End of the trip

So, I'm finalizing this post from Midway Airport in Chicago.  I'm almost home.  It was a good trip and the transportation in the last 24 hours is thankfully unremarkable.  The Allenby Bauhaus Apartments was a good place to stay for transportation out of town, and quick trips to the Carmel shuk.

It was surprising to hear from quite a number of Israelis, over the entire trip, that they were surprised that I studied and knew a little Hebrew.  And then a few were even more surprised to hear about the outreach that Israel Spirit does to promote Israel in the Kansas City community.  They are very glad to know that have friends.

I hope you enjoyed the blog.

Jerusalem Light Festival - part two

We went to the Kotel earlier in the day, and completed some important tasks.

I wanted to go on the Green route of the light festival, because that route tracks on the outside of the old city wall from the Jaffa Gate to the Damascus Gate.  I so wanted to walk in safety in that area, and even at night.  And what a treat it was!

Jaffa Road (you could be photographed under the halo and wings)

Green route marking

Violinist with lucite sofa

Hi-def projection on Damascus Gate (note the Star of David in the picture)

Crayola transition between each of the many pictures

Note the Israeli flag in the picture

I have about fifty different photos of these amazing projections.  It was great seeing a Star of David and Israeli flag on the Damascus Gate!  Oh, what the heck, here's another.

But there was more.  The last stop was inside Solomon's Quarries/Zedekiah's Cave, an underground historic site.  Too cool.

The light show was strobes which caused optical illusions without 3-D glasses.  The static photos don't capture it, but the video did.

Then, we got on the Jerusalem light rail, walked right onto the #405 to Tel Aviv, and caught a non-lions-and-tigers-and-bears bus back to the apartment.  Tel Aviv was a great place to get home to from the Light Festival.

Finally to the Mediterranean

The Etzel (Irgun) museum on King George Street is very comprehensive, like the Hagana museum. Both museums required identification (my passport), perhaps because both are used in IDF training, and there were a number of soldiers there learning about IDF history.  I learned a lot about their philosophy, their mission, and their operations.  They were much more than the clandestine saboteurs that are often the characterization:  they did a lot of clandestine refugee smuggling to the Land before WWII.

And we finally got to the beach, which could, of course, be seen from my rooftop apartment.  Hof Aviv is just about due west of the apartment.  We didn't get there until 1600, so we just took a few dips, caught some rays, and headed back to wash the salt off.

Update for Thursday evening

How could I have forgotten this???  On the local bus from the Tel Aviv CBS (central bus station), on the way back from the light show, we got on a bus with....lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  Well, one tiger, one panda bear, one Oscar (muppet), one Angry Bird, one penguin and one guy with his costume in a bag.  They were all going to work somewhere in the Rothschild Avenue area, and quite late in the evening (around 2300).  It was just a riot seeing them go to work in costume like that.  That's Tel Aviv!

Jerusalem Light Festival - part one

We were able to do the White route and the Red route, then get back to Tel Aviv for the night.

These are all lampshades that were decorated by children

The aleph is a high-def projection (this is just one scene in a sequence).

Projection on a wall

Very cool 3-D projection.  We all got 3-D glasses.

The butterflies flew around in these silhouettes.

Outside of the old city wall, near Jaffa Gate

View walking back to Jaffa Gate.

City wall on the left, sidewalk down to Jaffa Gate on the right.

There will be another installment, because I'm going back to go on the Green Route, down to the Damascus Gate.

Ghetto Fighters' Museum

We went up to Akko to go to the Ghetto Fighters' Museum (בית לוחמי הגיטאות).  It was a simple train ride to Akko, and a local 271 bus (NIS 6.60 = $1.75) out to the museum.  It has a beautiful view of the Galilee and it's a terrific museum.

View to the east of the green Galilee

Har Gamla, at the edge of the Golan Heights

The museum has specific collections about the Holocaust, hiding Jews, and Jewish resistance.  Downstairs, there's a big room with black walls on two sides that contain artifacts.  You can turn on lights for the boxes and get more information on them.  One of the other sides has a very big projection screen, with this playing on it continuously.  I was very taken with this artistic expression:  it's most similar to the outside exhibit at Yad vShem that has a stone canyon with city names, called Valley of the Communities.  My little video is just a tiny overview, please imagine being overwhelmed by the floating letters.  Any town name takes 10 seconds to form, but only 1 second to be dispersed.

Dead Sea (הים המלח) day holiday

We went to the Dead Sea for the day, and carried off a transportation coup (if I do say so myself).  There's a direct bus (Egged #421) from Tel Aviv (Savidor station), but you need to have reservations, which I had made.  Picking up the tickets was surprisingly easy.  We actually had reserved seats (5&6).  The bus went through Jerusalem, and went south near Jericho and along the Dead Sea.  There was a road washout between Jericho and Ein Gedi, but we didn't need a detour, just had to wait because of one lane of traffic for a few miles.  Of course, the bus wound through Ein Gedi and Masada before it got to the hotels and beach at Ein Bokek (עין בוקק).  I learned that the opera performances are on the Dead Sea side of Masada, which would make it an accessible performance for me (some day).

We took advantage of the nice public beach which I used last year with Anna F.  The weather was cool for the Dead Sea in June (37C), but it was just fine.  The return bus #421 left at 1400, so I had only purchase one-way tickets.  We were able to take advantage of a much later bus (1830) that would return to Beer Sheva (Egged #384).  That goes up the steep side of the mountains and through Arad.  I had forgotten that the bus would talk us past Ben Gurion University and my old apartment.  So then we picked up the train to Tel Aviv, and got home.

Museums and Yafo

My friend Sheila came to visit, so we went to the Hagana museum and Irgun museum (both in Tel Aviv), then walked to Old Yafo.

Some nifty shopping was done, and I swapped out the stones for my Yemenite earrings, so look out!

Shabbat in Givat Zeev

I got to spend shabbat at Rabbi and Margalit Friedman's in Givat Zeev.  There were a number of people over for dinner from Bridges for Peace.  It was a nice quiet shabbat, and Rabbi Friedman did a short study on the parashah.

Tourist day

My Hebrew teacher recommended that I go to the original Tel Aviv city hall, and Rubin's house.  They are very close together, and close to my apartment.  The heat has passed, so today was a good day to be outside.  The city hall building (בית העיר) is very pretty, and has lots of photos and memorabilia from Tel Aviv's early days.

I went to the Rubin museum which has a number of his paintings and wood cuts, photos of his life and career, and his studio.  He was the first ambassador to Romania from Israel, as well as capturing life in modern Israel's early days.

And on a culinary note, I needed to buy my second bottle of olive oil today (first one was small, but still!).

It's hot in Israel

Temperatures on 5/27/2015 in Fahrenheit

I didn't expect to be blogging about the weather, but when the American Consulate sends out an alert because it's so hot, I guess I can comment, too.  They forecast a high of 113F in Tel Aviv, but it only got up to a humid 102.  I planned my day accordingly.

I reluctantly made a trip to the infamous Supersal grocery store to buy a few things I couldn't find at the shuk.  Walked all the way up there because it was still temperate at 0800.  Much to my surprise, the store wasn't crowded and was very calm.  They didn't even have a security guard at the door.  It was like going to HyVee.  I worked my list, heard no yelling, saw no line-cutting, paid for my bag of goods, and walked back.  Why was each trip to the store in Beer Sheva a candidate for counseling?  I sure don't know.

I met my Hebrew teacher's sister, Gal, by the shuk to give her something.  We picked up her daughter from preschool, and walked around a little.  I bought some sunscreen, pulled my big drapes on the west window, stayed in for the hot afternoon.  I didn't want to get dehydrated or sick from the heat.  Today was the bad day, it is forecast to be back to normal by Friday.  And there's a chance of showers:

Visit to Ariel

I headed up to the big Tel Aviv bus station this morning.  It's big.  Red architectural tile on the outside.  Adequate signage, but not so many people at 0830, and lots of escalators.

Don't worry, it's not that hopeless, but this is the image that came to mind.  Anyway, the Afikim bus to Ariel was on the 7th floor.  Wow.  7 floors of bus gates.  And the fare to Ariel (one-way) was only NIS 11.10 ($3).  I knew it was a low fare from the times I went last year, so I was prepared with small money.  It was a lot easier catching the bus from the bus station than the odd street stations from which I caught it last year.

I missed the obvious university stop in Ariel, and got off at the next one, and walked back (worked on my tan), and then I had my bearings.  Walked up the hill, but at the top it was closed for construction (couldn't see that because of trees until I got there), back down the hill, over to the new staircase, up, up, up.  Found Building 2, found Dr. Rivka Gilat's office, found Dr. Rivka.  We have been working on a faculty announcement for her department (it's my service work in Israel), but I needed more subtle background on the department and its culture.  So we talked, I took notes, I asked questions.  I asked to speak with one of the junior faculty, Dr. Elia, about his opinions, too.  We had a chance to talk to Dean Yosef Pinchas, so we rushed over and spoke with him about the dean's level perspective on hiring faculty.  I got more good notes.

Then Rivka and I went out to an early supper in Petach Tikvah at Bleeker Bakery. We had three appetizers, salad, main course, coffee and dessert.  Needless to say, I came home with two (!) bags of leftovers.  The good news is that we only needed two tables to hold all that food. ;)

She dropped me off at a bus station for #82 (local Tel Aviv bus), which brought me very close to my apartment.  I'd say it was a very successful day.

Restocking

I put together a good shopping list, which included eggs.  I hadn't seen any in the shuk on Friday, but I wasn't at the top of my game, and I wasn't interrogating the shuk offerings. That was my first order of business this morning.  Main row - nothing.  Nothing?  Normal people shop there, not just tourists (what would a tourist do with an eggplant or leeks??), so where are the eggs?  The shuk wraps around by the Carmelit bus station, so I kept walking, and there are little aisles off the main way.  Hmm.  Finally, way in the back of a side aisle, I saw eggs!  I didn't look any further, of course, but it still seems odd.  There were four or five egg vendors at the Beer Sheva shuk.  Eggs at the shuk don't come in tidy cartons like the figure above (see last year's post), so I'll only have needed to buy them once.  Other things were procured, like the great Israeli roasted peanuts, but not noteworthy.

It took two trips to bring everything, up and down four flights of stairs.  Buns of steel.

Promised photos

Ok, here are photos of my apartment (it's pretty little):

My rooftop gazing spot

Now for the views from the roof:

King George St, running to the north in front of the apartment entrance

Looking west to the sea.  The tower is part of Ja'ama'a-el-Bahr Sea Mosque, but I don't think it's active.  I haven't heard a call to prayer.

One of the tony hotels on the beach

Looking south: the tower in old Yafo

The east entrance to the Carmel shuk (it's still early in this photo so there are no crowds).  The sheet metal is a sun shade.

Deeper in the Carmel shuk - note the sheet metal (funky) sunshade.

And finally, looking SE, there is an ongoing restoration of one of the Bauhaus buildings:

Shabbat & Shavuot in Tel Aviv (שבת וחג שבועות בתל-אביב)

I had to run (actually walk) back the shuk at 3:00 on Friday because I had no salt!  You can't make Israeli food without salt!  Luckily the פרג (poppy=name) store in the shuk was still open and I procured some Red Sea salt.  Lots of stalls were locking up for the weekend, so I was happy to make my transaction and get back to preparing for Shabbat.  I made Israeli salad and cauliflower salad, and cleaned up dishes and myself (finally).  Lit candles, ate dinner alone, and crashed.

So, Shabbat and Shavuot were much quieter in Tel Aviv than I expected.  Yes, there were some taxis and private cars, and some open restaurants, but it was pretty quiet.  I read and snoozed and ate and gazed off my roof.  Not a surprise that I'm under an approach path for the airport.  The planes came in about each 30 minutes.  Without the trains or buses running, the taxis must do a great business on Shabbat.  And, of course, tour buses for Christian visitors.  No El Al flights, of course.

I think I could hear a celebration on the beach at about 5:00 on Sunday, but I didn't want to walk back in the dark alone.  A band set up in Magen David Square (כיכר מגן דוד) which is at the east entrance to the Shuk HaCarmel.  It sounded good, but I wanted to do a little laundry and make a phone call before I went downstairs, but now it's quietish so I missed it.

I read two books and rather feel like myself again.

Finally getting to Israel

I last left you sitting on the floor at JFK.  I double checked with the El Al ticket agent when they opened, and she said to come back at 0930 because she wanted to call the NY office about my ticket change.  There was a 1030 flight with a bunch (50?) of young people on a Birthright trip, so it was very busy in the El Al check area.  At about 0910 the ticket agent came to me (!), and says she feels so sorry for me, and I am on this flight.  This flight??  Yes, just go.  Ok, you don't need to tell me twice.  Since I was a late addition to the flight, and a woman traveling alone, I got lots of security questions and bag checking.  Ok.  I get a boarding pass, the suitcase is checked in.  I'm moving.  Just keep moving.  Didn't need to run, but keep moving.  And then I'm on the plane!

Since I was a late addition to the plane, I wasn't a bit surprised to not get my special vegetarian meal for supper.  But I was surprised when I got a special breakfast with my name on it!  Anyway, LY04 landed at 0400 at the Tel Aviv airport.  I got through passport control, retrieved my suitcase, changed some money, and got a coffee to wait for Tel Aviv to wake up.  I figured that hanging out at the airport was better than waiting on the sidewalk for the apartment office to open.  I got to the apartment around 0900, and was helped up the four flights of stairs with my bag (that was nice).  The apartment isn't quite as posh as the website photos, but it's clean and I have a tiled roof space from which you can see the Mediterranean

I went to the shuk ha-Carmel and got tomatoes, scallions, cucumbers, lemons, olives, olive oil, milk, cheese, a beautiful cauliflower, challah, butter, tahini, and some pears. Ahh.  I think I'm ready for the long weekend now.  Shabbat shalom.

A pleasant night at JFK

Quite by chance, I met a young man named Ben, who is a dance (ballet) student at Julliard.  He's one of 24 freshmen dance students.  Wow, that's a small class.  He also missed his intended flight.  We talked about many things, from Julliard to suspension bridges.  I bought him breakfast (feeding young men is always a good idea) at 0230 at the 24 hour diner inside the terminal.  When we came back upstairs, we found a place to sit (on the floor) that at least has a 110 outlet, so I'm recharging my laptop.

I squared away things with my apartment, so that's good (that's very good - I will so need to crash over Shabbat after this all-nighter at JFK).

The Anxiety Chronicles

An inauspicious start to a wonderful adventure. My time cushion of five hours between Laguardia and JFK was eaten up and more by a flight delay in Nashville.  Which meant I missed my El Al flight.  I did call and reschedule my flight in the afternoon, so I have a seat, after a hefty change fee.  It does however leave me abundant time (if I can find an outlet to power my laptop) to begin my blog.

My original plan was to arrive at Laguardia at 1500, and make my way to my 1900 flight to Tel Aviv.  However, we had wheels down in NYC at 1902, at the gate at 1916, and luggage retrieved at 1935.  So I'm glad I changed my ticket.  I learned enough in physics at MIT to know that I'd never make checkin for that flight.

Good news is that there is a 24 hour diner on my side of security.  Maybe get some eggs in the morning.  This does ruin my plan to spend Shabbat and Shavuot with R. Friedman in Givat Zeev.  But I'll be in Israel for them!

I booked, what I think will be, a lovely apartment in Tel Aviv:  Allenby Bauhaus Apartments.  I can't wait to see it.  I will post some photos of my own, of course.

Headed back

I'm going back after final exams, to work with Ariel University a little, and vacation a little.  Have secured a cool short-term apartment in Tel Aviv.  I chose Tel Aviv because it is the transportation hub for Israel.  Easy to get to Ariel, Jerusalem, whatever.  It is a bit of a haul to the Dead Sea, 'though.