Sometimes you can't get the best flight times to where you're going. Case in point, our flight to Tel-Aviv departed around midnight. We touched down around 3am. Like zombies, we walked through the airport and found our way to a cab. Later that day, after sleeping in comfortable surroundings, washing our clothes, and generally lounging around, we had dinner with Keren and Ima. It was great to see family after being on the road. This part of the trip was all about familiar faces.
The next day we drove up to Mitzpe Alummot and continued from there for a sightseeing venture to the church on top of Har Tavor. There were great views, both inside and out:
After 4 months on the road, it was time to switch to a slower pace and also detox the body. For the next several days, we would only eat raw vegan food and fruit/vegetable juice.
As soon as we recharged the batteries, we headed back to Tel Aviv. Since it is so rare that we're ever in Israel for Sharon's birthday, we were excited to go out and celebrate in style. We chose the Derby restaurant where we met Keren for a fish dinner. We had fun joking around with the waitress who was also from South Florida.
We wasted no time before visiting friends. We met Sam, Ofira, Ayelet, and Eli for dinner at a restaurant on the fashionable Rothchild Street. The next day we met Yaniv and Debra (Yaniv is Sharon's childhood friend whom she hadn't seen in ages) for lunch and Mora, Shlomi, and their baby for dinner. Meeting people has never revolved around so many meals as it does when in Israel.
For as long as we've known each other, we've heard of these epic 4x4 adventures captained by Sharon's cousins Asa and Elana. Finally, we managed to get a sneak peak into what one may look like. Sharon's uncle, Amnon, picked us up and drove up to Asa's house where we loaded the vehicle and set off to Kfar Kish. We spent a few hours driving up and down the lush green hills of the Galilee. We then picked a nice spot for lunch and dined in style behind the truck.
We made our way up to Alummot, where dinner would be hosted at the Mintz residence. Since we were coming up along with one uncle and two cousins, my parents wanted to invite the rest of the family. And so - we had a bit of a family reunion up there that night. Alek and Raya came up from Kiryat Gat; Dikla and Pushkin drove up from Ramat Aviv.
After dinner, we spent hours on the couch listening to Pushkin tell tall tales about his colorful life. Along with these were some dirty jokes translated into English for Marc's sake.
It was time to head back to Tel Aviv where we got to spend time with Orly and Abe. A special visitor came all the way from New York - Sharon's cousin Eitan. We got to hang out with him at Orly's house for a few hours.
As a ritual, we visit one of our favorite eateries whenever we are in Israel. Dr. Shakshuka is where it's at for any meal of the day. We had breakfast there and then walked off the meal in the surrounding streets of Yaffo. That night we visited yet another one of Sharon's cousins - Limor. We got to watch her son's Bar Mitzvah video as we couldn't be there in person.
Other than visiting people and eating, we like to get some culture in while in Israel. We decided to see something new and headed to Beit Bialik, the house-turned-museum of one of Israel's most famous children's authors/poets, Chaim Nahman Bialik.
We were supposed to see a nearby museum as well, but it turns out it was under construction when we got there. Instead, we headed to Shenkin, a hip area walking distance from the museum. We hit up a falafel place nearby that was recommended to us by Elana, Falafel Benin, which was establish in 1955. Not a bad hole-in-the-wall.
Later that night, we were treated to a wonderful dinner (more for the company than the food) by Carmit and Amir. They even bought us a cake, which we gladly ate back at their abode while they told us stories about dates grown in the Israeli dessert. Thanks for the samples!
February 10th was election day. We went to Sharon's old high school and put in our vote for the next Prime Minister. We can't stay too serious for long, so we drove to see Keren and the kids for dinner that night.
We were treated to a capoera dance by the little ones:
See what we're missing by being in the US?
Getting back to cultural undertakings, we checked out the Diaspora Museum where we found miniature replicas of synagogues from all over the world:
We now had only a few more days before our flight back. We made sure to see as many more people as we could in that time. We met up with more of Sharon's cousins (or second cousins) - Kobi and Yifat (as well as their significant others) for dinner at Ramat Aviv Gimel. We met with Sharon, an old high-school friend whom I hadn't seen since that time. We hung out a bunch more with Orly and Abe, including at a Nurit Galron concert and on the beach.
We also checked out Nachlat Binyamin, a pedestrian mall near Shuk HaCarmel, for its artist fair together with Asa and Elana. We purchased a name placard for Marc's nephew Jacob.
On our final day, Ima treated us to lunch at Batya's on Dizengoff- a restaurant famous for its Eastern European cooking. And what a feast it was. We then drove to Orly's mom, Simcha, who lives nearby, for a quick visit. We were astonished to learn of her 2-year journey on foot from Uzbekistan to Israel when she was 5 years old. It sure makes us look like real wimps.
That night, we packed our bags for the last time and headed to the airport for our final flight. Four and a half month earlier, we started our journey on a 14-hour flight to Hong Kong and we were about to complete the final leg back to Los Angeles. It was Valentine's Day and so these two lovebirds snuggled in the back of an El Al jet and spent 15 hours reflecting on their time abroad.
For more photos, go to: grossmintblog.shutterfly.com
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