Shalom

So, I went to Israel. My mom and her sister-in-law (my aunt) Laurene did a 10 day tour of the country and we made plans to meet afterward for a week in Tel Aviv, with Andrew joining us for the last five days.  In short, it was great.  We had an AirBnB apartment smack in the middle of Tel Aviv, right next to the Carmel market, and spent our time enjoying the city sights and tastes.  

Tel Aviv from Old Jaffa

My mom had wanted to do a family trip to Israel for quite some time. I, of course, am always up for a new adventure but Israel had never really been at the top of my list. Looking back, I'm not sure why, but I'll venture that I was concerned that a trip is supposed to mean something, or maybe that it actually would. By most people's definition I am Jewish, and although I have no belief at all (my lack of spirituality runs deep), I do acknowledge my Jewish roots and appreciate, to some extent, the culture (mostly the food).  So, was this a religious experience? Not sure if this qualifies, but I did experience a few epiphanies:

1. OH MY GOD - the food is delicious!!

2. HOLY CRAP - It's hotter than hell here!!

3. JESUS CHRIST - Everything's so goddamn expensive!!

Okay, blasphemy aside - it was a terrific experience and a wonderful time. Tel Aviv is a rockin town! Restaurants and bars on just about every corner; young people buzzing around on bicycles, e-bikes and motor scooters; an eclectic art and architecture scene; and the Mediterranean sea hitting the sand on an expansive (and crowded) beach right downtown. Despite the oppressive heat and humidity (even locals said it was a bit warmer than usual), we did a lot of walking through the various neighborhoods.  The Carmel food market, and the Tuesday/Friday craft market on our street were highlights, as was Old Jaffa and the port. I dragged my mom and Laurene on public transportation to get us to the Diaspora Museum. The bus was a bit rough (the driver pulled away before my mom was seated, knocking her on her butt – she's okay) but the museum was really interesting, providing details of Jewish migration around the world, along with an exhibit on present-day African Jews and their continuing struggle with racism, as well as a section celebrating Bob Dylan. I also dragged them out a few times for Hummus (delish!) although after 10+ days in the country, they were ready for anything but. Two other memorable experiences included my visit to Independence Hall (on my mom's suggestion/insistence) where I learned a great deal about the development of the country, and a walking tour that provided an interesting overview of the city's Bauhaus/International-Style architecture.

Our (air conditioned) apartment had a roof terrace,
but it was so hot that it was only halfway bearable to sit up there until about 9AM. 

On the air-conditioned bus!

Cocktails in the early evening.  Somehow we don't look as if we're melting

Of course, my favorite part of the trip were the meals, and although that's probably almost always the case, the food was particularly delicious and it was nice to sit (either in air-con or in the shade with a fan/breeze) with family and recount the day. We devoured yummy hummus at Shlomo and Doron cafe near the Carmel Market, and at Hummus HaCarmel right in the market. The obligatory visit to the famous Dr. Shakshuka in Jaffa, where we tried different variations of Israel's “national dish”, didn't disappoint. We also ate at some wonderful restaurants, where they almost always served varieties of small plates of delicious salads and dips – including lots of eggplant variations – to start or accompany the meal. Other highlights included grilled local fish (denise/sea bream), grilled vegetables, fresh crunchy salads and tons more. I even ate a fantastic calamari dish.  It was super-delish but somewhat of a fail because we were at a restaurant (Night Kitchen) that served small plates designed to be shared, and no one else at the table ate squid (not kosher and not something my mom would eat anyway). So I had to depend on others' generosity for bites of the other great dishes (fish shwarma, grilled fish and gnocchi) – fortunately, everyone was generous, but I still felt bad. That was one of the evening meals we shared with Yaffa, a longtime family friend of Lou and Laurene's who lives in Tel Aviv. She also invited us to her place one night for a wonderful meal, featuring a mix of sweet and savory dishes (chicken, salads, etc) right up my alley, and fun conversation.

Enjoying the national dish - shakshuka -  at Dr. Shakshuka

Dr. Shakshuka

Andrew and Yaffa in discussion over dinner at Night Kitchen

With Andrew as our guide, we took a day trip to Jerusalem and visited the market and the old city. We ate fresh borekas for breakfast and bought some delicious chocolate rugelach (a few to eat and more to take) and then strolled through town to the historic sights. We walked through the Christian quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and then on to the Western Wall (where my wish for world peace seems to have backfired) and then Davidson Center Archaeological Park, where we got some historical perspective and good views of the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque. Andrew was a great guide, providing a lot of background/history as well as his take on Israeli/world politics. This, and other topics of the day made for great late-night conversation with Andrew over a few Goldstar beers at various fun locations. We didn't quite solve the world's problems, but did have good fun trying!

Jerusalem outing

Old City in Jerusalem

At the Western Wall

BEER!

The last day in Israel was also quite memorable, but mainly for the comedy of errors. It started off well: after saying farewell to Laurene, I rented a bicycle through city's the bike-share program (Tel-O-Fun!) and made a short circuit tour along the beach promenade and the shady boulevards. That was great, but upon my return to our apartment, I dropped my phone on the tile floor and it broke completely. I did have insurance and it was covered (minus a sizeable deductible, of course) and luckily I was with my mother who could bring it back to the states to trade it in (and then send the new one to me in Germany). But my dependence on technology got the best of me. I wasn't willing to go a day let alone a few weeks without a smartphone, especially with my flight and train tickets all booked online. So, part of the day involved shopping for a new (cheap) smartphone to use as a backup. Another part of the day included a stop at a popular schwarma restaurant, especially for me since I had been in Israel for nine days but didn't have schwarma yet. Unfortunately, I botched the ordering process and ended up with the Turkish variety that was more like döner kebap, which I eat practically every weekend in Germany. Andrew generously shared his Israeli-style chicken schwarma with me and it was all tasty, but I was cranky to start (due to the phone) so I probably wasn't great company. Andrew helped me purchase a phone and then we went back to the apartment so he could pack for his flight. He left shortly thereafter and about 20 minutes after he was gone, I noticed that his phone was lying plugged-in on the kitchen counter. Fortunately, we had booked his taxi to the airport through GETT (the “uber” of Israel, which is really just a convenient way to call regular licensed and lock in a route and price), so I was able to call the taxi driver, speak to Andrew and arrange to meet at the airport – at a sushi cafe I remembered seeing on my way in – and give him his phone. I jumped on a bus/train and got to the airport in 45 minutes but had to run around quite a bit because Andrew wasn't at the sushi place and he didn't have a phone so I could call him. I kept thinking I must have been of interest to the security folks – a crazy lady running around, back and forth, through the airport without any baggage. Hmmmm. We did finally find each other and I made my way back to the apartment (and must admit that safety concerns did cross my mind as I was riding public transit in Tel Aviv at rush hour....) Finally, mom and I ate dinner and turned in early because we had to leave at 4am the next day so we could be at the airport three hours before our flight. Turns out we needed the three hours – not so much because of security (which is what I expected) but because of the long check-in process, especially mine.

Had to try the bike-sharing program

Bike path in the shade - way better than biking along the beach.

My flight back to Europe landed in Prague, where I had about three hours to wander around before my short train ride back to Dresden. Matthias and I had planned to do another bike tour in July, but couldn't because his bike is still getting repaired (more drama I don't feel like getting into here) but we've had a nice time, including celebrating Matthias' birthday. We have been hiking a few times in the nearby national park and last weekend we roused it up at Canaletto, the Dresden City Festival. Next week is Matthias' father's birthday and then his cousin Katja is coming to visit, followed by my mom in September. Then, if Matthias' bike is good to go, we're planning a bike tour in October before we've got to be out of here. Hope it's not going to be too cold!

Picture of Prague scenery - with my cheap phone's crappy camera.

Hiking on Matthias' birthday

Matthias' first birthday beer

Festival in Dresden!

Matthias wins a contest (and a beer) at the festival!
He was able to hold a liter of beer with a straight arm for the longest time.

Postscript:

There was a lot of stuff that I wanted to include in the blog but I found difficult to write about, so I decided to go ahead and post it before the time really got away from me.  But since I started, I thought I'd include some of it here....

First of all, we all suffered a great loss while on the trip - our dear, wonderful cousin Susan passed away following a long battle with cancer.  We are saddened beyond belief and were so sorry we couldn't be with the rest of the family at this difficult time.  I did feel fortunate that I was able to be with at least part of my family when we got the news, and we spent lots of time reminiscing about what a wonderful and joyous person she was.  As I've said, I'm not a spiritual person, but I like to think of Susan out there somewhere laughing at one of my father's awful jokes.  She was an amazing woman I will always remember and miss her.

Laurene and Andrew together with Susan and Lou a few years ago.
We lost Susan and Lou last year but they will always be with us!  

And then there's this.  The morning after we visited Jerusalem, two Israeli police officers were shot and killed there by three Arab attackers who were also killed. 

It took me 15 minutes to write the above sentence and I will probably go back and edit it a couple of times. I don't want to take this tragedy lightly – people are dead as part of of a longstanding situation that I can't begin to grapple with – but I did want to jot down some of what I found interesting. First, when we had dinner with Yaffa the next day, she remarked on how we were fortunate that we were in Jerusalem the day before this happened; otherwise everything would have been closed. The tone made me think that people living here are so used to these types of occurrences that they inspire as much annoyance (and of course political discussion) as fear and/or sadness – I guess like mass shootings in the US these days. Yaffa also noted that it seemed something like this often tends to happen when pressure gets too hot on Netanyahu (she is famously liberal 🙂) . In fact, the coverage on ITV, an English-language Israeli news channel I watched the next day gave top coverage to a corruption scandal involving the prime minister; the shooting was the second story, although they spent more time discussing it. What was probably most interesting to me was analysis of how other countries/news agencies covered the attack. It seemed to me they were scrutinizing headlines and reports from around the world (including BBC, Al Jazeera, and others) for bias and/or antisemitic tones. For example, they discussed whether the attackers were identified as terrorists, whether headlines highlighted the killing of the attackers or the officers, and stuff like that. It did not appear (to me) that they found anything alarming, although they did note that Al Jazeera's English-language coverage differed from its Arabic-language coverage. I guess we are all getting super-sensitized to news reports and how things are covered, although the Israelis are most likely quite used to this. There's a lot more I wanted to write about – including how frustrating it is dealing with all the “noise” these days. Seriously, I feel like I've heard it all – from people complaining that the BBC is run by Jews and therefore “part of the Jewish conspirsacy” to a report by the Jerusalem Post complaining that the BBC runs antisemitic headlines that glorify terrorists. To the constant grouping together of three major leaders – Putin, Erdogan and our #45 with some dispute about which one is the worst, but widespread agreement that none of the three (men or their or countries) can be trusted. I am truly saddened and alarmed by all of this, but so as not to end on such a sad note, I'll say once again what an interesting and enlightening experience it was to go to Israel. My good friend Stu reminded me that I should open myself up to the experience and so I did (at least I think I did). I suppose I have more to say about it, but since it took me forever just to get all this down, if I don't post this now I never will. It also reminds me that I miss talking to so many people back home.  So, if anyone's really interested, you'll have to call or email (or do it anyway – I still have my US number and I'm on WhatsApp!!) Shalom!