Time to relax

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Today we did almost nothing and it was everything I hoped it could be.

Marie woke up early for her Hebrew lesson while I slept in. We met up for brunch at a local cafe...a typical Israeli breakfast of eggs, bread, and a bunch of different dips (shmears, cheeses, pestos, etc). We went from there to walk through Neve Tzedek, an old Jewish neighborhood that is filled with character. We found shops, street arts, and plenty of cats. The people here love cats, and take care of the strays as their own. There are "cat hotels" outside many buildings, and food and water is put out daily for them. This means that the strays, although common, are very nice, tame, and actually perfectly acceptable to pet. So pet we do.

We finally meandered over to the beach, where we sat at a beach bar with our bare feet in the sand and had drinks, before heading over to the beach chairs and just napping and relaxing. I broke out some homework (ew) while she just listened to music. We took a swimming break...this time I wasn't able to just float, and could in fact go underwater, unlike yesterday. Given it was above 80^o most of the day, ice cream was, of course, in order. We spent around 5 hours there, before heading back home.

We stopped on the way for frozen yogurt -- yes, shortly after ice cream -- and then went back and got changed for a run. We ran north this time, instead of south, and found the newer parts of the city: the piers, the athletic districts, and hip neighborhoods. There is a promenade that runs the full length of the city along the beach, so we stuck on that most of the time. It ended up being about a 5 mile run, which meant that we were very ready for food after that.

Marie's favorite restaurant for shakshouka is about a 20 minute walk, On a nice night, we had no issue doing that. Shakshouka, although technically a breakfast dish, really seems more like a dinner one to me. It's a dish of a tomato-onion sauce with some spices, topped with poached eggs and served with bread and dips. There's a pattern in Israeli food, if you haven't noticed. It was quite delicious, even for someone who doesn't usually eat tomatoes straight. By the time we were done with dinner, it was late and Marie has work again tomorrow so we went back for bed. I'll be doing more homework tomorrow.

However, since Israel is a Jewish country, they operate in regards to Shabbat, which means their weekend is Friday and Saturday, so tomorrow night should be a great time!

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