh in their minds and people still get choked up talking about it.

After the tour ended a few people from the tour decided to go to the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art and I joined them. WOW. There's so much modern art and not being a huge fan of it, I was expecting disappointment. I was so wrong. It was great. There were quite a bit of French artists represented, as well as a few Picassos, Gaugins, Degas, Lichtensteins, Jackson Pollocks, a large collection of Archipenko and even a Monet.
What was funny to me was that most of the guards in the museum spoke Russian. It's so startling to me. 42 shekels well spent.

After the museum we went to grab some lunch and then go to Jaffa. We stopped at a cafe and ordered our food. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. It was interesting to see nobody paying any attention to the enormous dog of one of the patrons. The dog just lay there by the table, not bothering anyone, being very calm.

On our way to Jaffa, I petered out and decided to go back to the hotel. I was exhausted after a day of walking (9 am to 3 pm) and I was still a little jet lagged. It turned out to be absolutely the right decision to go to the hotel since I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Had I not gotten this much-needed nap, I would have ended up with my face in the dinner plate. Speaking of dinner...

It was at a restaurant called Benjamin Segal, but surprisingly no visible mafia theme. It was very nicely decorated and the food was delicious. We had a very strong assortment of salads the names and contents of which I don't really know, a main course, and a dessert.
What I found interesting is that people who ordered a coffee for dessert also got a shot of carbonated water. I don't know why that is, so I'll try to find out.

Oh, back to Shabbat Elevator. This is the elevator that's designated for those who observe Shabbat and it stops on EVERY floor automatically. This way, they don't have to press the button. I don't know why that's a prohibition on Shabbat, but it is.

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.