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Shalom from Israel!
Hi all,
After a turbulent bounce into Toronto and seemingly no one in charge security and customs, we cooled our heels for 3 hours waiting for the delayed Tel Aviv flight. We passed the time shopping duty free, bought kinders and maple candy (we are in Canada, after all) and watched part of the World Cup in an airport bar. Uneventful flight into Tel Aviv...except for the panicky realization I should have paid better attention the last few years and learned more than the aleph bet in Hebrew.
What a difference a day makes! After a cramped night (even my 1/2 Ambien didn't do the trick - going for the whole thing on the way home) I found myself in a gorgeous new universe called Tel Aviv. We took a $40 cab ride to Hotel Maxim right on the beach and spent part of the afternoon in the market haggling over souvenirs. Giant, and I meant GIANT, golden raisins for a snack and then off to cool off at the beach. It must be 80 in the water, no waves and crystal clear. Not a speck of kelp or seaweed to scare me off. When I finally
made myself get our of the water, I was stunned by how beautiful Israeli's can be - tan and gorgeous and in the best shape - must be the mandatory stint in the army. Everyone is on the beach playing smashball and on the way home from dinner, we saw giant big screens set up on the beach. Everyone was watching the World Cup game at midnight. No sweaters necessary!
Not sure of the date, I think it's June 30...After a decent night sleep, we woke up at 630 and ate cucumbers and cheese for breakfast. The old city of Jaffa was just down the promenade and we set off to explore. Note to Kathi - "it's just right there" applied in this case, too. After the 3 mile walk (at least) in 85 degree heat, we finally made the old city. Full of art galleries, churches, and ancient exhibits from BCE, we ate some gelato for a breakfast snack and hoofed it back - this time in 95 degree heat. A cool 2 hours at the beach in that warm water cooled us off and we found ourselves on a "sherut" or bus (tour - not city) to
Jerusalem. Upon arrival, we had NO idea where to go since neither one of us had written down the address fo the hotel. Imagine the following conversation with a surly cab driver in English and Hebrew: "Can you take us to our hotel? It's the Leonardo Inn Hotel". "THe Plaza?" "No, Leonardo Inn Hotel". "Yes, the Plaza...get in". "No, no, I mean lo, lo (no in Hebrew)NOT the Plaza". Continue on in this manner with Mr Surly and finally we got in the cab and prayed for the Leonardo Inn, which by the way, USED to be called the Plaza. OY! A beer with our SDJA friends in the lobby helped us cool down.
7/1 Day one at Yad VaShem. Intense lecture on pedogy and some history and a short tour of some of the campus. After a lunch of basically cucumbers and cheese, jet lag set in full force. Droning professor, warm room full of people, full tummy - you can imagine the jerking heads trying to stay awake. The one loud bang you may have heard was my head hitting the wall. I can see part of the city from the window, but still haven't seen the
"Old City". I guess I thought the topography of Jerusalem was a little more flat. Actually the Hebrew language problem is not as bad as previously thought - I can say thanks, please, yes, no, and luckily I can sound words out. Not that I know what they mean. CH-O-K-O-LOT - hey! that says chocolate! With Inbar as our personal travel guide, we went to Mamilla near the old city. Gorgeous shopping mall set in the thousand year old citadel area - typical Jerusalem. I'ts funny how everyone is so oblivious of the ancient history all around them. A quick left tun took us to the Jafa Gate and straight into the old city. The smells, sounds, sights - totally overwhelming. Shelly bought some sandals from a hilarious Arab who gave us his email so we could send the picture we took. The tile work is astounding and the doors are so picture worthy - I've taken zillions of photos. We heard the call to prayer and walked the rest of the way through the Arab market to find ourselves at the Wall right at sunset. That was pretty damn amazing. I made my way through the women's section, wrote
a few prayers for health for family and friends and put my hand out to touch the wall. Th e power and warmth and energy was overwhelming - so overwhelming that I had to stand back and just reflect for a bit. A very powerful experience. As I walked backwards towards the plaza (don't turn your back on the wall) I was really very surprised at how intense the experience was. That's Jerusalem...
I gave my tzedekah (charity) money that Marla had given me to the poor woman by the back. It's a tradition to give someone who is traveling to Israel so me money for charity. Then, Shelly, Inbar and I ate some shwarma and finished the evening off with a walk and hot cocoa. A great day!
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kathi
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WOW! pretty amazing. Wish I could be right there with you; next time we'll ride one of those camels to the old city at least there was no rain :) xo Sis