Israel-day 6

Last night, we went to the Saloona Bar in Jaffa to hear our cousin Shiry's boyfriend's band. It was a mix of folk and new world music. Nir, her boyfriend, plays guitar and the other band members played flute and percussion. They were very talented and we liked the music. It was a small bar with not more than 50 people, an intimate setting to hear live music. Of course we could not understand the lyrics but it was fun to be there anyway.

Today we pick up Allison in Modi'im and then head to our apartment in Jerusalem for a week of additional adventures!

The drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was interesting. The topography changes rather quickly from the flat coastal plains of Tel Aviv to the hills and desert surrounding Jerusalem. We are staying in a 2-level, 4 bedroom apartment in the Baka section of the city. We found it on a web page (vrbo.com, for vacation rental by owner). It's a residential area but just minutes to a commercial street called Emek Refaim, which is noted for its many restaurants, cafes, and shops. We walked to a nearby park with a magnificent view of the Old City walls. Tomorrow we tour the Western Wall tunnels and hope to see alot of the Old City sights, which are the major attractions in Jerusalem.

Israel-day 5

Today, we drove to Shenkin Street in Tel Aviv, which has lots of nice stores, then toured the Nachalat Binyamin craft fair and the food market (HaCarmel). These are big tourist attractions and we heard more English being spoken here than anywhere else we have visited. We had lunch at an organic food cafe and happened to meet a woman from Washington, DC (born in Boston), who decided to live in Israel, served in the Israeli army for 3 years, and is now going to Tel Aviv University for free as an Israeli resident and veteran. That's certainly one way to fund a college education!

Leo, Elisheva, Jack, and Elisse are returning from Petra, Jordan, about 8 PM tonight. Allison is having fun with her friend in Modi'im. Sam Price is joining us from Zurich this afternoon.

israel-day 4

Today we toured the Israeli Museum at the Rabin Center in Tel Aviv. It shows the history of the country as well as the life of Yitzhak Rabin, the former Prime Minister who was assasinated in 1995. The impact of this assasination was similar to the Kennedy assisination in the US. It is a great museum with interesting exhibits. Then we drove to the Tel Aviv Port area and had lunch at a cafe on the water, followed by gelato, of course. By the way, there seems to be ice cream or gelato stores on every other corner or so. My kind of country! Then we saw the Bauhaus Center store, which commemorates the Bauhaus/International style of architecture for which Tel Aviv is famous, at least among people who are interested in architecture. We walked down Dizengoff Street, which is one of the main shopping streets in the city, and got to the Dizengoff Center Shopping Mall, where Emily spent some time checking out the stores. We also made a quick stop at the Kabbalah Center. Kabbalah is a mystical form of Judaism that has become popular recently with various famous people, most notably Madonna.

Allison went to Modi'in today, a city between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, to stay with a friend. We'll pick her up on our way to Jerusalem on Wednesday.

I will post more photos once we resolve some computer problems.

Israel Ramblings

*We are told that living in Israel is quite expensive. Cars cost about twice what they do in the US. Most people live in apartments or condos and they are quite expensive. Food also seems to cost much more. Gas is about $8 per gallon!

*McDonald's restaurants are everywhere. It was funny to see the typical McDonald's sign with the word "kosher" next to it. I've seen a few Office Depot stores, but not many other big-box US retailers so far. We went to a mall in Herzliya and it looks just like any other mall except that the signs are in Hebrew, although many of them were in English, too. Some high tech US companies are here, like Microsoft, Intel, and HP.

*Construction is booming here. Many new buildings and lots of renovations. The economy seems to be quite strong.

*Just about every building has a solar water heater on top. I guess the sunny climate makes it more feasible than in New England. We're told the winter temperatures rarely go below 40 degrees.

*Most of the Israelis speaks enough English so we can get by without speaking Hebrew.

*They get CNN News in English on TV here.

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Israel-Day 3

Today we visited the ancient port city of Jaffa, just a few miles south of Tel Aviv. Jaffa is set on a hill with incredible views of the ocean and the entire Tel Aviv area. The old section of the city has been beautifully restored. We went to the Jaffa Flea Market, which contains lots of merchant stalls in a crowded setting. The ladies loved the shopping. The men looked for places to sit while the ladies shopped! We ate lunch at a restored train station called Ha'tahanna. This complex of buildings also contains some upscale stores where the ladies did some more shopping.

israel-day 2

We took a few hours this morning to get an overview of Tel Aviv and some surrounding areas. It's a modern, beautiful city, right on the Mediterranean Sea, with skyscrapers, fancy hotels, and lots of restaurants and stores. For dinner, we went to a marina in nearby Herzliya. Here are some photos:

Israel - Day 1

We arrived in Israel and we were warmly welcomed by our relatives (Amy's uncle Leo and his family) with a beautiful Shabbat (Sabbath) meal. The weather was wonderful with a cool summer breeze,which is apparantly unusual for this time of year. The kids took off with some of their younger relatives for some night-time fun, and we adults are resting from the grueling trip. Our flight from Boston to Toronto was cancelled due to mechanical problems, so we ended up flying to New York City and then taking the midnight flight to Tel Aviv. The total trip length with all the delays was about 24 hours! Tomorrow we explore Tel Aviv!

Interesting Fact - All highway signs are in 3 languages, Hebrew, English, and Arabic!