Blogs from Tel Aviv District, Israel, Middle East - page 27

2007 West USA ItineraryBlechman Family so that's it. we are 2 days before our big family trip. today, Roi had a small party in his kindergarten to say goodbye to all his friends (a cake photo can be seen below). lately, we've changed completely the trip itinerary after reading some travel books and hearing recommendations from people that have already been visiting California. New itinerary can be seen by pressing on the map on the top-left side of the page. So we would like to say goodbye to all of you. We hope you are in front of great summer (althuogh it is here in Israel). We are planning to update the Blog once a week with some stories and photos. since, we know we will miss you, we are encouraging you to send us feedbacks ... read more

So here is my second entry and i hope i can type pretty quickly as internet is fairly expensive here. It has been 10 days since the beginning of birthright and it has ended after 10 amazing days in israel. We literally did almost everything, albeit very shortly, in isreal. I will briefly go over all the highlights of the places i visited and you will have to ask me for the details. Day 1: Arrival and Caesaria We arrived after a long 12 hour flight in ben guiron and all of us really just wanted to sleep and hit the showers. However, we were whisked right away up to Caesaria towards northern isreal close to the golan hights. This town is equivalent to Montreal's westmount. Very rich, bigh houses, and they even had a ... read more

There’s a cheerless soldier keeping vigil at the entrance to the Haifa train station. He has broad, muscular shoulders and gray-green eyes and a jaw that looks like it was hacked from a quarry in Kohav Ha Shahar. I give him a bright, bushy “Shalom!” and he fingers the revolver on his belt. He wants me to unpack my bags. I grudgingly rifle through the wrinkled t-shirts and balled-up socks while he snuffs over my shoulder, the sort of banal baggage check that, I suspect, will become routine in the weeks ahead. As I’m repacking my things he waves a security wand over the sagging bottom of a white-haired retiree, proving that in the high-stakes world of global terrorism, there’s a very fine line between security and inanity. Ten minutes later I’m shuttling down the ... read more

Shalom, Sorry for the delay in getting out an update on our travels. Since were in Israel you may have suspected we had been shot or kidnapped, but no such luck. Since Tuesday morning we have visited the shopping district and Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. Been to Masada (cable car to King Herods mountain top palace/fortress in about mid 30's heat) and Ein Gedi (thermal spa), plus of course swam in the Dead Sea and I did manage to float. And of course Jerusalem. Sianne got interrogated at passport control, which was quite funny and I walked straight though. Don't really think much of Tel Aviv. It is the more modern city and has lots of these ugly 60's 3 or 4 storey apartment building that are in need of repair or demolition. Apparently they ... read more

So here's a bit about the rest of our days spent in Tel Aviv. Actually we've been mainly chillin’ out in the house, cause after an hectic depart from Amsterdam and the first two days straight hardcore excursions in Israel we felt quite tired and needed some time out. Guy's house was an excellent place for this, our own ;) room with internet connection, loads of DVD's around, food, tea, coffee, what else do we need. Guy had to get back to work on Monday again, came home only around 20.30, an 11 to 12 hours workday seems pretty normal over there… So most of the days, he found us lazy at home, while he had just worked his ass off in his lawyers’ office. Not that we've been just a couple of numbs 4 ... read more