To continue, Hank arrived on Saturday night, and we gabbed away the happy hour, talking as though it had been a year instead of two weeks since we'd seen each other. We then walked the very busy, noisy, crowded streets, found a local joint to stop for a dinner, of sorts,
then walked on some more until we were plum tuckered out.
I have been reminded that I haven't talked much about the food. The countries all have sightly different takes on these things, of course, with the common language of yoghourt, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, chick peas, and some variety of stuffed doughy thing. I have not been dazzled, really, and am craving a meal of meat (preferably lamb) and rice and some gooey stickey stuff for dessert. Oh, well, it is not over yet.
Back to Sunday in Tel Aviv. It was Hank's first day, and in respect of possible jet lag, we tried not to overschedule. 'We started out with the Carmel Market, the outdoor market whicvh every city sports an example of. This one wasn't even an especially good example - oh, there was the usual display of schlok, followed by vegetables, meat and fish, but there was no excitement, buzz, vibe, whatever you want to call it. Anyway, we did score our best cup of coffee yet, at a most unlkely dive!
We kept walking
...and walking...
Hank even finds the local Union Bank (for those of you who don't know, he works for the Union Bank in San Francisco)...
...exploring the old district of Tel Aviv called Neve Tzedek, looking for a museum recommended by The Lonely Planet called the Nachum Gutman Museum of Art. Without success. Both Hank and I would swear that we were in the right place, but no museum. Definitely a first in our travels, to the best that we can recall, that we have been totally unable to find a place that we were looking for! I think this comes under the rubrick of it's not the destination but, rather, the journey that is important! We think the museum was where one of the many holes in the ground were, hopefully to be rebuilt (Navhum Gutman is said to be a quintessentially Israeli artist).
We then went to Shalom Tower, a huge office complex in which the mezanine contained quite a nice historical display.
Having walked ourselves pretty much out in the morning, we decided on the free bus tour of Tel Aviv for the afternoon. It was ending at the diamond market, so we were going to pay for it in one way or another, if only looking at diamonds that we weren't going to buy, but hey, we were sitting in an airconditioned bus, with an electronic English guide (by the way, everyone in Israel seems to speak at least enough English to get by), so how bad could it be? We did get to see Old Jaffa, the adjacent port where a lot of the European jews arrived to immigrate to Israel (voluntarily or involuntarily, as the case may be), saw Independence Hall and Rabin Square, the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, and generally, a tour of a lot of the places we wouldn't ordinarily get to walk to. And yes, we did end up at a diamond exchange. In fact, Tel Aviv is one of the largest diamond processors in the world, so if is part of the culture. We learned more than we ever wanted to know about the mining, processing and assessment of diamonds. And yes, there were one or two items which I might have accepted, as soon as you guys introduce me to someone who can support me in the style to which I would like to become accustomed!
We got back to the hotel just in time for happy hour, and dawdled long enough so that by the time we got around to thinking about dinner - about 7 P.M. - we discovered that all (and I mean ALL) tthe restaurants and stores were closed in honour of the memorial for the holocaust victims. Oh, well, considering the above notes on food - and my figure - missing a meal (or two) probably won't kill me!
Monday in Tel Aviv when we reconvene...
then walked on some more until we were plum tuckered out.
I have been reminded that I haven't talked much about the food. The countries all have sightly different takes on these things, of course, with the common language of yoghourt, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, chick peas, and some variety of stuffed doughy thing. I have not been dazzled, really, and am craving a meal of meat (preferably lamb) and rice and some gooey stickey stuff for dessert. Oh, well, it is not over yet.
Back to Sunday in Tel Aviv. It was Hank's first day, and in respect of possible jet lag, we tried not to overschedule. 'We started out with the Carmel Market, the outdoor market whicvh every city sports an example of. This one wasn't even an especially good example - oh, there was the usual display of schlok, followed by vegetables, meat and fish, but there was no excitement, buzz, vibe, whatever you want to call it. Anyway, we did score our best cup of coffee yet, at a most unlkely dive!
We kept walking
Hank even finds the local Union Bank (for those of you who don't know, he works for the Union Bank in San Francisco)......exploring the old district of Tel Aviv called Neve Tzedek, looking for a museum recommended by The Lonely Planet called the Nachum Gutman Museum of Art. Without success. Both Hank and I would swear that we were in the right place, but no museum. Definitely a first in our travels, to the best that we can recall, that we have been totally unable to find a place that we were looking for! I think this comes under the rubrick of it's not the destination but, rather, the journey that is important! We think the museum was where one of the many holes in the ground were, hopefully to be rebuilt (Navhum Gutman is said to be a quintessentially Israeli artist).
We then went to Shalom Tower, a huge office complex in which the mezanine contained quite a nice historical display.
Having walked ourselves pretty much out in the morning, we decided on the free bus tour of Tel Aviv for the afternoon. It was ending at the diamond market, so we were going to pay for it in one way or another, if only looking at diamonds that we weren't going to buy, but hey, we were sitting in an airconditioned bus, with an electronic English guide (by the way, everyone in Israel seems to speak at least enough English to get by), so how bad could it be? We did get to see Old Jaffa, the adjacent port where a lot of the European jews arrived to immigrate to Israel (voluntarily or involuntarily, as the case may be), saw Independence Hall and Rabin Square, the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, and generally, a tour of a lot of the places we wouldn't ordinarily get to walk to. And yes, we did end up at a diamond exchange. In fact, Tel Aviv is one of the largest diamond processors in the world, so if is part of the culture. We learned more than we ever wanted to know about the mining, processing and assessment of diamonds. And yes, there were one or two items which I might have accepted, as soon as you guys introduce me to someone who can support me in the style to which I would like to become accustomed!
We got back to the hotel just in time for happy hour, and dawdled long enough so that by the time we got around to thinking about dinner - about 7 P.M. - we discovered that all (and I mean ALL) tthe restaurants and stores were closed in honour of the memorial for the holocaust victims. Oh, well, considering the above notes on food - and my figure - missing a meal (or two) probably won't kill me!
Monday in Tel Aviv when we reconvene...
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